I only use my 94 Rodeo to pull my pop up camper from IL to FL once a year. It needs tires, which caused me to discover that I have 16" wheels. I think it originally had 15". That explains why the speedometer is slow. Well, when pulling throughthe hills (sometimes called mountains) in TN and AL, it's real battle trying to keep it from excessively shifting in and out of overdrive. I figure that going back to 15" wheels might help, since it would effectively get the RPM up a little for a given car speed. However, I believe vehicles handle better with larger wheels. Anyone have any input on whether I should go through the trouble to put 15" wheels back on? Thanks.

 

The wheel size has very little to do with it, its the tire size that matters. I'm sure you are probably pretty close to stock tire size.

When pulling anything up even a smallish hill use the "power" button to keep from over working the trans. The increase in rpms wont hurt the engine at all as long as you are still within the speed limit. Your truck only has 175 hp and weighs 4000 lbs, add the weight of the trailer and extra luggage thats quite alot of weight. The 4L30E trans that isuzu used was really only meant for 3000 lb vehicles.

 

Thanks for the help. The tires on the truck areP265 70R 16. I just assumed that would be larger in diameter than the same thing in a 15. Thanks for the tip on the "power" button. I never knew what that was for. Sounds like, from your reply, that it disables the "lockup' on the torque converter? Or somehow increases the stall speed? I'll make sure to use it on my next trip.