I've been pulling a 5th wheel camper for about five years - this will be the first year with the Gryphon with 87 custom towing.
I had the camper out last week to get it inspected and I live in very hilly southwestern PA. Because it is so hilly, I typically tow with O/D off. Most of my trips with the trailer are to Penn State games in Central PA, so I do not see any flat land for the 4 hour trip. I noticed when going up the hills that it was shifting directly from 3rd gear / TQ locked to second gear instead of shifting first from 3rd gear / TQ locked to 3rd gear / unlocked. Is that part of the custom tune that Bill and Cody have put together? Is that better on the tranny to shift to 2nd then shifting to 3rd gear / unlocked?
It seems to me that the last few years when in stock mode it would shift to 3rd gear / unlocked before shifting to 2nd and that sometimes that is all that was needed to crest the hill at 55-60 mph. But if it's better in the long run to shift to second locked or unlocked I will learn to get used to the rpm increase on these southwest PA hills.