There's a lot of good information in this thread. I live in a mountainous area and so there are hills that my Brutus will not pull in 4th or 5th. I usually run my engine to 2,500 rpm before shifting into 4th or 5th, because my rpm will have dropped off too much before I can complete my upshift if I don't. There are some long steep grades that occur just after traffic lights around here. I know I can only pull them in 3rd, so I don't even bother trying for 4th or 5th. I get in the right lane and do 2,100 in 3rd all the way up the grade. Keep in mind my engine is bone stock. It has not been turned up or bypassed and seems to run fine. I run 11r-20s and at 2,500 rpm I seem to run about 52 mph. Maybe my aging eyes aren't reading the speedo correctly.
I previously mentioned uphill grades. Well, there's always a downside to uphill grades. Of course there are traffic lights or stop signs at the bottom of these downhills too. I write this as someone who has experienced a total and sudden loss of all braking while while stopping for a traffic light on a slight downhill. I blew my air horn and managed to downshift to 2nd gear and crawled my way for a quarter of a mile until I could safely pull over and used my newly rebuilt handbrake and a snowbank to stop my truck. I was lucky traffic was light due to an impending snow/ice storm. I mention this to illustrate that I understand the limitations of Deuce brakes and I drive with caution on all grades up or down. I always try to anticipate conditions and drive with the assumption that a traffic light will likely turn yellow or red on my way down a grade. I usually back off the throttle at the top and engine brake down. I never try to beat a light.
As I previously mentioned my Deuce runs 11r-20s. Their maximum rated road speed is 55 mph. I read in another thread, that there is a DOT rule that states " If the maximum speed rating of a trucks tires are limited to 55 mph, then the truck can be driven no faster than 55 mph". Makes sense to me. So taking into account Deuce power, weight, brakes, and suspension design, I drive my Deuce like what it really is.....a military vehicle that is one half farm tractor and one half truck.
