What was your 1st mountain pass you drove on. Or the 1st that scared you!everybody

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by aztrucker11, Feb 11, 2011.

  1. richerdman

    richerdman Bobtail Member

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    Mar 13, 2011
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    my first mtn was snowshoe whn i was with my dad at 16 while he was asleep once I got my CDl and was able to leave Ohio bozeman pass was my first
     
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  3. pilottravel2002

    pilottravel2002 Medium Load Member

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    May 25, 2011
    Tucson,az
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    grapevine,in cali.☼↑*↓↑*☼
     
  4. Mommas_money_maker

    Mommas_money_maker Road Train Member

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    Cabbage with 105,500 on. the first time you feel that weight pushing hard downhill is something else. My trainer was freaking me out a bit as he was a bit unnerved but after that time it was nothing
     
  5. fireba11

    fireba11 Heavy Load Member

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    My first mountain?? Jellico on I75 in Tennessee.

    Scariest? I caught the brakes on fire the first time I went down Sand Mountain on I64 in WV. I had picked up a heavy container in Huntington, WV and it was raining so I didn't adjust the breaks up like I normally would of and paid for it. Needless to say I set the tractor breaks on fire but I made it down o.k.

    I used to ride with my dad when I was a kid and I remember one night Dad went down old Fancy Gap, dad always hauled heavy when running the south, at the NC/VA border. That road only had sand piles to stop a truck, it was dark and the brakes were smoking like crazy, scared me to death at the time.
     
  6. Brandonpdx

    Brandonpdx Road Train Member

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    Elkhart, IN
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    Anybody been on PA-54 between I-80 and I-81 in Pennsylvannia? That's one way I'll never go again loaded heavy. They got some steep ones...10-11% grades that roll right down into residential townships along the highway. Plus it's a two lane nightmare so the cars (pests) are on your butt the whole time. Awful drive. 7th gear wasn't quite holding going down this one hill even with the jake on full blast, so I dug it down into 6th only to figure out for the first time that the jake doesn't even kick on in that gear, which made the situation start to get out of hand pretty quickly. I panicked for a second and just started laying hard on the brakes to keep the engine from overreving and blowing up. I knew I was heating those brakes up fast though so I threw it back up into 7th and was actually able get more braking in that gear with the jake back on and made it down the hill in one piece.

    Really hard on the truck getting heavy ones up and down those ridiculous-steep ones. I was seeing oil temps up around 250*F getting up some of them taking as easy as I could. Lots of hard shifting, braking, jake-braking and revving and you just know you can't drive a truck like that for long before something goes boom.
     
  7. Brandonpdx

    Brandonpdx Road Train Member

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    Elkhart, IN
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    See I didn't think coming down Emigrant was any worse than any of the other "big hills" out west (Siskyou, Donner, Cajon, etc.) I think it's the switchbacks that freak everybody out.
     
  8. joseph1135

    joseph1135 Papa Murphy

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    The Highway To Hell.
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    Not a mountain pass per se, but US 129 from Tennessee to North Carolina. Dubbed the "Dragon's Tail", the amount of curves on that road in 11 miles is crazy. It's something like 328 curves. It's not made for trucks although trucks aren't excluded, but they should be. If you're in the area, look for a different route. Even the most expierenced toughest drivers have to be on their A game.
     
    Southpaw7391 Thanks this.
  9. joseph1135

    joseph1135 Papa Murphy

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    The Highway To Hell.
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    I used to live right by 54. I ran it a lot!
     
  10. Logan76

    Logan76 Crusty In Training

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    kittanning, PA
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    Rt 44 in PA is a good one, so is Rt 40 in PA. I delivered to a couple of wind mills up on skyline dr at the top of 40 outside of uniontown and it was steep if you made a wrong turn and went down the 10 ton road down the other side of that hill....don't ask me how I found that one out...
     
  11. Bill104

    Bill104 <b>Pepsiholic</b>

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    Sacramento,Ca
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    Ive never been on any hill or road that bothered me, not even the tooly fog worrires me, but all them four wheelers and rookie drivers scare the brown out of me every day, good thing i drive with eyes open and slow poke along.
     
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