going up a mountain shifting?

If you build a truck that Stupid can drive, Stupid will come and drive for you.

 

I'd like to see proof of this "indisputable fact."

 

If you have enough horses under the hood you will not have to downshift uphill!!

 

Rubbish. In ALL of the automatics on the market you can put it in manual mode and select the gear you need. If you haven't got knowledge or experience with them please refrain from commenting.

 

Thats what a goofy trainer told me when I first started in 02. Shame on him but also shame on me for still using it to this day and not researching. What is the name of the aforementioned technique?

I agree 100% with the trolley brake, never done it, never will..

 

Snub braking. But does it really matter if someone calls it the wrong thing even though they use it the same way?

 

LONG POST ALERT - but you know me . . . gotta say what I gotta say.

I think of mountain grades more in terms of the speed than the RPM and before the bashing begins, let me explain. I don't mean disregard RPMS but the challenge in mountain road trucking (and I do a lot in the East and on some roads that trucks weren't meant to be on and only allowed on for local deliveries for a VERY good reason - VERY steep, twisty, narrow and no guardrails - which is why I'm on it - local deliver and it's the only way in and out); the challenge is what? Speed control and lane position management. Need to keep the speed up best I can climbing, keep it down descending and keep the tandems on black top in the twists and turns. Yes, don't over rev and boil her over - but given all the negative outcomes for mis-managing a grade (crashing into the wall or worse - off the mountain to certain death) I'd rather overheat than the alternatives - BUT let's just try and do neither.

Going up and down I pretty much got my rig's config down and I know when to pop her down 1 at a time to keep as much speed as I can up with out over revving going up - BUT there is a point where one less gear is TOO low and one more gear is TOO high and I'm just gonna have to be patient in 8th (or whatever) at 16-18H RPMS and keep an eye on the temp gauge. Starts to get much at all above 180 and I kick on the manual override for the fan clutch to kick the radiator fan on. Keep her cool and don't wait on the auto feature to kick on the fan. Still on the rise and I back off and climb slower. By the temp gauge, not speedo or tach.

Going down, again I look at the posted truck speed and downgrade. Not all of them are as steep as the climb and some are more steep than the climb. Idea being the Safety Engineers and what have you have an idea of the safe speed for trucks going down based on a lot of factors and I also look at the length, straightness and wideness of the downgrade. All of these factor. I may disagree with the posted limit. I may say; "There ain't no WAY I'm goin' down THAT at 55. You are nuts! I'm gonna do THAT one at 35. Or I may say: "Good Lord! 50 on that? Shoot that's gravy train road. I'll go faster." Now I am NOT advocating speeding down a grade or period - just sayin'. I know my rig, config, road and load. I been doin' these mountains a long time and I have TOTAL respect for them but I also know when I can go and when I need to poke and sometimes I poke and sometimes I go. PLEASE for goodness sake, drive to your own rig, road and ability. There's no shame in pokin' and many times I'm the slowest guy goin' down but I know that's MY safe speed.

So goin' down I choose my gear at the crest as soon as I can see what I got to work with on the down side. Pretty steep and curvy and I'm VERY likely to drop a gear. Straight, wide and short and I might stay where I'm at or even go up one. Depends on what's in front of me road and traffic wise. Then I put on full jakes (but not in snow or fairly wet roads where they might cause me to spin and lose control - CDL driving is ALL about controlling the rig in all conditions, terrain and and topography) to start and ease on over and see how they are holding me speed wise. Is that gear and speed too slow? Too fast has not been an issue (well one time in the early days which I darned near ate it after cooking the brakes and learned to respect the grades). I choose something that will be too slow if anything. I can always speed up a little by backing the Jakes down a notch or two or all or disengaging them. I want my Jakes to do as much of the work as they can. It has nothing to do with money or maintenance. It's all about keeping the brakes cool as I can. They work better that way and when I need 'em I want 'em working peak performance - ALL of them. But I don't shift on a downgrade unless it is a slap arse, burned up the brakes emergency and by then the tach is probably so high there ain't gonna be no way to catch a lower gear and I'll be praying for the engine to seize and lock up anyway.

So I'm going down in whatever gear and full jakes are doin' me OK speed wise but I am getting faster like up to my determined safe speed. NEVER over it. Now I'm going by speedo (I'm not concerned with engine temp going down. Well, yes a little but speed control and lane position management are MUCH bigger fish to fry going down - engine temp's gonna kinda be whatever it is. If I seize an engine going DOWN I probably did myself a favor cause I was going too fast and the locked up engine in a gear brought me to a stop before something really bad happened) and just before the needle gets to that safe speed I chose I give her a good steady firm brake to quickly drop the speed 10 MPH. Then I get off the brake entirely and "lather, rinse and repeat" till all the way down, kick off the Jakes, grab a gear and motor on. My philosophy goin' down is I'd rather be the last guy down the mountain and still on all 18 than the first guy down on his side or off the edge. Don't bother me in the least to be passed ANYWHERE, especially not on a downgrade. The speed that thrills . . .

So that's how I do it.

You ain't lyin' 'bout that modded ISX. I had one governed at 63 and 65 but Lord it'd do that goin' darned near verticle and the tightest best holdin' Jakes, best pullin' engine I ever had under a truck hood for sure and the MPG was pretty descent.