Back in my day...

Nobody ever heard of shifting down the gears? You always go down a steep hill in a gear that will hold the truck without using the brakes if you drive in my truck all the brakes will be working fine at the bottom of the hill/ mountain .

 

Safely Going down a 6% grade with 40k+ in the box w/o a Jake brake, you would need to be in 4th or 5th gear (in a 10 speed truck). That equates to 12-15 mph. And you still have to use service brakes occasionally to scrub off excess speed and rpm. Mountain driving with out Jake brake is a totally different ball game. My first company, as part of mandatory training, required all new drivers to descend a 6%+ grade without using the Jake brake at least 2 times before they would upgrade a new driver to solo status. I'm very grateful for that training, as I believe that it a crucial skill that many drivers lack now-A-days.

Yes, Jake brakes are nice. I highly recommend using it if you have one. It makes the job easier. But like any technology, it is not wise to be overly dependent on it.

 

I tried reading this thread, but most of you aren't worth the effort. A very few are #### entertaining and informative.

For the rest of you, pre-deregulation trucking was a very different industry. Frankly in those days most of you wouldn't have made the cut. The mega carriers racing to the bottom have made most of your careers possible.

Lots of things have gotten better over the years, unfortunately drivers aren't one of those things.

 

Sounds like more than one unsafe "driver" in that last paragraph.

 

I was pulling refer containers out of Jax to Indy every week.
I was loaded heavy both ways. I ran this run with that equipment for about 3 years.
Those containers had 20" bias ply tires , Dayton rims , and probably the cheapest brakes available . The truck was mine a 85 freightliner cab over , 300 cummins , direct drive 9 speed and no jake brake .
Traveling eastbound , down mt eagle , I would come out of the brake check area creaping , and let speed slowly build.
By the time I got to the last turn the trailer brakes would be smoking every time , and I would let it go down the strait away , now just because they were smoking doesn't mean I was runaway .
If you hard braked for a sudden stop light they would smoke.

 

So it's "Regulate, but don't regulate". That's what I infer from a lot of the users in these forums

They want governing bodies to set rates and pick winners and losers and say who can go where but they want zero government involvement elsewhere such as in telling us what and how many hours we can operate .... okay

 

That's not what I meant. Believe it or not there was a time when trucking companies didn't have to look too hard to find drivers. Recruiters didn't exist, the boss picked the next application off the stack and called the guy when someone quit, retired, or simply wasn't getting the job done.

 

In theory I agree with your comment .
But in reality the government regulations already pick winners and losers .
Trade treaties, lax immigration and regulations , have made corporations very profitable .
By moving out of the country , and then getting a flood of foreign drivers , both outside this country and through visas and plain open immigration , to keep rates down.
Now it looks like we have a president who will support American jobs and wages , against the will of special interests and lobbyists and if we agree with this we're for government regs .
Is the only way we can be consistent is support no government involvement or no change from the status quo ?
Before nafta when all those factories were still in this country , we were hauling the freight from factory to end user .
And Americans were working in those factories .
So I guess we're all hypocrites if we want to repeal nafta but don't accept every stupid government regulation against truck drivers.