Steep Downhill and you need to downshift

All you guys keep saying how you would do it before you got to the hill but you're not answering the question. The question is how would you downshift "WHILE" going down a steep grade? From experience, my answer is turn on the jake if you got it, press the brake fairly hard till you get down to 800rpm and rev the engine till you hit the governor and let off, push the clutch in and put pressure on that next lower gear till it pops in, hold your speed for 10 seconds and let the brakes cool, do it again if needed, in an emergency if you were doing the controlled brake method from the start and need to stop for whatever reason, if you got a descent set of brakes that are adjusted, then they should be good for one hard emergency stop on a downhill but after you get back down id go get those things replaced if needed. And if for some reason you miss your shift and your brakes are shot then look at your speed and figure out which gear that would normally be, rev the engine, push in the clutch and slam that ##### in that gear as hard as you can, one ####ty rough shift is better than taking the run away ramp or eating #### at off the guide rail at the end of the hill

 

It's amusing how some new guys can overthink the simplest #### then others don't think at all.

 

I've been up and down the hills out west and i77 down Fabcy Gap is no easy ride. It can, and has gotten many in over their head. I came up over Fancy Gap a few winters ago and the rain at the bottom was freezing rain by the top. It was not a good scene. I stopped at Ft Chiswell and called it a night. Tackled the rest of i77n in the am after the sun came up.

 

Seems like everytime I go through I-77N/S through WV I always see someone riding down hill with their brakes smoking. Catches many off guard. Wonder what it's like in the winter.

 

It's all weather related, it can be raining at the bottom and freezing rain or snow at the top. It can be hairy.

 

To answer the original question...you don't... you just don't. To downshift effectively even on flat ground it requires the brakes... if you are already losing them... its never going to happen. At the first sign of brake fade, you best get to the shoulder and shut down.. if you try and fix it from that point.. you're probably going to die

 

The problem with your question(respectfully) is you're asking how to do something that you shouldn't have to do. You should already be at a safe speed and in the appropriate gear when starting your descent. I've seen this many times. Drivers race down a hill just like they do everywhere else and then when they realize that their brakes are starting to fade, they try to slow down to get into a lower gear. This is totally amateur driving.
Downshifting is always done the same way. But when you're flying down a hill, you've added gravity into the equation which requires harder braking.

I started driving in 1980 and I have boatloads of stories I can tell you about how I smoked many brakes flying down mountain passes, some of which started on fire because no one taught me any different. Many of the stories were before I ever knew how to adjust brakes. This was before auto adjusters which required a hammer and a 9/16 box wrench. One of my favorite tools to keep me informed about what's up ahead is Google Maps. It stays on my tablet on the dash. Green roads are clear, orange is slow, and red is stopped or nearly stopped. This way I can slow down way ahead of time avoiding any surprises and avoid hard braking and panicked downshifting. It has saved my butt many times.

I'm a car hauler so I'm pretty much at max weight most of the time. If I see a sign saying 5% grade, I don't get too worried. I use the engine brake and moderate light braking without smoking them. If I see 6 or higher and say more than 2 miles, I will reduce my speed and pick the appropriate gear before gravity takes over. I don't get out West much anymore but I've been down all the popular well-known passes such as Pendleton Pass on I-84 in Oregon which is 6% for 7 miles. Fully loaded I will start my descent at no more than 20 to 25 mph letting the engine brake take me down. I may start to slowly increase my speed in the last 2 miles depending on road conditions.

Don't screw around with hills and passes drivers because I can testify that it's a very lonely feeling when you can't seem to slow your truck down and you still have a ways to go. Use Google maps in traffic mode and stay well informed ahead of time to avoid any surprises.

 

Well told. I've been passed many times by those hot-rodders only to pass them at the bottom of the grade where they sit on the side of the road trying to cool their brakes. Stay alive learn to go down the right way.

 

Even since i bought a tractor with disc brakes on all axles and an automatic i hardly even think about big grades anymore. Hit the jakes and keep it around 17-1900 rpm and don’t even touch the brakes usually

 

I was coming down a 6% grade on U.S. 6 westbound from Nevada a few miles before you enter California. Anyway, the recommended speed is 50, which is what I was doing with full jakes holding my speed about perfect. The two trucks behind me were right on my tail, i could tell they were having problems holding back their speed. I didn't feel safe to speed up as I had 50,000 pounds of utility poles on. In the end the two trucks decided it was safer to pass me by crossing over the double yellows rather than downshifting.