Driving an automatic on icy roads and taking off on hills?

Do you remember where that picture was taken?
Couple miles south of Lomond?

 

Another thing to consider is the maintenance and reliability issues.
I know auto’s are easier to drive and you can eat your double cheeseburger while city driving but a manual is more efficient and reliable.

 

There is a Performance Mode if it not locked out by the company. You can push the button on the same to switch to manual mode you just push it again you might see it on dash say Performance Mode. If your truck has the option you push pedal to floor then push a little more on the pedal and it will go down more and hold foot on pedal that will activate Performance mode. It will shift faster and at about 1300-2200 unless they change stuff on new truck

 

As I stated earlier..I briefly had a performance upgrade. The 2 month old clutch was slipping..so it went back to slow mode.

 

If the conditions are such then I hit the little button to hold it in gear and run it at the rpm’s I want to be at. Mine only coasts with the cruise on and depending on where I have my speed set I already know what it’s going to do when it kicks back on. If the truck is going to be around 62 then I know it’s going to be in 11th when the fuel comes back. If I want to avoid that I will tap the pedal to avoid coasting below my set speed.

It took me about 3 months and two trips to Peterbilt to get it set up the way I prefer. It’s sort of a mix between Economy and Performance and I have a wider rpm range where I can hold it in gear before it thinks I’m not paying attention.

 

Auto braking has nothing to do with the engine or transmission.

My transmission will skip gears up to 8th. Unless I’m on a steep hill it’s common for it to go 2-4-6-8-9-10-11-12 with a heavier load, or 3-5-7-8-9-10-11-12 with a lighter load. It has programmable settings just like an engine ECM.

 

One locked up drive will not come to the front. Yes, that corner has lost its directional stability, but the other 3 corners are fine. Has it reduced the stability of the truck? Indeed, but that's not the instant jackknife so often proclaimed.

The other part of this? Any of the electronic motors kill the Jake at the first sign of wheel slip. And quick enough you have to be paying attention to notice the slip before it pulls the plug.

None of that is saying to hit stage 3 @ 2100 rpm on glare ice, but to imply a Jake is useless on snow is foolish. Any driver with serious winter experience is well aware of traction levels and knows when and when not to use the Jake. The "No Jake unless clean & dry" mantra is just more of the liability averse pronouncements that safety departments spew. (See also: Rock in Stream, No cruise in dark or wipers on, etc, etc...)

 

Black ice can pop up out of nowhere.

 

It’s not instant jackknife but you are starting the problem you are trying to avoid. Do you think 4 drive tires give you better control vs all the tires on the truck ? The goal is to avoid accident and keep control, just using the engine brake is bad advice and relying on the truck’s technology to say you is not the best advice in my opinion. You use all your bakes. What if the ABS or traction control is not working? Can you still get down the hill without the engine brake