FCC--Fremont Contract Carriers

Yeah the engine brake on these Detroits are actually quite strong. I can go down 5-6% grades fully loaded at 40-45 all day long and never have to touch my brakes most of the time

 

You better go slower than that down cabbage. You think you’ve done a lot of damage to equipment since you’ve been there wait and see what happens when you take a runaway truck ramp.

 

I go down cabbage at about 30 to 35 miles an hour with my engine brakes running and literally I maintain that speed the entire way down… The engine brakes on Detroit’s are very strong

 

Cabbage isn’t any worse than Cajon Pass. The only thing that makes Cabbage potentially harder is a higher likelihood of ice fog, and the lighter traffic makes it easier to go too fast on accident. But the signs at the top give you a good starting point for speed over the top per gross weight. The transmission and DD series engines ALMOST make the descent foolproof. The jakes are WAAAAY better than the series 60 ever thought about being.

 

That was the point I was trying to make. I’ve hit ice in spots on that hill every time I’ve been out there in the the winter. Ice, Jake brakes, auto trans, and 45K are not a winning combination if going too fast from the start.

 

that’s why these autos have a manual mode. I can lock it into whichever gear i choose with the jakes on position 3 and cruise right down

 

off topic but i’m glad i bought a few pairs of sweat pants a week ago. It’s windy and colder than a plumbers crack in WY. Opened my door to start the fuel pump and almost blew away

 

I’m in Lubbock Tx this morning. Pretty frosty here too.

 

now if only these Detroits were as good going up hills as they are going down them

Shane said the Cascadia’s are set at 455/1750 so i guess i can’t complain too much. The Paccars are only set to 1650. Why that is, i don’t know

 

The options for the Paccar are 455/1650 or 510/1850.