Mountain Driving Tips

Years ago, I was running in West Virginia.
I came up to a runaway truck ramp and saw a Winnebago parked in there.
I thought maybe they were brokedown or something.
Nope, they pulled over and were having a cookout in the runaway ramp!!!
You know you're a redneck when....

 

I am guessing you meant 2200 to 2400.

Not that I am doubting you but can anybody corroborate this?

Can I let my 475 Cat wind out at 2200 rpm?

 

unless hes pulling a trailer with an f1 car that was def a typo!

 

It all depends on the situation, but saying your heavilly loaded, dry roads etc!! and new to the road you are on.. as said on here already, go down one gear lower than you topped the hill!! watch your rpm's what I do is watch my rpm's and my brake application guage, I will let my engine run up to about 1800 rpm, then apply about 7 to 10 psi on my brake application guage untill im down to about 1100 rpm then let it work it way up to around the 1800 point again and repeat!! never "fan" or pump your brakes this will use up all of your air pressure faster than it will build up.. I live in montana, and have hauled 162,000 pounds many times from Flagstaff to Phoenix "Asphalt plant parts" and this has always worked for me... As far as the "johnson bar" or Trailer brake hand valve, I leave that alone except when checking to make sure my fifth wheel is locked after hooking up to a new trailer, or sliding my axles!!! Or I sometimes refer to it as the company Jake brake, when pulling a company trailer, to save my brakes... now if you want to know about driving in the snow im sure myself and many others can offer more good advice...

 

I would never let any of todays truck engines run over two thousand rpm's the older 2 stroke detroits yes but thats it... no its not going to blow at 2200 but its not a good habit to get into...

 

Before we had Jakes, and I was a rookie, I was told to run down the hill in the same gear you went up and to put 10 lbs. of air on your trailer brakes on the way down.

I used this technique quite a bit... sometimes you really needed to let the trailer brakes cool a bit on a longer grade (like Donner)... but I never had any real problems doing like that.

Remember we had 238's and 220's... and we went up some of those hills at 12 mph!

 

What it says in my WA DOL book and what we were taught in school is that snub braking is the term for braking to slow and then release and let it gain then brake to slow repeating over and over as a form of controlled braking as described earlier.
Stab braking is described in the book and was taught in my school as an emergency stop procedure done by locking and releasing the brakes repeatedly as fast as possible.
Basically similar to what ABS does automatically and much faster but without totally locking them up.
My dad taught me stab braking when I was a kid growing up in Central Oregon as a way to get stopped on snow or ice and I've used it many times in the Winter out 4 wheel'n in the snow.

 

Wait!!! Don't forget the Super 250's !!! I also remember as a rookie, listening to mgmt. handing out their first 318 to the fleet in a drivers mtg. Warning them that this is a V-8 and you might rip the driveshaft out.......
ah yup, uh huh.....

 

Yeah, but with any manual, the computer in charge of the show is you.