No Engine Brakes???

The old timers use to say........Go down in the same gear you went up in. Not always true but a good rule of thumb.

 

I was at 1400 rpm in 7th. Started going down the hill and it shot up to 2200 within a few seconds, that's with the engine brake on high and using my brakes. Ill be on my way to a terminal soon to get a 90 day inspection done. My brakes are horrible.


Ethan

 

The old timers all told me to go down the grade one gear lower than what you went up

 

Had 1 OLDTIMERS who loved to tell anyone who would LISTEN

how he use to Show no FEAR , he would just kick the dang thing outa GEAR .

 

Then maybe you should have been in a lower gear than 7th

 

If I was going down with no jakes, I would start at 2 gears below my climb.

 

I would have believe me. The engine brake sucks but it works good in 4th or lower. Only thing was when i cam around the bend with no warning that it would drop down like it did I then did what I could. Slowed down to 55 and dropped it in 9th. Then got to 40 and dropped it in 8th, got to 30 and put it in 7th. That's when it was OK then jumped to 2200rpm. It wouldn't be an issue because the grade is short but steep. If i just left it in 10th gear and the engine brake on It would probably hold me back and as soon as I would hit 70mph I would be going right back up an incline. Unfortunately the speed limit was 65 and like I said before, I can't go over 70.

Ethan

 

I climbed the hill in 10th...

I know what your saying though.

Ethan

 

1972 White Freightliner COE 6V92... Then along comes 1980 and because this POS was grandfathered into the "you do need brakes on all 3 axles law" because prior to then (If I'm correct that was when they made brakes on all axles on the tractor but it could be later the rule) you could order them or remove the steering axle because many believed that the steer brakes caused jack knife accidents IF you didn't order that equealizer 1/2 pressure switch) they were allowed to be run minus them like seat belts in older cars and the laws today.

Any way this POS had no jake or engine brake and hills were taken as slowly as possible! I smoked the brakes many times and was always under the thing adjusting them and on several occasions throwing sand on the fires on the grease! God forbid if I used a fire extinguisher to put them out but the boss was ok if I ruined my shirts smothering them!

You do not need jakes and you should actually have to do a few hills with the things cut off until you understand how to come off a hill! Great learning lessons for when the things decide to blow a fuse or a wire comes loose or the switch decides to go south.

As to you who have to have them on all the time..get real! IF you learned how to use your brakes properly without heating them up so much you would not need to stress the engine with them on in cities and flatland the worse spot in truck stops thinking you sound cool or forgot to flip them off which always seemed to be the answer when jackwad cranked them on while we were asleep and we would chew an arse out on the CB. The answer..."OH I forgot!" Like a moron!

A few extra seconds of slow isn't going to kill that 11 /14 hour clock and it could save a life or that freight from all becoming part of the front bulkhead!

Lord only knows how we managed to survive without engine brakes! But heck just like before the curse of cell phones we managed to fumble through!

 

Payphones and pa roll of quarters how else..... its simple enough tocall every morning and get a heads up.....