Full load, grades, no engine brake

No grade is too long to start out slow.
In fact with no engine brake starting SLOW is the ONLY way to do it.


To any newbee/wanabee remember this all your life:

YOU CAN GO TO SLOW AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE
YOU WILL ONLY GO TO FAST ONCE!!



To anyone faced with a similiar situation i would suggest they read this very good.
It has the best advice.
credit to Losttrucker for posting this

[FONT=&quot]1 .
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]- [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Proper Braking Technique[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Remember.
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The use of brakes on a long and/or[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]steep downgrade is only a supplement to the
braking effect of the engine. Once the vehicle is in
the proper low gear, the following are the proper
braking techniques:
Apply the brakes just hard enough to feel a definite
slowdown.
When your speed has been reduced to
approximately five mph below your "safe" speed,
release the brakes. (This brake application should
last for about three seconds.)
When your speed has increased to your "safe"
speed, repeat steps 1 and 2.
For example, if your "safe" speed is 40 mph, you
would not apply the brakes until your speed
reaches 40 mph. You now apply the brakes hard
enough to gradually reduce your speed to 35 mph
and then release the brakes. Repeat this as often
as necessary until you have reached the end of the
downgrade[/FONT]

As to the things Chinatown has posted,
i respectfully have to disagree with him.
Long ago i used to drive a 6 axle truck trailer combo grossing over 130 000lbs without an enginebrake and had i driven like Chinatown suggested i would have burned my brakes and crashed many times.(or maybe just crashed once and died)
In fact a another driver tried it that way and burned all the brakes on his trailer.(even the grease in the bearing got melted out off the bearings)
What Chinatown doesn't realise is that his way ,at best the brakepads get "glaced".
Which means they become rockhard and lose most off their stopping power.

Now i don't want get involved in a fight with Chinatown and if he feels happy with his way ,that is his right.
I just don't agree with him.

 

Best rule of thumb is too start down the hill in the same gear or maybe 1 gear lower than you used to climb the hill, depending on the percentage of the grade, your weight, AND the condition of the brakes on your truck. Some trucks used to have what they called an application gauge, this let you know just how much air was being used to apply the brakes...haven't seen one in many years though, I'm guessing when jakes became less expensive and the technology got better there was no more need for that kind of gauge. IMO, the best way..... is start down in the correct gear, use steady EVEN pressure to let both your engine and brakes hold the truck speed down don't let the thing start to gain too much speed, then there is no need to stab/fan the brakes. IMO, stabbing wastes precious air pressure and causes the brakes to heat-up much faster than a steady even foot on the brake. It worked for me for over 3 decades...but to each his own.

 

You explained it better than I did. Only had brakes flame twice in my career, and it lasted maybe a minute or less, then went out.

 

Both methods work, both methods were taught years ago.


My trainer, when I started years ago, required me to do both proficiently before he'd let me out of the truck.

IMO, the idjits in the mountains aren't the ones coming down the grades at the posted truck speed limit, it's the ones that feel they can fly down them faster than a car.

Can you go down them that fast? yop, but you are forgetting one rule of physics.....


Never drive faster than your brakes.

 

Exactly. No jakes in my first two or three trucks, and I scared myself a couple of times on both I-80 and I-70.

 

I ran Triples(105 GVW)off the Cascades in OR w/ out Jakes. Used a gear that would hold me back w/ about 5 psi application. It worked for me. Knowing the hill makes all the difference.

 

hell of a trk driver!!! lol tell em like it was yrs ago and stop thier crying driver.they dont know how to go down a little mountain hill without jakes they dont need to be in a truck.10-4

 

you just gotta open the door jump out run along side it and drag your feet