Coasting?

On a serious note, not meant to be condescending. In the west we have what are known as "false grades". I can count dozens of hills that I would swear are level or even slightly up hill but in reality are 30 miles of 3% down grade. When you are on one of those then at the end you add another 3% that you do notice, you think "its only a slight grade, I can coast"... One minute later you are going 90 MPH and cant get back into gear, and thats not even the bad news. You have 20 more miles of 6% to deal with. When I say you dont notice, I mean myself, a 25 year veteran of the west coast who does heavy haul and fuel, sometimes I dont realize when Im on a false grade. So for a guy with one year of trucking to assume that he can always judge when its OK to pop the stick out and let it roll is NOT a good idea.
I-17 Munds Park to Camp Verde
I-40 Kingman to CA line.
AZ 68 from Golden Valley to Bullhead
U.S. 93 from I-40 to Wickenberg


^^^ 20 plus mile long down grades with ZERO flat or uphill spots to recover from a mistake.

 

BTW, one of the scariest things a heavy haul driver does is when you misjudge what gear you need to be in at the top of a 30 mile long hill. Here is the mindset.
1) I might be in too high of a gear
2) I AM in too high of a gear
3) I need to downshift
4) Im going too fast to get in a lower gear
5) Brakes are already hot from trying to get slowed enough to get in a lower gear
6) Man this happened fast (15 seconds)
7) Can I free spin this motor up to 2300 RPM and shove it into a lower gear?
8) I dont have time to wait for the fan to shut off so that I can free spin this thing up (quick "I promise I'll go to church if I get through this" prayer)
9) Shove the clutch and throttle to the floor as fast and hard as I can, hope I dont break off the shifter knob when I slam this thing into gear.

30 minutes later as you pass the runaway truck ramp think to yourself "if I had made it this far Id be going 200 MPH."

 

AZ 68 from Golden Valley to Bullhead

I was thinking of this section also.

 

Follow me on this.................So your chugging up some grade with a load on. Your 1/2 of the way up and here comes a truck on the down grade. As he flies by, you smell it! I says to myself. Boy I' sure would'nt want to be in the cab of that truck right now. Nothing like having a BBQ on the way down the mountain.

 

Coasting falls under state jurisdiction.

A few examples since I don't know what state you are in...

When you drive 40 years your odds are higher you will have an event in your lifetime. Practice safe driving habits daily and lower them odds. You are doing nothing but playing a game in your truck. A truck is not for playing games. Save that for your motorcycle that is out of gas and won't hurt anyone.

Your truck relies on the brakes, drivetrain and engine to safely descend a mountain. Take away any one of them and you are out of control. Your little experiment could of went sour real quick. Don't be that driver that has regret over something stupid.


Edit: ah VA...

 

i am not a super trucker and i have never drove a truck with an automatic, so i am a little curious about one statement i read in this thread,one poster said his automatic will kick the transmission out of gear on a down hill and the engine brake will keep the truck from going to fast, in every truck (manual) that i have driven if i kicked the tranny out of gear with the jakes on it would kill my engine if i didn't turn the jake off fast enough,so what is it about the auto he was talking about.

I hope i don't have to go back and find that post in the last 8 pages.

 

i run a volvo with the i-shift and the eco roll which does take the tranny out of gear and the truck will coast on down hill runs but is controlled by an engine brake to prevent speeding .

Found it pretty easy

 

I just ''coasted'' down a long decline in PA....Sooooooooooooooo Koolllllllllllllllll..What A Rush....