Melton, Whatcher 20

Mrh..oh I know what the Jake brake is(I wouldn't have made it thru CDL school without knowing what it was) but I just didn't know what he meant when he said that he had it on high and that it had three positions, he didn't explain it me and should have..but thank you for the explanation, I appreciate it..

"If your in the right gear at the right speed, you can come down the longest, steepest mountain passes with your Jake on high and not touch the brake pedal once."...REALLY?? Cause even my "trainer" today left brake smoke all over the interstate 5 coming down tojan pass north of LA, it was 6% downgrade for about 6 miles and the last few miles there was smoke everywhere..he started down in eight gear and shifted to 7th on a little flat halfway down, I think he should have used 7th all the way from the top..When he was in 7th, the RPMs where like in 20s, is that safe??

BTW, I wasn't driving and it was still scary seeing all that smoke..lol

 

You sure your with a trainer floydborga? Lol That hardly sounds like a trainer to me. I've came down most every major pass and never smoked brakes. Jeez

 

Think it's because he didn't go by the rule of when going downhill put it in the same gear or lower that you would use to climb the hill. I think that's how the guideline goes, anyhow! I'm looking forward to hopefully going to work here myself in a few months!

 

I went through that 17 miles downhill passing Flagstaff and I didn't have smoking brakes...

It was scary for a first time but I made it through.

 

Your "trainer" was driving too fast and was in the wrong gear. That hill north of LA is known as the grape vine, and the speed limit for trucks is 45 MPH on that section. I've driven that route too many times to count and have never had a problem. And yes, in the right gear at the right speed, you don't need to touch the brakes. It'll come with experience. At a certain point, the Jake will negate the force of gravity and you'll go down without gaining any more speed.

 

We are hauling something like 45 or 46 k..

 

yeap, that's one and actually the limit is 35mph...what gear do you use? 7th? Remember we are very heavy..tomorrow if I come to any of these steep downgrades I'm gona start out in 7th..

 

Generally, I don't go by a certain gear. I like to come down mountains by rpm. My truck seems to do the best down hill at about 1600 rpm. What gear I'm in at 1600 rpm depends on the load and the hill. I came down the hills west of St Louis today at 1600 rpm in 10th, 76k lbs. do that on Cabbage and you're dead.

Thinking about your trainer coming down the grape vine, he may not have been going too fast for the hill, just too fast for California's speed limits.

 

You can come down a mountain a thousand times too slow, but only one time too fast.

Donner Pass on 80 west of Reno. This was his last ride http://youtu.be/Tx0jXI2VyJ8

 

lol....Just got up, whatever is on that vid I'm not watching I've got some mountains to ride today...