Brakes

they "honk" when you initially step on the pedal right? if so, this is normal. the truck im in now does this and scared the crap out of me the first time I heard it. I was told its because the tractor has disc brakes as opposed to drum brakes on my old truck. no idea if this is accurate but that's what I was told.
ive never been down vail pass but here in my part of the country there are some pretty steep grades, the one "mountain" in particular that im thinking about I usually go down in 7th and the jake holds my speed perfect but when im heavier then normal I usually go down a gear lower so im not burning up my brakes. right or wrong this is just what I do and its worked so far. I haven't been driving for a real long either.

 

you should be ok at 7th gear. you can always start at 6th and see how it does. its a long grade, so take your time.

 

Something to keep in mind. You can go down that mountain too slow a thousand times. But if you go down it too fast once, you won't be around to try it a second time. Any mountain grade can and will kill you if you don't take them seriously.

 

With the engine off, air supplied to the trailer, and the brake pedal depressed, does the system hold air pressure or lose it?
As for Vale, really depends on the truck... some engines have better jake brakes than others. Just because the speed limit on a grade is 35, 45, whatever doesn't mean you have to do it, and, loaded as heavily as that, you should probably be well under it.

 

spyder7723 stole my line.

Vail Pass is MUCH steeper on the west side than the east and some road design genius stuck a nasty turn at the bottom of the west side. Same thing (steepness) is true with Eisenhower Tunnels (it's not a pass because of the tunnels). West side is much steeper than the east.

 

^ Words to live (and die) by.

 

just follow the signs, and you'll be ok.

the speed limit drops for trucks on quite a few downs.

 

My boss told me something like that.