Driving in heavy rain no engine brake

Well hwy 1 after yesterday shouldn't be so bad. It's that first rain you have to worry about really. 1 doesn't have an ice problem and a mile isn't a long hill. Yesterday I would have started a hill in those conditions really slow. Now you can almost take I like normal (it sounds like a daily hill for you). Just try and get that "it seems awfully slow" mentality out of your head. I don't know how many times ice been passed in bad weather just to watch the truck passing me drive right into a ditch. I'm sure the last thought they all had was "darn I shouldn't have tried to pass"

 

If I'm descending a steep grade in slick conditions, whether rain on long dry roads or in snow, I'll use jakes but only apply them in low setting to begin with. What you DON'T want to do is put those jakes on high and then get off the throttle so they grab hard. I'll get off the throttle in low jake setting, THEN adjust the jakes to middle or high after they are fully engaged. Especially don't have the jakes on full and be constantly getting on and off the throttle.

Regarding which gear to be in on the descent, I'll take one gear less than I normally take, starting down the hill a little slower and see if the low or medium jake settings will be enough to hold it. I dislike getting into high jake setting if possible and will downshift to get a gear I can control speed in low or medium jake if possible.

Another thing is to be ready to instantly CANCEL the jake if you feel you are starting to slide or jackknife. Cancel the jake to let yourself correct, then get on the service brakes gradually to bring the speed back down and reengage jake in low setting.

 

LTL way: Hammer down, slam on the brakes at the last second, if you have to.

 

Not sure how you come to that amazing conclusion there chief.
I said to use LOWER gears not higher. Get it yet? Want a picture?
I regularly gross over 100,000lbs, and have done so for a couple of decades now, all without incident and in 19 different countries. So I think it's safe to say I may have an idea how to drive down a mountain pass. So go play with your little 80k lb setups then come back.
Read what I posted completely and then try to come back with some witty remark.

Martin

 

Not sure what you're going on about, aside from projecting your insecurities. i was joking about how "less than truckload"(LTL) drivers tend to pretty much do the opposite.

 

No insecurities thank you, but a very long (one of "those" days) day and glancing at LTL thought LLT, meaning me.
That being the case, I am not too proud to send my sincere apologies in your direction.

Martin

 

We do what they do in China. Let it rain. Funny, trucks didn't have Jakees in the early 70s and we got along fine running NM, UT, CO, and KS. Those Kansas mountains were the worst but the wind came and blew them all away.