Mountain grades

The 17% downgrade

 

26% is not that steep especially on pavement. Most important factor. How long is the grade!

 

Good points, although during my stint as a trainer at Swift there's no policy regarding having trainees avoid driving on mountain roads. I encouraged all my trainees to take challenges head on, especially during the first phase of training while I was in the passenger seat to coach them.

The training policies that I had a problem with and never implemented was that trainees were never supposed to use cruise control OR the Jake brake. How stupid is that? Would you want to get to the team phase of training with a rookie at the wheel who doesn't know how to use the Jake properly, or have that rookie test out and run solo without having been trained and practiced using a Jake? From day one I started teaching how to properly use a Jake and how to safely downshift on a downgrade.

 

'school" says you cant' downshift on grade. That is untrue. But you have to be at a RPM/speed that will let you shift down.

Trying (on a 10-speed) to shift into 9th at 70 is NOT going to work.

If you find yourself going too fast, slow WAY, WAY below your "safe" speed (Usually 5-10 below the limit) And THEN downshift one gear, than do it again and take another gear.


If you're losing your brakes on a grade after 3000 feet, you have bad brakes and should have caught them on your pretrip. You're screwed.

Bad brakes is REALLY rare these days

 

They tell you to shift with the clutch but most experienced drivers do not. I learned on 2 stick 4x3, 4x4 and 5x4, progressive and deep under browning, single and twin counter shaft. I only used the clutch to start or when coming to a complete stop.
I taught at a truck driving school for a short time. I told my students they must master using the clutch to pass their driving test and that afterward not to push it but shifting without the clutch smoothly will come with practice.

 

My experience is 2 days so take it with a grain of salt... The switch backs and 8.5% grades on i-17 from Phoenix to Utah, especially on the way up and down around Lake Powell... That was my first day over the road. I left Phoenix and within a few hours with my mentor, I was driving with my hazards on... Learning some #### they didn't teach me at the academy. If it wasn't for that engine brake, my ### would be typing messages like Stephen Hawking right now. When you look to your left and to your right, seeing a canyon that suddenly opens beneath a bridge that you didn't know you were about to cross until 1 second before you're on it, and you're looking straight down a mountain barely at the legal weight, you start having a conversation with your maker. 10% or more, ####... I would drive like 5 hours out of the way to avoid that.

I will tell you this though... It was worth it. I saw beauty I would never have seen otherwise. There is absolutely zero reason for me to EVER be driving this route otherwise. I would never have seen it.

Go slow. Now go slower. Now turn on your hazards. Be patient. Stay in your lane. Crank that engine brake to the "absolute crawl" setting and just enjoy the scenery.

 

Interstate grades upwards of 7% and a bit more here and there, steep yes but nothing that will be STEEP.

Steep to me when it gets above 12% towards 25%

Donner goes for 44 miles but that one is signed to the point that anyone who reads em will run it ok. But it's not for newbies.

One mentioned Spotted Wolf, that one by law you cannot exceed 30 eastbound on I-8 However if you made that 6 mile grade there is a nice run out at the bottom. You will actually be below sea level in spots.

Fancy gap is 5 miles into NC from VA, Town hill south of Breezewood is 4 miles. There are quite a few mountains around the USA east coast and west that are not marked very well and not interstate. Those are where you need to do your very best. There are more of these than I can remember and Ive just about been on all of them.

If you have a choice not to run 68 then dont. It's 5 passes before Morgantown and more in either direction through WVa. Going east there is Big savage waiting for you towards cumberland. They built a wall higher than your semi designed to physically prevent you from crashing into Downtown Cumberland on the last drop and curve. You will see it.

Milesburg on 80 gets you where possible becaues you don't know about it. It's 10 miles eastbound straight down. Westbound it's a pull Course if you hit it around 118 or no more than 122 (Curve at bottom) westbound you will be at 55 over the summit But no one can do that now everyone is goverened.

PA 322 7 mountains it's not marked much but you will know you are on it. This one is one of my favorites due to it's technical challenges, especially in powder snow. Sandstone in Va is another. It's not much of a mountain but for what it's history it's very respected.

I can go on but I think enough here, others will fill in. There are many mountains and any of them will hurt and or kill you or someone around you if you do not run em correct every time.

 

The Jakes works best at about 1800 to 2000 rpm. don't let the super truckers tell you to hurry up don't be scared. my moto is the bottom of that hill ain't going anywhere so no hurry to get down. the only time I shift on a hill is at the top, if it starts pulling me a little quicker than I want to go I'll brake it down to about 1000 rpm downshift then let the Jakes do work.

 

This works most of the time if you are familiar with the hill, your truck, and how the weight and center of gravity of your load is going to react. However, on unfamiliar grades, a new truck, or not quite figuring the load correctly you need to shift if snub braking becomes more braking than letting the Jake's alone do the job.

The scenario that comes to mind is coming down an unfamiliar hill at 6% and being set up perfectly, then turning a corner and seeing a 9% drop with a two mile straightaway followed by a hairpin curve with a recommended speed of 15 mph and a top heavy load. Shifting isn't just an option in that case, it's a necessity.

 

If you set it up for 1600 Jake at a gear low enough to hold her with a little less RPM or perhaps a little more, I like to keep one gear lower than that but jake holds her above torque. Best case scenario is to ride the jake all the way to bottom without touching the brakes once. (Those you save cold to protect life if necessary.)

Im very extreme when coming down slow is good, plenty of time. Once in a while on certain mountains I'll take it the other way to around 126 or so where gravity balances everything out and continues to try to pull even faster. But those mountains are generally 5% with a straight run out of at least 2 miles at the bottom. I don't know of any company that will tolerate records that high on the electronics these days.

There are a couple hills with my name on it, I talked about Paris VA where there is a ridge not far to the west where nothing but sky coming back east because the curve is so steep and demanding to come around straight up. It's hard to describe. Mack has a body factory at the end of that particular road.

I once came up from southern Ohio the hard way and I think there was a thousand little hills knocking me down to 15 on my knees every time. I made a decision not to run like that again. It's crazy.

Techahapi is a personal favorite particulary west bound towards spring at the end of winter, there is a huge grade at the end overlooking what seems to be the entire valley at dawn when it's green. The contrast was striking. Otherwise it's 16 miles of work to get that view.

There is one grade I did not mention, white sulphur springs at the bottom of that one. There used to be and probably are legends and songs sung and continue to be around that particular hill.

Another is Emigrant Gap, the old road. If you found the rest area up there and understand that pioneers roped wagons and steers from tree to tree straight down then you know it. (I would not...) if the west coast ever got invaded, I will choose Emigrant as a stronghold, they will never get past that one.