Downgrades without jake/engine brakes

Lots of good advice here!

 

Go down grades in winter/rainy conditions without jakes. Just have to choose a lower gear. My truck de-rated years ago which canceled the jakes somehow, going east on I-70 into Denver had to downshift to about 4th gear for some of those grades and creep down.

 

Apply constant 30 psi on brake pedal all the way to the bottom..

 

Oh dear. This takes us back to a topic that was discussed here several months ago.

Bad advice or being facetious/sarcastic? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

 

Good way to get someone killed

 

That's the correct answer, for many of us anyway. I didn't even know what a jake brake is my first several years of trucking, but I'd heard of it. I went down Cabbage, Donner, Black Mountain and many others. By the way, Monteagle is just a short hill.
I learned the steady braking method in the 10 day cdl school I attended and all the instructors were old school drivers, not rookies. They were teaching because they just needed a break from the road for awhile. They were really a cool bunch of instructors and yes, they taught us how to drive in only 10 days and we could pass any road test given today.
Back to "steady braking" method; the brakes will not catch fire. Steady braking prevents oxygen from getting betweed the brake pads and the drum or disk. Without oxygen, there won't be fire. Will the brakes smoke? Yes, and they really smoke when you reach the bottom of the grade and release the brakes. I've done this hundreds of times and never had a problem.

STexan is right; big argument on here about that a while back and one driver was ready to hire hit men to take us all out. He's the one that also said the trolley brake or johnson bar should be used for steep down grades because that's what it's for.
There's more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. I won't be dragged into another argument about this, I just know steady braking worked for me for years and never had a problem with it.

 

Slide down a 1,500 foot rope with your bare hands one time trying to get to the bottom with little delay and the get back to me about the "constant application, steady decent" model.

This bad advice dates back to when tractor owner-ops trashed other trailers by only using trailer brakes constantly, while descending hills, because they weren't responsible for trailer brake replacement/failure on somebody else's trailer.

That will work in shorter 5-6% grades but longer 7%+? Good luck with that if truly heavy, on only 5 braking axles.

Subtle descent differences make huge end result effects. The difference between 5 miles of 5-6%, and 5 miles of 6-7% is huge.

Plus. We're assuming ALL brakes are 100% in working order for such a technique to stand a chance of working if heavy and on a 7%+ grade. Otherwise, you'll be somewhere near the bottom wondering if ignition and fire is going to occur

 

I wouldnt drive a rigged up, pieced together truck. I'd rig one up to get me back from Hell, but I'm not going to Hell in that truck.

 

put it in neutral and roll down the hill