A few questions from a relatively new driver...

I lock my doors usually every time I walk away from the truck. I'm paranoid that someone is going to climb in the cab and ask me to take them with me.

Dropping the air bags can help with a heavy load. I have not done it and ripped off my mud flap bracket and all.

I use my jake on steep hills and honestly I only have to use my brakes when I'm near another vehicle. If I'm the only truck there I let it roll 3-10 percent grades. 1-45000 lbs. My KW T600 c-15 just goes rolling merrily along. Now it pisses me off when the grades post a 35-45 mph speed limit.

I run an automatic.

Cab lights are required by some states, required by some carriers, and personal choice by others. I run through traffic with my lights on because I use my headlights to signal to other drivers a lot. Usually to get out of the fast lane...

 

-Around here in Saskatchewan we only lock the truck at night or if leaving it for extended periods of time. Vancouver and Toronto, all the time.
-If the trailer you drop is fully loaded and it does not have suspension locking legs. Then after some period of time the air bags will deflate, with the brakes locked on, the geometry of the suspension control arms will cause the trailer to push forward about four inches. This puts a lot of pressure on the landing gear and they could collapse.
-yes some engines have better jakes than others, and even if they were all the same, the gross weight of the vehicle would still result in major speed differences compared to other, lightly loaded trucks. You have to adapt to load and terrain.
-shifting is all about timing, you get the hang of it, but probably a tickle of the gears is not a big deal. I’ve never lost a transmission.
-interior Red lights not really a problem, some guys just want people to look at themselves. White lights is a disaster waiting to happen, it severely reduces their ability to see road hazards, especially wildlife. In time to avoid them.

 

Truck theft is all about where you are. Most places are worry free but I still lock up all the time.

Dropping the air is done so you don't leave the trailer to high for the next guy. Landing gear lowered about 3 or 4 inches from ground then drop the air and slide out. This way the next driver will lift trailer when backing under.

Jake brake... I know what you mean, some trucks have really good Jake's and others don't. I simply adjust my speed and gear so that I can go down the hill without using my brakes. Every trucker has a different opinion about grades and how to take them.

Grinding gears used to annoy me to no end. It's why I quit training, just couldn't handle the sound. But I didn't shift without grinding for a long time. Now I never grind gears. (Swift has automatics lol)

Interior lights at night??? Good question.

 

I had the same problem with engine brake on my last truck with a Cat engine. No braking power, but lots of noise. One of the other drivers told me to turn on the engine fan going downhill. Worked like a charm. Slowed me down much better than the Jake. Don't know why the Jake was so lousy ,but all of that group of trucks were like that.

 

My current truck, a FL Cascadia has an excellent " 3 speed " Jake.
When I'm fully loaded which is 2/3 of the time because it's a tanker, I can usually just drop a gear and pick a setting and roll down the grade a few miles under the limit with my foot covering the brake.
Some truck speed limits on hills are outdated because older trucks couldn't do this. Brakes are better and Jakes are common. I haven't seen a truck use a runaway ramp for many years. Those things always scared the #### out of me anyway.

 

Some leave a key always in the ignition and are paranoid of someone jumping in and taking off. On dropping suspension it keeps some of the grease on the 5th wheel and some with new tires sit a bit higher so those with worn tires have to go crank the dollies down a bit, I would always crank the dollies down to just barely hitting ground and then dump air so not getting the jolt when pulling out, then when hooking dump air and pull so 5th is just starting under trailer then get out and hook electric and walk around to check tires, lights and that it was not sitting wrong on 5th, then back the rest, hook air lines and charge trailer for another walk around so to hear if anything is leaking, checking that jaws are clamped shut around the pin and then a tug test along with a pull forward of a few feet hitting brakes making sure they worked and onward.