Wrong gear

When the relatives from Indiana came to visit, Dad took them through the Delaware Water
Gap to see the cabin and made sure to drive back over the mountain on Rt 191.

The size of their eyes as they saw the billboard big sign...1.5 mile down hill Trucks MUST use the Lowest gear....priceless.

I'm sure if I ever see the Rockies I will be the same way.....

 

I have a hill I go down every morning after my first farm... I have around 42k of milk loaded at that point. The slope goes down a bit levels and the down again.... Stop sign at the end. I go down the 2nd part of the slope in 5 low.... This is an 18 speed manual. So I descend the hill at 15 mph or so, allowing the Jake to do as much as possible and using air brakes to keep the rpms at 1700 or less. I dont care if cars down like it. It's not a super steep grade but the point is always to use the proper gear and avoid heating up and destroying brakes.

You can go down a hill many times too slow but only once too fast. This hill gets more interesting in the winter when it's snow and ice covered.... The town won't do a good job one the rest of the road but they take care of that hill. Going up the hill empty in the winter is also fun.

 

Waipio Road?

Hold my beer.

 

Driving off road adds another pucker factor to driving the grades. What to do if your truck loses traction going down a hill?

 

Took a look on YouTube. Usually the camera takes away from how steep it really is but on camera it still looks god #### steep. On top of that they are very narrow roads doesn’t look like an normal interstate truck with a 53ft will be able to navigate it. Might need a cab over truck with a pup trailer.

From the comments it seems the locals say that even regular cars are at risk overheating their brakes if they’re using the old drum brake setup.

 

Discover religion, if you haven't already.

 

Always grateful for everyday I park the truck rubber side down.

 

Unless you have a load of those big ### tires strapped to the deck.

Then I just get confused.

 

An honest answer to this, rather than my semi-snarky one.

If you lose traction on a downhill grade on gravel or something, your absolute first requirement is to find some kind of control. If the slope is short, just do your best to keep the tractor and trailer from jackknifing. Same rules as hydroplaning. Steer into your direction and try to get steerage.

Once you have steerage, and the slope is short, try to ride it down.

If the slope is long, or has a curve at the bottom, or a cliff, or you simply know nothing about what is coming up, at that point, it might be time to go offroading and try to sink the tires in the shoulder.

If that doesn't work, it might be time to look for some trees to bounce the truck into. You might even consider trying to push the truck into rubbing against a cutaway embankment.

If you can see that saving the truck is hopeless, jump. Unless you see that the truck might endanger people. In that case, make the call. Sacrifice yourself and try to ensure nobody else dies, or jump and hope that luck favors them. I'd probably try to stay with the truck and do something stupid to try and ensure nobody else dies.