72mph # Swift Will get you FIRED

another good idea is not to run against your limiter when going down hill---if you have to drop a gear you cant bring the rpms up--you have to get into the brake , to get it slowed down so you can bring revs up to shift--i hate limiters--and i hate having to use brakes

 

If you can't downshift you're going too fast.

It's a little bit scary to me that people are getting turned loose on the highway lacking such basic skills.

 

So then I would be going down in like...11th gear!

I pull'em kinda fast because I have a big motor so the threory doesn't hold true in all cases.
There is a technique that you can use to downshift on a downgreade safely but I'll not descibe it here because someone will try it after misrerading the directions and get in trouble and wind up in a runaway truck ramp!

Then they'll come back here cryin' and sayin' I told them to do it!

 

Awww... c'mon, BW9! Make a demo video for us.....p-b-b-bleeeeaaase?
(Roger Rabbit impression)

 

This right here,...no way 1 incident of overspeed got you fired, there is more to this story than you are telling. I know that the first offense is verbal warning, then a letter is sent as well. 2nd offense is a sit down with the safety man, and the 3rd can be termination but its not likley. You got to do some serious stuff to get whacked at Swift. I was a former company driver now have bought a truck and leased it back to Swift. They aslo do not fire people because they dont have trucks to give out, simply because they have trucks to hand out.

 

I think its hilarious that ole Red thinks the only place a trucker can get on the internet is at a truckstop. See,..we got these here air cards now that will hook up to the innerwebs just about anywhere now Red.

Lets see pictures of your ride Red,...so we can point fingers and make comments about it. Troll.

 

The schools teach that downshifting on a grade is an absolute NO...WRONG...what they should be teaching is the application of common sense and thinking ahead.

A driver thinking ahead would start down the grade slow, and maintain the safe speed for load/grade with gears and jakes, and when needed, foot brake. Like some O/O's like to do use their "jolly brake"...putting all the brake stress on the trailer "saving" their tractor brakes...not a wise thing to do at all.

Like Injun said..."if you can stop, you can downshift"...actually if you can slow with your brakes you can downshift...it means knowing the RPM point required to get the lower gear. It is not only a matter of speed, it is the RPM's and how high you are running them. Get the RPM's down to the shift range; 1100 - 1500, bring the RPM's up and drop the gear. Where rookies (inexperienced drivers) get in trouble is they don't clutch to get the RPM's up, they simply throttle up...gaining speed negating the downshift...

When you get experience and time at the wheel, these situations that schools and books say are "NO NO'S" you will find they are actually done all the time. It is a matter of driving the truck within the limits of the current situation. No two days are the same, no two loads are the same...a driver needs to adjust and adapt to each given situation, and experience gives the driver the knowledge how to handle the given situation.

 

And that continuing education follows you even today.

Now they put experienced drivers into simulators. That are supposed to train us how to be better drivers. Horse #### !

I've never went down a 6% grade grossing 79k on a sunny summer day. Then had 30k fall out the back of a dry van, just before hitting a patch of ice with 50 mph cross winds.

Oh the brakes are out ?? Pull the emergency brake! WTF ?? What part of "brakes are out" is this simulator having trouble understanding? Dumping the air won't help.

Drive through the accident, don't stop ?? No ! The entire road is blocked by emergency vehicles. The officer will tell me when I can go.

 

A big enough motor, good 'jakes, and the proper speed ... you don't even need to touch the breaks on most any grade and any weight ... even if it means 25mph.

Absolutely no need to to touch that shifter on decent ... and shouldn't be "taught" at all.

Decent should be at least a gear lower than ascent - at least, which means downshift before cresting the grade.

The problem almost always is being in too big a hurry.