Downgrades in the snow

8.5% is the average over the last 5 kms, the steepest part is right out of the snow shed.

 

That's it?

 

I use my jakes going down grades all the time in snow. I don't know where this "NEVER USE JAKE BREAKS IN THE SNOW OR YOU WILL JACK KNIFE" came from because I've never had a problem.

 

Because the first thing you will do is slide the drives forward not rotating because you managed to stall them clean off with that big fat jacobs on top of too little of a load. Way to go. Oh don't look now but your front end is coming off a 400 foot drop your trailer is more than halfway around to joining it over that gaurd rail which did not help you much. You already knew the modern stuff is so crappy on the mountains like US 322 seven mountains and yet we still run it like Lemmings drawn to a particular task.

Other than being a rotating dryer that breaks all of your bones on contact with something, the actual ow will and should be relatively brief before lights out for you. Use this time to commend yourself and think of your lived ones first. If at all possible you want out. You can rest easy that vehicle fire will keep you warm a while.

 

Just don't choose FedEx to mimic

 

I usually get into Handel's Royal and let the Music Box take off and run with it. I do not allow more than say a touch of my mind get into it distracting me from trucking

 

I use jakes in bad conditions as well... I believe the dont us jakes comes in from companies that dont train well enough... Because the jakes CAN cause you to loose traction if one is not cautious. You have to know when its safe to use the Jake's and how to "feel" what the truck is telling you on the slick roads.

 

You’ve never driven on slick roads or you’ve never had engine brakes that were worth a dam or you’ve never been light enough.

Keep it up. Sooner or later you’re going to feel your drives slip sideways as one or more wheels want to stop turning as fast as the others. Just a matter of when.

 

I also use Jakes on snow and ice, BUT I keep it on medium or low setting AND disengage it in a nanosecond if I feel any tendency to skid at all. Then to regain control I apply gentle service brakes to bring the rpm's way down, then downshift and start again with low Jakes at about 1000 rpm's.

The lower the rpm's the less braking power you have with Jakes. In slick conditions I try to find the gear that I can hold at no more than medium Jakes at no more than 1300 rpm's, perhaps with a little gentle snub braking now and then.

 

This is how you go down hill in snow and ice.

You don't want use the engine brakes because you can cause a jacknife. You use the brakes to get downhill and you use engine brake to go downhill faster !

First people need to understand how much heat the drums can take without overheating. That's 10psi of brakes pressure or less and you can ride the brakes all day and they will never over heat. The drums can dissipate that much heat without over heating.

That is how you know if you going downhill for the weight in the trailer. The correct speed is any speed you can hold the truck back at 10psi or less brake pressure. Then if you want go faster you turn on engine brake and see fast you can go with brake at 10psi or less and the engine holding you back together.

In ice or snow you will be going slower because you only be using the regular brakes. This is also called light steady pressure way. You don't want to stab or snub the brakes because in snow and ice you could lock the brakes up and now you have to recover from a jacknife.

You also want low engine RPMs like 1,200. Some people think this is wrong because they are using the engine brake like in summer. You want low engine RPMs because if the trailer starts to jacknife going downhill and coming around your tractor, you have to stop it. You do that by getting off the brakes and step on the pedal and pull the trailer downhill and back behind your truck. You don't want wait time shifting gears because you can pull the trailer because you going downhill at 1,800 RPMs and can pull the trailer.