driving down mountains in truck has no engine brake,how to handle that

There are thousands of combinations possible in engines, transmissions and final drive ratios combined with hundreds of tire and wheel situations possible.

What I really like and enjoy in mountain work is a engine with a #####ing Jacobs so big and strong that every valve slamming against the piston is a big bell. If I can hear that I know I can take any load off a vertical 90 degree grade and it will ride all the way down without breathing on the brakes once.

 

Youll be like Wyle E Coyote chasing the Roadrunner.

 

Stab braking is for emergencies, where you stab the brakes, locking them up, then releasing them, and repeat the process until stopped.

Snubbing is using the brakes to slow 5 mph in three seonds, then letting off, allowing the truck to pick up 5mph, then repeating.

 

For your knowledge you won crome accent pieces for a Cascadia bunk window.

(I would also accept losing 500 rpms in 3 seconds.)

 

I've done it both ways, I really don't think one way or another is better. Doing the snub braking will never fail you when done right. I think the old way of light steady pressure is not taught anymore, probably because it is just a thing of the past.

Now the Stab braking in an emergency, I really don't like doing it. Mostly because if I need to do that, I'm doing something wrong to begin with. We have a trailer or two that don't have ABS, and in that case, stab braking would be the better option. Hit the brakes, trailer locks up and goes sideways. Release and it straightens out. So, on non ABS trailers, it works. But these newer trailers, you just plant your foot on the pedal, and it comes to a nice straight stop. Most of the time...

 

Can I just have a designated Super Trucker hat instead? Been accused of being an anger driven, maniac super trucker twice in the last 30 days now on here...

 

A hat costs money and has a purpose - crome accents for a Cascadia have no value or utility.

Today my trainee asked what a Super Trucker is, it took all my will power to not say "you are".

 

That is very true.

There are also some "old schoolers" on these boards that, after a few thousand posts, are pumping gas that destroys their credibility.

The new guys have to learn the same way you "crusty old ########" did: by the seat of their f-----g pants.

I learned by listening to the old hands. But even at a place with a lot of old hands still there, you might never see them.

I've been with this carrier 5 months. I've met the TM, 2 mechanics out of 5, and 2 drivers out of 22.

Back when I first started in the 90s, I met all the drivers at my terminal the first month. We had time to sit and talk, compare notes, learn new approaches to problems. It ain't like that anymore. Probably never will be again.

Trucking "still sucks less than anything else I'm qualified to do".