handling a downgrade

Just to add. A story about a going down a grade.
We have a 15% grade here. At the bottom is a sharp curve. Guard rail. Drop off of about 30 to 50 feet.
We had a winter storm move in. Boss had called me. Told me to park the truck. Finish in the morning.
Next morning I headed up that grade. All the guard rail on that curve at the bottom. It was all mangled up and on the opposite side of the road. I knew it had to be a truck.
A couple month later I stopped at construction that was DOT. I asked the flagman about that. He bursted out laughing. Said it was their own truck and their own fault. Their truck went up there for a delivery. Came back down. That storm had moved in. They didn't do anything about the road. The truck just kept going at the bottom. Wouldn't stop. Wouldn't turn. Wouldn't do nothing but keep going. Thankfully the guard rail stopped him. He did take it all out. He was ok. Didn't go over the edge.

 

It takes a lot of experience to know every grade and the tricks to get down them safely. It however does not require a lot of experience to apply common sense to all grades and get down them the safe way. It's not a race to get to the bottom first. If you play that game you'll be stuck at the bottom with either smoke or fire but in any case you'll be without brakes. Some drivers have sugestted the method of letting the truck drift and that's ok as long as you don't use a lot of air to slow you down. Others have suggested that the engine do the work and use the RPM's to keep the truck in a safe zone. Either way you use the method that gets you to the bottom without brake smoke or fire. Usually if you have a fire it's too late and you have bigger problems. If I have a good engine brake I'll use the gear that will keep the engine at around 200 to 300 RPM below red line and hardly touch the brakes. If the truck does not have any type of engine brake then I'll use the drifting method. Either way you should come out of the grade with enough braking power to stop in an emergency.

Before you start down the grade make sure the brakes are adjusted. If there's room pull over and at a complete stop apply at least 90lbs of air for a couple of seconds. This will apply or adjust your automatic slack adjusters. If they do not move and after you've inspected them then you need to get to a repair shop that has a qualified brake man. That's the law but not the real world. In that case I would creep down the grade and get them repaired as soon as I could. Also before you start down the grade turn the music radio off, crack the window a bit so you can smell the outside air, Then turn the CB on with the squelch way up so you'll only hear other trucks near by. And make sure your mirrors are adjusted so you can see right behind the truck. You'd be surprised on how much you can see from the brake lights being applied.

I know a lot of drivers will say you can adjust the brakes yourself. That was true when we had the non auto slack adjuster. But now these braking system need to be done by someone qualified and if you try to adjust them your adjustment will not stay adjusted. That's what the manufacture say. Any hoot this is my 2½ which has worked for me with extra load weights up to 120,000lbs with no engine brakes.