Hello! A quick question?????

Slow and easy,a little common sense will go a long ways, you'll be fine.

 

For mountains, make sure you select the right gear on down hills and use your Jake. When you brake you should not brake for more then 3 seconds at a time. Braking longer or riding the brake will result in brake fade. Also keep an eye on you air. If your using up your air to quick, brake harder and longer and try to lengthen the time in between braking. If you choose the right gear you wont have any trouble. Weight of the load aerodynamic of the truck and steepness of the grade are the main factors for choosing a gear.

 

You might want to come off the first few times w/ all jake and some brakes. Let the engine do the work. Gear selection is vitial. Hit the 4 ways if your under 25mph and Run it cool. It's alot easier to speed up than slow down.

 

Whatever you do, never use your jakes on snow/ice.

 

Thats exactly how I felt when I started driving trk with big cities.Why don't you see if you can go on a couple runs with a driver so you can get a feel of what you'll have to do solo.

 

I know that what DOT recommends, but it is BS, i use mine on snow all the time with no problems. Think about it, Jack knifes primarily happen when the trailer wheels lock up. Trailer wheels wont lock with jake. Theoreticaly the trailer could swing around if the cab slowed fast enough, but highly unlikely since the jake doesn't slow it that fast. If you use your brakes your far more likely to cause an 18 wheel skid when apply braking to all axles. With a Jake your only slowing down 2 axles, not braking any of them. (assuming you have your power divider on which I would in snow) You wont lock up those axles and the slow down is not that intense. I keep an eye on my trailer and if it gets out of line ill turn off jake, but i have never had it happen.

I've taken 7%+ grades in snow and had no problem. I just kept it slow and used my jake to control speed. Proper use of Jake is to maintain speed not really slow down the truck.

 

I agree except for the part about the jackknife. If the trailer brakes lock nothing happens, you stay in a straight line. I think you got a sentance structure problem?

 

Actually a tire that is not turning has NO traction at all and may cause a jack knife situation. Here is an article you may want to read;

http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-to-Avoid-Jackknife-Accidents&id=5292599


http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-...towing/maneuvers/how-to-avoid-jackknifing.htm

 

Can you provide me links to any of the common retarder brake manufacturers where they advise it's okay to use them on snow/ice???