Hill starting, up shift and downshift on hills.

Lifting off on a hill is easy. Select 1st gear, let the clutch off until it starts to grab, let your foot off the brake and then let the clutch out nice and easy. Sounds like you're dumping the clutch and shock loading the driveline. Not good.

 

Im going to address the scary question first. "What happens if you are uphill bad enough to break your truck or screwup on your downshifting and she starts running away backwards?"

Put her against a gaurdrail, cement barrier or rock face asap. Put her into the ditch asap. Even if you had to settle against some trees. asap. This would be on a grade you cannot walk on very well. Really steep.

Dont worry about all that. Generally if your brakes are in good condition you stop instantly. And start over again in your shifting.

The clutch brake is only for finding a gear sitting still at a light or something. There is space between the brake action and the biting you speak of. Thats where you are and no further in shifting.

Once she bites add fuel as much as needed with the clutch out. Not TOO VIOLENTLY or the cab will jerk tossing your coffee.

At some point your truck will settle into one gear until the top. You stay in that gear and thats all you get until the top.

Getting down requires you to be lower than that gear and slow with or without a jake brake. You will find a gear that the truck wont nose down, buck or jerk back and forth on you. And the engine will behave while holding you back all the way to the bottom without brakes. Thats is the best way.

Mountains are not difficult easy up and easy down. Its a form of routine you will do the same thing every time. Gently. I would like for newer truckers to still have access to the pyrometer. That is the one item of information that governs how well or how badly you are pulling a upgrade. The main thing is to pull easy in a good gear all the way to the top without getting all overhead and hot. Getting up and over is much more important than how fast.

 

Here the simple way like other person said. You keep you foot on the brakes and let the clutch out till you feel the truck trying to pull. Then let you foot off the brakes and let the clutch out rest of the way. It will pull at idle

Then to keep going you shift at 1,000rpms or less because you don't have to match the gears. The truck will pull at 1,000 RPM. Then when you get to ready to shift to high range. You bring the RPMs up to 1,600 then shift gears at 1,600 and put the pedal to the floor because you will need all the power then

In low range you just want enough speed to grab the next gear may bring it up to 1,100 or 1,200 on the hill. But the higher the RPMs the more you have to worry about matching the gear in the low grears 1-5

 

Also the highter the RPMs in low range the longer you have to wait for them to drop before it will even go in gear. The problem with that is the truck is also slowing down at the same time. That make it more difficult to get it in gear or the timing has to be just right.

The truck can slow down faster then the RPM can drop and you will miss the chance to get the gear. That if say you tried shifting at 1,800 RPMs the RPMs won't drop down faster then the truck will slow down. So it would never go in gear. That why you want the keep the RPMs low because you don't have match the low range gears up.

 

In really steep situations the trolley is brought into play. When applied it takes a few seconds to come off.

That is the time you dance in that cab setting up full clutch out service brake off and applying power to move timed to when your trailer brakes drift off with the trolley handle coming back up.

If you are coming out of a hole that is truly steep onto pavement like a divided highway in a turn (A sign for you is when shes creaking at the frame etc) you do not shift at all. You wait until you straighten out and take the pressure off the 5th wheel and your drives. Then you can go ahead and shift.

 

The main reason you keep foot on brakes untill truck is trying to pull is so you don't roll back into someone behind you. If you give the truck to much power in low gears like you to in a car. You are putting a lot of strain on the drive line You could even break the drive line

That's how they trained me, it does take practice. They took up Parleys just outside of Salt lake City. We were not good at doing it but we had the basic idea of how to get going on a big hill.

 

Try applying the trailer brake arm (to the right of the steering wheel) all the way to hold you on the hill. Then, select your starting gear and let the clutch out until it just begins to grab. You can hear and feel this. Then, let go of the trailer brake arm. This should allow you to take off smoothly without having to do things fast.