Just some questions came up after the I70 crash in CO.

1st of all, no dumb questions. Quite frankly, these people in Colorado may be alive if this kid asked a dumb question. Your answer isn't about downshifting, it's starting at the top too fast. Even engine brakes have their limits. It's all about saving your brakes, and this kid found out the hard way. I see some drivers, EXPERIENCED drivers out here, put on the 4 ways, hug to the right, and begin the downhill at 10-20 mph. Yeah, it's going to take a while at 15 mph, something that obviously can't be tolerated today with newer drivers. In this case, I doubt the CB would not have helped. It's the last thing someone might do if their truck was careening out of control.

 

I have run mountains one way every. time.

Set up the Jake near redline RPM for the engine, find the right gear so that it will stay in that gear near redline with jake on. Wait until bottom is reached. Let her go. COLD brakes. Not touched once. Maybe a little shift here or there when the mountain changes halfway down and she noses down or chokes on the jacobs. One gear maybe two at most either way. Always stage three. None of that two or one stage ever. Im all or nothing.

I think the Kid's failure on that grade goes back to Langauge. He was absolutely surrounded by plain english signs telling him exactly what to do in school boy langauge. A child could understand stay in gear next three miles. The language is probably related to where he came from with that legal green card. Work in America but not bother to learn enough english to do it correctly. No wonder there was a interperter in his ear telling him he needs 400,000 US Dollars to get free waiting trial. That's not going to happen I think.

Regarding floating gears. You learn either by accident in heavy traffic after a certain point or you are taught by a trainer who thinks you are ready for it. When the RPMs are perfect at two seperate specific numbers on your RPM gauge, you can absolutely change gears up or down easily. A finger tip is all you need. It's that easy.

Regarding speed downgrade. This one is for me. It's my first hand experience. Remember I had a fear of mountain work.

My third trainer would be on top of Townhill which is 4 miles 6% I think more or less on I-70. Straight down. Except a 80 mph curve at the bottom eastbound. Speed limit was 55 at that time. Opened her up foot on the floor, run out the top gear. Put her into neutral and wait for gravity to quit increasing speed. We are at about 140 theoratically going by stopwatch against mileposts. Maybe 18 seconds per post. Fast enough to feel a negative gravity. It's fast. The tires, bearings, suspension in particular don't like it. The humming is not fun. But you are at the bottom in no time. use about 80 PSI from both primary and secondary with the alarm in your ear when you get below 80 prior to that curve. Compressor puts it back above 60 fast enough.

We only did this a couple of times. Just enough for me to understand that it really does not matter how fast you go until YOU MUST STOP. And you find you cannot. THAT is where the death waits for you. You break the truck. Then you break. Then the burial commences. What a waste.

But the fear? Gone. Now... that does not mean I am not afraid downgrade. As long I come down slower than I come up in a lower gear than I come up in and have cold brakes in a reasonable balance with physics and jacobs all is well. So If I must stop or get stopped, it will be ok. Either braking or ramp.

Refer to my rule about going downhill. Cold brakes is the goal. You will NEVER need a ramp in that.

I have runaways before brakes gone, fire is afoot, smoke rolling across the whole road bit. Scary. You don't stop or burn the truck down. Also you already (Myself) have screwed up royally and absolutely FAILED to run that hill safely. So you cannot stop. Then people die. If there is dying to be done let it be me who came off there too #### fast. Serves me right.

Throw in ice, snow and rain? HA. That's motivating to me. But I have limits and I have seen them over the years where I would prefer to stay up there until it's melted and gone a few days later. I would too. Dispatch can wait. They can fire me when get back. But there is no wrecking, no dying none of that.

The CB radio. I still have my Uniden PC76xl I won at cards in Calhoun LA on I-20 25 years ago. It's saved my live and saved other peoples lives before. 6 people in a buick was in my own left lane against me at speed in the US 23 jct below the stoneyridge toledo truckstops at I-80. My front door warned me on the radio get the #### out of that #### lane NOW.

My trailer barely missed that buick It's that fast. They get to live their stupid drunken lives because I moved fast that night on July 4th. #########. Maybe I get to live mine as well with that steel beam load on my ravens flatbed. Or at least freedom.

There are other examples where that CB saved lives. But this one is my favorite. Otherwise it's worthless. You have painted ladies asking for commerical company with truckers on it, or drugs or little boys playing to find others of the same sex and god only knows what else that's not acceptable. It's stupid. But you take the good with the bad. The radio is turned down because of that. 99% of it is blater. But the one sentence, Get the #### out of your lane now do it. Espeically if it is with another truck in the same convoy you have been running with for 400 miles today.

And me being a deaf man, I barely heard that.

Life is but a breath. poof easily wasted.

 

If your auto shift won't downshift ... even manually.. if the rpms are too high, then you are going down the hill too fast.

I've had my first "auto" now for 500k miles and on this Cascadia/Detroit combo the sweet spot is around 1600-1700 rpm with Jake engaged on a 6` grade. It holds well when I choose the proper gear TO START.
I then only have to rarely fan the brake pedal to ease it back to the desired range.

If going too fast, and not being able to downshift is an issue.. start down SLOWER.
The signs always say.. 6` grade next 5 miles trucks use lower gear.

Heed those warnings.

 

Another rule of thumb is.
Go down the mountain in the same gear as you would go up it.

 

About that Colorado thing ... there is one thing that he didn't do that would have avoided all of it, used the truck ramp to stop him but he passed it up.

I have told my drivers use those truck ramps so you don't kill someone because you have to prove you can control the truck on a steep downgrade.

 

Years ago, cars had drum brakes. Dropping down the long grades in a car, the brakes would fade on a car. Car drivers knew how to gear down. But with 4 wheel disc brakes and ABS, the overwhelming majority of car owners do not know how to gear down or slow down if they have a problem with the throttle (see the Toyota moments of 10 years ago). So, there were a few accidents a decade ago where cars slammed into traffic at triple digit speeds.

10 years ago, Swift and the state of Tennessee got themselves into trouble for giving CDLs to illegals. One driver plowed into traffic, killed an entire family and got out of the truck and fled. And all of Swift’s recent CDL grads lost their CDL status and had to be retested.

Nowadays, you have many people who do not know how to properly drive a car, going to school for their CDL. Why is this happening? You hear all this BS about public safety, but this sort of thing is becoming more and more common. Why is this the case? For that discussion, we would have to go into the political forum.

Within the next 5 years, drivers in the US will be so widespread stupid that they will need some sort of automation piloting the vehicles just to get them to their destinations without wrecking.

“But Six, do you think that they could build a better, safer truck?”

And put a greater idiot behind the wheel? Sure. Happens every day on every road in America. Point is, you’re still catering to idiots. So, why the surprise and shock when bad things happen? If you’re REALLY concerned with public safety, you would build better drivers. The candidates you’re choosing have never even learned how to properly drive a car.

Could you imagine if the airline industry did the same thing as the trucking industry? Rookie pilots with 6months experience training rookies? Or pilots who cannot read and understand anything inside the plane or the language at the tower? You get on a big Delta flight from Seattle to NYC and you hear over the intercom, “Buenas tardes. Estoy el capiton...”

 

I guess therein lies the mystery, why didn't he use the ramp? It will all come out and "The Strong Arm" will put another level on his house. When he came up on the ramp, the situation may not have been critical and I think he figured he could ride it out, until traffic was stopped at the bottom.

 

Probably the same reason he didn’t plow into the back of the semi on the shoulder. Who by they way was probably taking a 30 minute break. Self preservation. To chicken #### to wipe himself out.

 

Me personally going down a grade i like to find the gear that i can get down in at low stage and kill my speed at mid stage then back to low stage and keep toggling it between low and mid... Yeah im usually slower than everybody else,, but most mountains i do not ever have to touch the brakes, EVER... I dont like going down with jake break screaming at 2000+ rpm because if u need to stop suddenly then its going to be much harder... Being able to toggle low and mid .. Leaves me high setting and fresh brakes for good stopping power if somethings in the road ahead and need to make an emergency stop...i have used this technique all across the country and i have never even been close to needing to hit a runaway ramp.... I have seen guys start smoking there brakes on cabbage just after the first right turn because they went in to the grade to fast , by the time they get thru the canyon part and hit the straightaway they are really smokin now.. Sometimes u could sit at the arrowhead truck stop at night and see flames coming down that moutain because guys are in a hurry and dont know how to drive a truck....theres a time to haul ### and a time to slow down and when ur going down mountains thats the time to slow down and take it easy, there is no such thing as to slow down a mountain, if u have to go 5 mph so be it , take ur time.... But what irritates me is guys dont respect the mountains, the mountain canyon on i-8 just out jacumba ca that last mountain range coming out of ca before u hit yuma... That grade is 6% but it last about 10-15 miles and is winedy.. The truck speed limit is 45 but i have never actually seen a truck doing 45 , im usually holding my speed around 40 and hitting mid stage at 45 on jakes to back me back down and guys pass me like im sitting still , its really a disgrace when u have no respect for a mountain one of these days the mountain will show u whos boss and unfortunatly this guy learned that first hand