Your lucky to be alive. You need proper training. I've trained a few drivers when I was working out of Denver. I would take the heaviest load on the yard and let them drive the entire way to Salt Lake City via I-70, 6, 9, 40, and then I-80 on into SLC. I wouldn't let them use the engine brake but I'd talk them through every step of the way. We we came back through we'd take I-15, 6, I-70 back to Denver and I'd talk them through it and allow the engine brake, making sure they obeyed all posted truck speed limits, used 4 ways when required, and knew how to be wary of brake use and control. You won't learn how to drive by reading a forum or anything. You need adequate on the job training by a competent, experienced mountain driver. If you can't find your way to do that... well, good luck to ya. Hope you have life insurance for your family, because you are a fatality accident waiting to happen.
I agree completely but atleast he's asking for help! If not here, then where else? We all know "driver trainers" are typically rookies so ya can't blame him for not having been trained by a real veteran. Mrh2008,,,you keep asking questions Sir,,,.and some of us will answer them best we can. Just choose wisely which answers to pay attention to.
Oh, yeah! Did that once myself. Had to stop at the bottom and pu on clean drawers! Thankfully, I was still with my trainer when it happened & she was teaching me how to go downhill without using the jake at the time. Everyone needs that skill. Equipment breaks & you need to know how to keep yourself in one piece.
Ummmm...haven't heard of anyone getting killed in a chain off area in over 10 years.....where do you come up with this tidbit anyway?
My first suggestion is to balance the load between the trailer tandems and the drive tandems. I admit that I cannot prove this; but, it sure seems to reduce the rate of acceleration on the steep grade. Thus giving you more time between brake applications which means cooler brakes when you need them. . .The only braking technique that is currently approved for steep grades is Snub Braking. That is a fact. Thermal imaging has shown that your brakes are cooler when using snub braking than when using light steady brake pressure. The current Commercial Drivers Manual has the full step-by-step proceedure for decending mountain grades. Wannabe's should check it out and learn to do it the proper way. That is why the written test always has at least one question on descending a mountain grade and light steady brake pressure is a wrong answer. . .If you are in a truck with a regular ten speed transmission and the posted truck speed limit ends with the digit 5 ie 25 mph, I would add the two digits together. Therefore, 2 + 5 = 7th gear is the highest gear I would even consider using. . .If you smoked the brakes, congratulations on surviving the ordeal. I hate to tell you; but, you probably made more that one poor decision in that scary ride. I hope you learned alot from the experience.
The best advice has already been given to you. Slow down, and select the proper gear before you decend down a mountain. That way, you won't need to do any panic breaking from 60+ mph. What is the proper gear? Select one gear lower than the gear you use to climb the mountain with. For example: Most super-9's climb in 6th gear, so you want to be in 5th (or even 4th depending on how long and steep the grade is) gear going down.
Really Rocky! Ease up man....the driver doesn't know so he's asking....and you could give him some pointers........
So how does the gearing work with other transmissions? I mean, are there any easy formulas for 8 or 13? What about if the speed limit doesn't end in 5?
Sorry, but it really ticks me off that we have such slack training standards. He made several mistakes. The biggest one was thinking he could cool the brakes by letting off and coasting faster. He should never get to this point if he's trained, really trained; but, never get off the brakes until you're stopped in that scenario. Forget the gearing and just stop before it gets worse. Also, wait till your at 1000 or less before a rookie attempts to downshift on a hill. Yes, i know the book says never downshift, but that's probably what started this big fubar.
