Monteagle downhill May 24

Both would have bathrooms. Mount Eagle is what, 6%?

 

Seems like 4%

 

It’s 4 to 6% depending on where you are. Like Donners Pass,Fancy Gap,Grapevine and Sandstone it’s not so much the steepness of the angle of the grade but the LENGTH of the grade itself that gives drivers problems as it’s about 4 miles long-more than long enough to fry the brakes and get a driver in trouble in a hurry.

 

Monteagle isn't bad
Fancy Gap isn't bad
Black Mountain isn't bad
Jellico isn't bad

It's bad, stupid drivers.

I ran my 09 Cascadia over all of them without a Jake because every time I used it, it clogged the DPF.
So, I did like I was taught. Roll it up to 50, brake down to 40. Roll it up to 50, brake down to 40.

Like a lot of things in trucking, people think they're smarter, better, faster, and more experienced than the next guy, so the "rules" don't apply to them. The bad news is, that the laws of physics don't give a ####.

Someone find the video of the jacka** going down Monteagle in that black 379 at 130. THAT guy is probably dead by now.

 

I don't have any pictures other than the ones in my mind, but my favorite so far in a truck has to be Hoosier Pass on Colorado 9. It's better to go south from Frisco than north from Fairplay, just because the switchbacks between Alma and Breckinridge are easier to climb than they are to go down.

 

Monteagle and Fancy Gap aren’t bad because they were either REBUILT or RELOCATED.
And yet people still f*** up on them.

 

I can't recall where they were but I know there's a few grades out there that have signs that say what your speed limit is for specific weights. Wish more of 'em had those.

First thing my old man told me when I got my CDL was never go down a hill in a higher gear than the rig could do up it. That has served me pretty well so far.

 

Most of these are WAY outdated IMHO. They were determined when there were no engines brakes, and poor braking systems in general compared to today.

You go down at some of the ridiculous low speeds they suggest, you're going to be an overall hazard in today's fast-paced reality. But there is too slow and there is easily too fast. Find the speed and engine brake combo in between where you can go down without brakes

 

Pennsylvania has a few 25 mph zones coming down a few places on the 2 lanes

 

I really hate this adage. Its like "an apple a day keeps the doctor away", so guys only eat one apple a day and then end up malnurished with scury.

Heading east through mounteagle I can climb in 9th with up to 40k in the box (provided I don't meet slow moving traffic). If I went down the other side in 9th I would be smoking brakes or learning how to fly.

Going the opposite way I may be down to 7th climbing, but can sit in 8th going down and only need to caress the breaks once or twice.

Its about driving the load you have, on the road you are on, in the weather at the time.