Mountain Driving Tips

This is what they teach you in school.

 

That's the way I do it. Slow the truck down 5mph to 10mph slower than your target speed then let'er drift. I've pull a specialized D-8 dozer that was very heavy all across the country. The truck would gross around 119,000lbs and I never smoked the brakes. Then when I pull the super tanker that truck grossed 110,000lbs and I would go to Laughlin NV down hwy 163 before it was divided and I'd see trucks from back east sitting at the bottom with smoke just pouring out from their trailer. Those were the guys that would blow their horn when passing me down the grade so I'd give them a little toot and laugh.

A few drivers are talking about what will happen if you take the escape ramp. Let me tell you what will happen if you DON'T. It becomes manslaughter as soon as you pass the ramp. You will face not only criminal charges but you're wide open for civil suit. If someone gets killed and you make it you'll do some time. It won't take much for the LEO's to know if your brakes were bad and you tried to ride it out.

 

Well, i guess i'll throw my 2cents in. Back in the late '80's and early '90's i was a beer hauler out of Milwaukee Wi. and Miller Brewery gave us about 9-11 beer accts. in colorado to del. to. We had no jake brake's on our truck's, other drivers and i learned how to drive the rockies without a jakebrake. The way to do it back then was to keep a steady pressure on the brakes at a mph that will hold the truck without burning up the brakes. A short time later it was taught to stab braking was just as effective. But at that time the jury was out on which was better, They are both effective. With that being said i will give you an example. And i believe that other drivers out there will agree on how bad this downgrade is, it's on i-70 westbound coming out of the eisenhower tunnel. It is a 9 mile downgrade with 6-7% grades, i would pull over at the end of the tunnel and adjust my brakes before going down. I would go down between 3-4 gear at 10-12 mph. and it took about 40-45 minutes to get down that grade, i also drove down Vail pass and Rabbit ears pass without a jake. Was offered a load going Durango Co and had a chance to go down Wolfcreek Pass but was out of hours at the time. Our trucks where cabover pete's with the old ntc 350 cumaparts and cabover farmall's with the old 3406-E cats with 310 hp. I disagree with the other drivers that say they rely on there jakes, that is the most dangerous attitude to have, you allways go down with the thought of what happens when the jake goes out, that happened a couple of times when i was hauling beef to california for Packerland Transport back in the mid 90's. Think of this, if you go down a grade and you are stab braking and your gaining speed when you release the brakes and your jake goes out now what? As other posters have said, you can drive slow as many times as you want going down hill but only once going down fast. And that happened to one of our drivers hauling beer, went down that grade past the eisenhower tunnel, started at 40 mph and took the last runnaway ramp, he fried every brake on that truck, he never drove the mountains before that and never again after that.And yes he was loaded at about 78,000-78,500.

 

Jake does little when you have 140,000 pound.

 

There's that 3 second trick they teach for going downhill. Like if you want to go down at 45 miles per hour, you would let it get to 45 then apply the brakes for about 3 seconds to get it down to 40 then let it build up to 45 again and repeat.

NO NO NO NO NO NO YOU'll BURNEM FOR SURE.

I USE A STEADY 20lb'S OF PRESSURE COMING DOWN A MTN. 23YR'S AND COUNTING NO ACCIDENTS.

 

I worked and was trained with a company that only pulled doubles and did not use or have Jake brakes. This was my first time in the mountains of UT. My trainer was in the sleeper and i was over braking going down hill. I was able to stop the truck at flat spot B/4 going down the rest of the way and check the smell that i was getting in the cab. Well the one wheel (drive axle) on the drivers side was on fire. My trainer was up and awake now! We could not put the fire out. My trainer said the only way to put out the fire was to get in the truck and drive it to the bottom. (not recommended) My trainer said get in and put your seat belt on tight. He (trainer) knew the mountain well. We made it to the bottom and the fire was out,it was fast and scary. I felt that my trainer was going to be real upset with me but he was not. He calmly told me what to do the next time and went back to bed. I lucked out with a trainer that KNEW HIS STUFF !!. (he said that i had turned the brakes into butter) I hope you new drivers never have to do this,good luck to all of you.

 

Wanna learn to drive the mountains? Watch Ice Road Truckers in India.

 

Hey this was a great thread, I am not a driver haven't made up my mind yet I will be. My dad taught me the same thing driving a car in the mountains, let the engine and transmission do most of the work was the way he put it, ease the brakes down steady control your speed let em up. Hot brakes fail.

I still do the same thing in my tahoe today, Taught it to my wife this summer when we took the Grandchildren out west.

I think I'm gonna read thru this thread a couple more times, get Susan to read it to. I don't want to forget!

Thanks
Randy

 

Thank you all for sharing your experience and info!!!

 

I was trainned at Stevens Transport in Dallas,TX. in 2003 the light stedy psi. method and it always worked fine for me, and gear selection was taught 10 minus the % of the grade, or + 1 was the gear to descend in.We had to run our first 6 months solo with out a jake brake or cruise control.My first grade was I-5 northbound Grapevine its a 6% grade.10 minus 6 = 4th or you could go up 1 gear depending on your gross weight. I kept her in 4th gear and applied no more than 5 to 7 psi brake, and kept rpm at 2100 all the way down the grade without any problem. They instructors were very consistent about keeping the brakes closed all the way down due to air, and heat only makes them hotter. I done all the grades on I-5, Cabbage on I-80 I-17 n, and south, and many more across the country during the 6months without a jake.I even stopped one time half way dowm the grade on I- 15 southbound into LA before the scales to feel if my hubs were getting hot, and they were about the same temp. as they were when i left the brake check area.Yes there are other ways of descending,but i always stuck to what i was taught, and tried. After that i got my jake turned on, and can do most of the major grades in 6th gear with very little braking at all.