Mountain grades

COOL!!!!!!!!

 

OH GEEZE LOUISE! That's UP hill too from this direction!

 

I live about 60 west of this and yes its that steep, and several sharp switchbacks. Its no joke fokes. Used to haul cattle from the valley near Stockton and go over loaded on SR 88. Once unloaded we would come home MT over Sonora Pass. Back then we were in truck and trailers that were good for mountion rds. One wouldnt even think about crossing Sonora Pass with a semi or doubles. And ya darn sure better have twin screws to get you through those steep sharp switchbacks.

 

It's been said before, but I feel it's worth saying again. You'll go down too slow a thousand times, but you'll only go down too fast ONCE.

 

Well you wont go down this mountion loaded 1 time driver. You wont be able to go slow downhill, because you have to get to the top first

 

What about i64 West Virginia going to Charleston

 

Old posts but I'll chime in. IMHO the advise to never downshift on a downgrade is dangerous. Every driver should know how to downshift on a downgrade.

Every time down a given hill is different. How much weight is behind you? What's the weather and road conditions? How much traffic is there?

I run down Cajon Pass south on I-15 many times. With a 45 mph truck speed limit if I have a light box I can take it in 7th and play with the jake and never hit the brakes. That's fine, but what if I'm pinned in the slow lane by heavy traffic and come around the curve to see a truck pulling a huge piece of machinery thats got to be well over 200K and he's taking the hill at 18 mph?

What then?

Is the plan to ride the brakes in 7th gear and slow down to 18 mph and stall the engine OR push in the clutch so I'm out of gear so the engine doesn't stall?

You HAVE to KNOW how to downshift on a downgrade. Especially when I'm taking unfamiliar roads I'm taking an educated guess what gear and jake setting I'll need to make the descent. Frequently that gear isn't correct and I shift.

The trick is to recognize the need to downshift EARLY, while your brakes and air pressure are good. Apply the brakes until the rpm's drop to about 800, about the time the jake will cease working, and make the downshift to catch the next gear at about 1200 rpm's. That gives you room to "chase" the gear up to about 1500 rpm's if you miss it at first. If you fail to get the gear you should apply the brakes again and get back down to the speed you were before you started the shift and try again. It shouldn't be a panic situation. Practice it on long straightaways. Make it a routine thing to do.

Telling rookies they should never downshift ends up with far too many smoking their brakes and flying down hills way too fast. I'm sure that CR England truck at the bottom of Vail with the trailer on fire was practicing the "never downshift on a hill" philosophy.

 

In my exp. 10 years (not a lot) of otr, flat, refer, van, oil field, rocky mountains 48/28, 48/48. it is not that big of a deal to down shift when you feel you are gaining to much speed. dropping one at a time with time in between shifts is not dangerous, if done properly. the problem is stidents are taught and trained mainly on flat roads and are never instructed on properly trimming speed on a grade. just my opinion

 

For reference on driving down steep grades, you could check out these two articles
www.OverdriveOnline.com/smart-driving-2 and www.OverdriveOnline.com/smart-driving-21
.
.If you read these articles just be aware that sometimes people in the article use the terms snub braking and stab braking as if they are one in the same thing. They are not.

 

Or don't use your brakes.