Mountain/Hill driving question

The jake brake is a great thing to have, but you shouldn't depend on it, and you certainly shouldn't plan on depending on it, because it might not always work. Some trucks don't even have one. You, as the driver, should know how to control that truck all the way up and down any mountain, safely, without the jake. That means knowing how to downshift going downhill, if necessary. You should be familiar with your truck and transmission so that you know how and when you can shift--if you don't know these things you're not really in control of that rig.

Brakes fade a lot quicker than you might think, and you don't have to ride them too long before they're gone and/or you run out of air. Those runaway truck ramps are on downgrades for a reason, and they do get used. I've seen dozens of trucks on them, and I've smelled dozens more burning brakes. Mountains aren't a big deal if you know what you're doing, but if you don't they can be deadly.

 

Running 11 western means you will be in the Mtns a lot, the hills in those 11 western are just wannabe Mtns. Thousands of drivers travel those roads every day with no problems. Then there are a few that do have issues because they took that "hill" for granted. So just use your head and common sense and listen while in school. I dont think I've ever seen a truck going backwards down a hill and have never heard of that.

 

Furthermore, you only really have 8 brakes to depend on. If only one is not functioning properly or is otherwise "out of spec", you've lost 20% of your braking ability and that's enough to get you in trouble fully loaded and you're assuming you have "normal" braking capacity. And to extend that further, one brake that engages well before the other 7 will rapidly heat up and become useless. The point is, between the driver and your shop personnel, a lot of attention needs to be paid to brake equipment. And in this day of "auto slack adjusters" and no real way to verify their proper operation by yourself, you have to expect they may not be "100%" all the time.

 

Depends on the truck as well as the engine brakes. We have four Sterlings and the 3 can run pretty much without using your service brake. The fourth truck.... Well I drove it today up and over a 10% grade out here in Cal and the exhaust engine brakes did hardly anything. I had a full load in a tanker and was sweating bullets on the ride down.

 

If I use the jake brake above 1500rpm it'll spit oil out the dip stick.