nervous...for hill climbing

This is where your knowledge of what gear to be in at any speed. We only had a couple of short grades but they can get you in trouble when your loaded over 100,000lbs. I would drop a gear when the engine speed made it necessary. That would be around 1200 or lower. Let the truck work for you. I've seen drivers just get all worked up and shift up and down for no reason. They are working the truck with poor results. Stay calm and keep your RPM's in the power band but don';t run it up against the peg. If you get close to the top and the engine is slowly dropping and you think you can make it go for it, You can't lug an engine like in the old days.

 

Someone mention jakes here, I good way to get experience going downhill, DON'T USE THE JAKE BRAKE ? If you start smoking the brakes, your goin to fast or fanning the brakes. I remembered when i first started driving, The truck had NO JAKES and I was grossing 80k !!!! Let me tell you something, you learn real fast how to gear down a hill. Anyways, half of the trucks these days, the jakes don't work the way they should.

 

Many years ago I came out of MD into WV with a bulldozer on and grossed around 115,000lbs with no jake. That hill almost killed me. Who would of thought that WV has a grade that is steep???

 

Yea well dont get too confident coming down a grade cuz thats whats gonna do you in, and maybe someone else also. If you can down shift on the flats then you can down shift going up a hill, sometimes you might just have to be a little quicker. Think about what your gonna do, then do it. If you miss a gear then just try for the next lower one, and make sure you use your clutch.

 

most the time when chain laws are up it is for the downside of the grade like said befor its not the gettin up its the gettin down...

as for always use the clutch i float everytime its just easier for me as said know what your gonna do and do it and read the signs if the hill says 6% prepare for it just because the first mile is 4% don't mean anything...(cabbage comes to mind)

when i hit an upgrade i don't split the top two gears just seems like a waste when im gonna be in 12th or 13th either way 6hi or low but if you miss a gear just recover and don't get frazzled

 

Just remember this..you can go down a hill too slow a thousand times....but only once too fast...

 

That's what my dad told me too!

 

I'm sure it's been posted before but just remember: You can go down too slow 100s of times. Only too fast once.