over reving

I used to live at the bottom of the sis-q's. had to run them every trip to get home. Always came down in 7th and light brake app's. no problem. that sign at the top northbound is there for a reason. read it and use it. they do enforce a downhill speed limit on that hill at the whim of the trooper.:smt064

 

Absolutely. Though I think respect and terror are kinda a bit separate. Me, I wanted to go back up and do it again.

Driver4015 - sounds a bit like eastbound out of Eisenhower tunnel - enforced speed limit for .. 30K pounds and up. Saw a FedEx wiggle come blowing down at highway speeds.. big cloud of smoke behind him. Until the cops stopped him. Then the big cloud of smoke was all around him. Idjit

 

Well, I freely admit that the first time I took a 7% grade loaded at 80k with no jake brake and no experience going down those hills - I was terrified. I smoked those brakes so bad, it's a wonder I didn't lose the truck. I mean, at the bottom of the hill billows of smoke were pluming out of those trailer tandems - fire extinguisher, anyone?!!

 

We've all done that Nothing like a lessoned learned...that you survived.

I've actually been in a situation (ice and grade), where I had to pull over (once it was over) because my right leg would not quit shaking. It was like it had a mind of it's own.

I've never been one to just panic. But when it's all said and done, I'm not worth much for awhile, except maybe a book end. It takes awhile for the adrenaline to drop low enough.

 

was either of your hills posted with a speed limit for trucks, particularly a seriously low limit for trucks with a GVW of <whatever>?

I admit, though, that if I'd been doing this trucking thing 30 years ago, that FedEx driver would probably have been me. Nowadays, I'm just not in a hurry. Not even much in the way of hurryable. Remember that little addage: "poor planning on your part does not make an emergency on my part".

Yeah, I'll do my best to get the job done as quickly as I can. But I'm not breaking my neck for it - whether it be hauling a trailer or turning up your telephone service.

 

I can't speak for the others. But my "incident" took place in a 70 mph zone.

Problem was, it went from dry road to solid sheet of ice, over the crest. I was doing about 35 (hard pull), but my weight accelerated me when I hit the ice. Had the whole thing not slid to the shoulder, allowing me some traction, I have no idea how fast I would have been going at the bottom. Brakes were useless until I hit dirt and grass mix on the shoulder. Hell I wasn't even steering, until it hit the shoulder.

 

oi! yeah, that would be fun. Not.

but I was actually referring to early stories of coming down steep inclines with no Jakes, etc. and wondering about the quality of the warnings given (way back in the dark ages of trucking)

 

Not much differant than they are now. Some of the places are better marked now, not that many. That said there was a lot of differance in truck design. Even more differance in driver design.

When you get into the reduced speed areas. Most of the time, the change was brought on by drivers that failed to heed the original warnings. So they simply slowed everyone down to a crawl.

I've been over many passes with only a "Steep Grade Ahead" sign in place. You have to assume it's too steep, and slow down before you start down.

Otherwise you may not get slowed down if you are of the train of thought, never downshift on a downgrade. Which appears to be what the majority of schools are teaching these days.

 

I honestly don't remember. I don't even remember where it was - just that it was in the Rockies (yeah, THAT narrows it down, lol!). There are a lot of 7% grades out there. I do remember the sensation of starting down that hill and feeling that weight pushing the truck down it and - the brakes having a hard time dealing with it. But, I had had no trainers or people telling me how to safely navigate a hill, and frankly, it took several trips down hills like that to finally figure it out. Even then, I would stop halfway down the hill and just - be sure I wasn't going to have another smoke-out experience! I also remember getting out of the truck and - kissing the earth!

 

Slack adjusters.