Quick Advice on WY mountain driving

First and foremost: thank you for asking. It’s never easy to be humble. That in itself is a mark of maturity.

My advice: 41k should be plenty heavy. Stay off cruise control, ease it down. The good news is, it’s not that long. Take it easy, be alert, you’ll be down before you know it. Next stop-Iowa 80!

 

Oh, and invest in a lump of coal. By the time you’re down, you’ll have a diamond.

 

It's called Shermans Pass,which way are you going? If you're going east,it's a gradual cake walk. Going west into Laramie,I always liked to keep things under control,because I owned the truck and trailer,and I was the guy that put brakes on it. Kept it well jaked going down the west side.

 

so you are saying to use the jakes and right gear vs hitting the brakes 10-20 shorts times.

 

I've been down that pass many times. Drop a gear, use the jakes, feather the brakes as needed. By the time you read this you'll be at the bottom. Drive safe

 

I don't think he was concerned about the grade, he was wondering where the threshold between go or no-go was regarding wind gusts and how the winds tend to behave across whichever direction he was dealing with

 

With enough wind loading on any trailer over you go. Onto your side or even your roof. Wyoming will do that to you in a heartbeat. Adding power just ensures a greater injury and or death when you do eventually lose to the gust that is going to push you over.

You slow to next to nothing or better yet, in high wind warning areas issued by NOAA you stay in a truckstop until the winds calm down. That will be the difference you going through the day after eyeballing all those semis that got blown over while you waited.

Heavy is good. But unfortunately with enough wind it will fall that much harder and probably make a mess across both directions doing it.

There is a video somewhere not long ago a trucker was about blown over to his entire right side by a wind left to right. He chose at the very last moment to leave the highway completely, go through the barbed wire fence onto some ranch land and managed to keep everything upright. He has some 'splaining to do and probably a tow to get back onto the interstate and a bill to fix that fence and whatever it tore up on his rig (Airlines, fuel lines (Say word with me Hazmat spill... pricey) and so on...

 

I remember that vid. I wonder if he managed to save the load or not. Damage was certainly minimized tho. Great reactions.

 

I know that pass well. Just drop a gear or two and use the jakes. Just watch for ice because the temp in that canyon in winter is frequently well below zero. You don't want your jakes on going over ice downhill.

 

jakes in the snow can be your very best friend.