Steep Downhill and you need to downshift

Does this Super-8 have a gear position marked "Lo" , and gears 1-8?

 

Gonna have to double check w/Pete(he has more exp in subject)but I think when using the super 8 low is not advisable--better off w/an upstairs room--so dont have someone bouncin oon the bed above ya and keepin ya up
Jus Sayin

 

If I ever choose to downshift on a steep downhill grade I slow the truck down as quickly as possible. Then I pull my trailer brake handle down enough to hold my speed constant. My trailer brake handle will stay where I put it so I let go of it. I then turn off engine brake and do a quick downshift. Turn engine brake back on and raise trailer brake handle. I make sure I am slow enough to get downshift and do not worry about a perfect shift. Priority is getting truck back in gear. There are warning signs on Donner and other mtn s so why was he going so fast in the first place? Maybe he had no real training or maybe he was unfit for this job. I drove 3 years with little engines and no jake and went 48 states often loaded to 80k. I would like to know details. And I apply my brakes in curves. 20 years no wrecks.LOVE my jakebrake. Almost anyone can get a cdl. And that is part of the problem.Need higher standards.

 

That guy had to be going absurdly fast to lose it in that spot. I've run Donner since the 1970's & it's just not that big of a deal, especially since they put the signs up. If you just do what the signs say, you barely have to think or remember anything.

 

Oh yeah since they put the signs up--HUH--now I might just have to rummage thru storage to find my one and ONLY Cali ticket--well ya know the sign that says crank em up?














Chippie w/absolutely NO SENSE OF HUMOR__LMAO

 

The rule of one gear lower than going up, I have never found to be useful.

But then, I've never been without a jake.

Even if I have to go up in 5th gear, I usually go down in 7th or 8th without any problem. (10 speed)

 

This is why you see Stevens trucks descending grades at 10-15 MPH from time to time...we're training new drivers how to properly descend a mountain WITHOUT using the Jake. A requirement in our training program is to descend 2 major mountain passes WITHOUT the Jake and 1 with it.

Yes...all of our trucks are equipped with Jakes. But I will tell you from my own experience that there may be times when the Jake is inoperable.

I had a Pete 387 and the dash wouldn't light up one morning after I started the truck. Gauges weren't registering, radio didn't work, heater and AC controls did nada. And the cruise and Jake were dead as well. What would have happened had I stopped at the brake check area at the top, turned off the truck to do my brake inspection then turned it back on to realize I had no Jake?

That training is invaluable to preventing new drivers from doing what happened in that video.



Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

I was showed this video in orientation at SWIFT and was told that it was result of a road rage incident.

 

That's good that they force them to learn the no jake method, but the guy in vid didn't have his brakes hot, he never touched them until he jerked left and got the trailer sliding. If they had been hot, smoke would have billowed the instant the shoes made contact. What killed them was getting "behind" the truck, and then he got overwhelmed and did something foolish. Watch his steering inputs, he was paying more attention to something else than driving the truck. What killed him is the same thing that causes countless noobie snafus, information overload. It kills pilots, too. They get distracted by another issue, and forget that driving (or flying) is the most important task at hand. It's something all the trainers need to do a better job of drilling into noobs: DRIVE THE #### TRUCK!

 

Nothing wrong with going slow. I drive mostly mountainous areas with 44-45k in the box, and hardly ever even apply the service brake. If a 4 wheeler is the variable in front of me, I might have to hit the brakes, but usually I'm geared down low enough from the beginning of the descent that I don't have to use the brakes- just adjust the jake stages every now and then. Is it slower than necessary? Yes. Do I like paying for brakes at the shop? No.