Watching ice road truckers and...

Yeah. It's going to have to include local stations. Especially ABC. My wife is a news-a-holic.

 

You're gonna have to check the services for your market. It's different around the country.

In salt lake. Youtube is the only service with all the locals. But they're just a starting out. It's not available everywhere. And they don't have many stations lined up yet.

 

Remember IRT seasons 3 and 4, where the guys would spin out on the inclines? Same concept.

 

To be fair, I offered to help him...but he was the usual non driving know everything YouTube celebrity wannabe.

 

That's the thing right there. Flooring it works on dry pavement. It's absolutely the wrong thing to do on dirt or any other less than perfect traction. For a long steep pull find the gear the engine can pull in higher rpm's with moderate throttle.

I would venture a guess that young man bought a used mega fleet truck specced for OTR. It can be used for what he's doing, but you have to reprogram the ECM to be wide open. I'm guessing he didn't and I bet the idiocy of governing maximum rpm's in low range is still in the program.

Sometimes the right thing to do is downshift BEFORE the steep grade, starting at 2000+ rpm's. By the time I top out I may have feathered back the throttle and be barely above idle. It's not uncommon to see deep washboards near the top. That's where the rookies are flooring it and the wheels spin and hop, gouging the road.

 

I got to meet Alex at the grand opening here at B&D Truck Parts. Seemed like a great guy to me. Haven't watched the show in a while though. Im not much for tv...

 

This is how to run a hill without tearing it up.

I remember the old iron and it's RPMs in excess of what they allow you today in a ordinary OTR truck. I need that ECM and RPMs wide open as you stated when taking on exceptionally difficult and dangerous hills in bad weather. It's not for speed, (The momentum wears off after a certain point. You need to be in your pulling gear in which you will be all the way up.. by then...)

Once you slip on a steep enough grade due to driver wheel hop or something else gravity is thinking about taking over right quick. THAT might be something you will have to resolve very quickly and correct the first time it happens to you.

I can type until blue in the fingers, but the actual doing is the best school of them all.

 

I ran a load to an oil rig yesterday that featured "reported" 10% grades. Here's my video. Can folks hear the difference in how I drive my underpowered truck and how the other gentleman drove his truck, stalled it, AND overheated it?

 

That was well done, although that washboarding indicates to me some drivers dig in too excessively trying to run that 6 minute plus mark...

 

Yep, keeps show more interesting.