Why do trucks fail on an uphill climb?

Often it’s a driver who doesn’t monitor gauges and holds it to floor even though truck is getting hot.. bugs will clog up radiator and it heats up faster solution is drop a gear and slow down a bit . Some guys break u joints or twist driveshafts. Since this one had no fluids under it I’d guess a electrical or mechanical issue. I knew a owner op who ran out of fuel 4 times trying to get to a cheaper fueling location. After I did the math and showed him he blew his whole years saving on tow truck/ service trucks he quit doing that.

 

There's 1 thing I worry about .. and theres some things I watch close
I worry about what the F'n idiot in front of me is gona do
I keep a close eye on my EGTs and water temp & boost gauge
And my trans temp

 

I've lost sleep worring about that myself
I also wonder if wheel chairs have a jake brake ?

 

I’ve blown out 2 radiators on hill climbs, both times the failure occurred at or near the top of the hill.
In my case, it’s a known issue in the design or manufacture of the radiator.
They split at the lower hose port.
Hills are rough on heavy trucks.
We’re pulling a lot of weight, and often we’re not gentle about it.
I still haven’t figured out whether lower rpms or higher are better for the truck, mechanically speaking, maybe someone can chime in here and educate us?

 

That's probably coolant.

 

Higher RPMs are better while pulling hills. Remember how series 60, 3406, and N14 were all million mile engines, and now nothing lasts that long? Besides the after treatment, the culprit is lugging engines. Let them buzz, let them last.

 

Machines break. Simple as that.

 

You can drive up to mcdonald’s window and ask to see their menu in braille because you’re blind.
They have one.

 

Yep. The lower the rpm, the higher the EGTs. Lug an engine on a long pull and you can cook the engine.

 

It has to do with the failure of components by the huge amount of energy that is being released within the engine when it is under a full load.

Some of the internal pressures can reach 2000psi, sometimes higher. that is on a wide area that stresses the head, the block, and the head gasket.

Transmitting this to the wheels is just amazing in itself. There are some parts of the transmission that have a surface area of less than an inch which itself is amazing when you think the amount of energy that is being moved from the source to the wheels, is less than an inch!