Why do trucks fail on an uphill climb?

I blew a clamp off the hose coming from the water pump once…. Sprayed coolant all over the highway, not to mention everything else under the hood.

 

A lot of things can happen.
Remember, that engine and drive train are under a lot of stress.
It’s pulling as much as 80,000 pounds up that hill while your car is pulling maybe 3000??

 

Problem is that these new Tupperware truck’s only have idiot lights. By the time they come on it’s game over.

 

I always pray I’m behind them and not in front of them….

 

I know reason #5694 why I will never own a plastic fish bowl
Personaly I get enjoyment out of watching that happen to them

 

Hi David, no dumb questions here, trust me. Many times, motorists have no idea what is involved in a semi truck. They seem to glide along right with us cars, even a hassle you can't get around them sometimes, so why so slow on hills? Many have already told you the physical aspects of why, but I think it's important for motorists to know why and possibly tell others that don't know either. It's all about the weight they haul, 40 tons is a lot of mass to move, and diesels power comes at a limited rpm, and if you go below that, road speed falls off quick, until a match between road speed, rpms and weight agree. Similar to a bicycle, when going uphill, you must downshift to make the hill.
The breakdowns you see, are common, but not AS common. Considering miles traveled, trucks are the most dependable form of shipping. Hauling that much weight under such stress uphill, the weakest link usually shows up. Many times, at slow speeds, there literally isn't time to get completely off the road, again, like a bike, you stop peddling up hill, you stop pretty quick. I say, give them a break, a breakdown is a PITA for all involved, and we have to remember, we can't have zero risk when it comes to machines. Thanks for your question.

 

Both times I had major problems it was climbing a steep hill

one time the rear axle pinion bearing walked out the front ,
Climbing out of a paper mill , 79k , 2nd gear , wide open bouncing off the governor.

another time the nut came off the turbo shaft , destroyed the turbo and the bearing and when I pushed in the clutch and slipped into neutral . The engine ran away burning the oil from the turbo bearing , I couldn’t get it back into gear , so good bye engine .

Split a piston , bent a rod , broke the crank .

same deal , stop sign on a side road at the bottom of a steep hill , so not much chance to get up any speed before hitting the hill ,

I always turned on the fan when I saw a steep hill , no use to wait until the engine heats up before the fan kicks on , might as well get some air moving before you hit the hill .
I’d bet the new plastic trucks don’t even have a switch to manually cut on the fan .

 

What are you talking about? I drove a 1978 mack vocational truck which had three gauges - speedometer, trailer air gauge and air supply pressure, there was no tach, no temp or oil pressure gauges just idiot lights. The company said the truck does the work, so why order a new one?

 

I don’t know, my Tupperware truck can display 10 gauges on the main screen plus another 12 on the SmartNav screen. Compared to a total of 8 gauges in my FLD. So I don’t think the year or construction of the truck is the issue.

 

I have a question for you, how do you pronounce, Puyallup?