Wrong gear

Mountian story: I run tridem in Canada. We are licensed for 46,500kg or 105,000lbs. In Alberta there aren't any real troublesome hills, there are some, but nothing you would run into on a normal day.

Now on my way to Vancouver BC, there are 2 options. Hwy 1 (The Canyon/Snake pit) and the Coq (Highway Thru Hell).

The Canyon is lots of 6-7% grades and 15mph turns (switchbacks) that 2 trucks can't do as the same time. The Coq has a monster 13% truck killer grade. Then a 20 mile descent at 8%. The road splits in Kamloops with a 'secret' bypass for us guys who don't want to deal with the rookies between the first sections of the COQ.

Highway 5A. It's an exit near the centre of the climb, on a 9% incline for 4 miles with 3 lights. Then a brake check followed by a nice 15% grade with 5 back to back curves. At 105,000lbs it's a monster, but after that your below the snow line so it's a trade off.

I always run that way unless the road is closed. So 2 grades better than 10%, and I'm normally 90-97,000.

I'm in 4th at 1770rpm Jake's on full and the fan on. I normally go down around 15 mph and never touch my brakes which is the key up here in the winter. Anyone who doesn't like how slow I'm going can pass me. If they can't pass me and I piss them off. I tell them I'll be in hope at the bottom in 20min meet me there for a free attitude adjustment and physical check up.

I've never been met at the bottom yet.

cause as much as you may piss someone off cause you're not going as fast as 'they can'. They won't ever try and force you to speed up.

 

Ive had containers that were 120 and up, these were 40 foot boxes on little 60's macks. (awesome...)

There isnt too many hill problems that I recall between VA and Md with one exception bypassing New Market in Union Bridge. The tractor engine was probably burned out up and there is no point in worrying about braking coming down. Just kept it under 25 (Front end went out at 31)

Little grades.

We have some 14's to 24's here in America I invite you to try sometime. 105K is righteous. But I would not want to do that in snow. It's closed as far as I am concerned anything above 10% in winter.

 

I run south all the time. I'm in Jesup GA right now sitting in my cab smoking a cigar.

I find your hills funny for the most part. I've run all through Virginia, and Pennsylvania. As well as each mountain pass on the interstate system. And I find the drivers on them to be a comedic relief at best with how they talked about, and how they handle the grades

 

A bit of trivia.

The US Interstate system was fathered by the President Eisenhower. As such, it's engineered for 7% max and curves rated for 70 mph. (Unlike the say German Autobahn that is unlimited where possible)

The fun is getting off that system and into the woods wherever it may be.

Old Fancy Gap which is a little two lane road, currently banned to 18 wheelers above a certain tonnage (I think 8 tons) used to be the one way you got down into Pilot Mountain from VA that way before the interstate system.

 

My father told me how he had some excitement in the 1940's when he took a 2ton truck down a hill with 6 ton of stone on the back end. He said it was the first time he ever knew that truck to peg the needle in second gear. (I presume he meant RPM)

 

Good job. I guess from the replies from experienced hands on this forum, you understand that there's no such thing as getting too low a gear or going too slow when descending really steep and/or sustained downgrades.

I have had a fair amount of experience with really steep hills, the vast majority on dirt roads getting to or from oil rigs. However, there's one time I pulled a "sand chief", a specialized trailer used during fracking operations, to a well site in eastern Ohio, that really stands out in terms of steep.

That Sand Chief was an 11' wide trailer with an 11' wide wheel base and put me at 110,000 lbs gross weight with a little 400 hp Cummins. I met up with a customer rep about 10 miles from location and he escorted me on a steep, winding, two lane road that required getting ditch to ditch. THEN we turned onto a narrower road, but it was PAVED! Sweet! I'm used to dirt or mud goat tracks.

We get about a mile along this much narrower road and come to a roller coaster drop and rise just before getting to the frack site. I control the descent speed, then realize THAT was a mistake as I started having to lean forward to see the top of the next hill. I grab high range and gun it. Not soon enough. Rpm's drop quickly, so I drop to 4th in that 10 speed at 1800 rpm's and notice two really bad things: the rpm's drop quickly toward 1000 AND there's tire slippage on a smooth paved road.

I engaged the power divider as I drop to Lo and catch that bottom gear at 1500 rpm's. Quickly rpm's dropped under 1000. I unbuckled my seat belt and had my hand on the brake knobs as rpm's approached 600 idle speed with full throttle...just as I was cresting the hill. Whew!

After dropping the trailer at the frack site I bobtailed back down the hill. Just to be on the safe side I selected 5th with light Jake's. Mistake. I ramped it up to full Jake's AND applied light brakes. THAT is likely the steepest hill I ever battled with. I would like to know the grade, but am content to keep that one in my rear view.

 

It's steep when she refuses to rotate those drives under a load.

I had a bad habit of wrapping on the stupid steering wheel, if only to look over that hood to see what's down there. (You don't wanna know...)

Luke Maryland, if I can find it has a T intersection down a pretty steepy, not too steep in good weather, but when it's winter, snow blowing and you are presented with a rock face filled with crosses beyond the stopsign.

I made a snow angel there like a child. It quickly filled in. I forget what I had in the trailer that day but it was something.

As exciting that was, it does not cause any particular nerves upset as did a few in PA in the woods near Scranton in the rain, I call those coal roads for lack of a better name. Three questions, very important.

Confucius asks:

Why am I driving this mountain?

Why is the trailer trying to jack knife me in this rain? (Pushing drives to the side depending on the sharp steep curves you are forcing the rig around, too slippery to maintain traction)

What have I done with my wasted life to deserve this? How do I fix this? (That's two questions. One is regret for all the things not done yet and the other pertains to the limited schooling.)

Believe it or not, I have NOT been back up there. Whew... It's a very long time ago and it's chilly in here all of a sudden at this keyboard. Im glad I got away with it.

 

When you're on the I-5 crossing into Oregon from California, you come to the Siskiyou summit a couple miles after crossing into Oregon, and there is about a 5 mile grade down into Ashland. Just before you start downhill, there is a sign on the right with suggested speeds for loaded trucks by weight. A fully loaded truck between 75,000 and 80,000 pounds they say no more than 17 mph. I've never had to keep it that slow, but when I'm fully loaded I can generally stay in 8th gear with full jakes at about 35 mph without having to touch my brakes all the way down. I've passed many trucks at the bottom of that grade fully engulfed in flames because they rode the brakes all the way down.