Ignoramus2617 wrote:
On 2012-03-08, Steve W. wrote:
Ignoramus2617 wrote:
On 2012-03-07, MTBSW wrote:
I don't know if they still do this but twenty years ago when I lived
in the Colorado rockies there was a weigh station on I-70 at the town
of Idaho Springs. They asked all the truckers who were headed west if
they had ever driven over that section of highway before. From Idaho
Springs it is a loooong uphill grade to the Eisenhour Tunnel and then
an even loooooooonger very steep down hill grade on the other side
till you get down to Silver Plume. If a trucker had not been that way
before he was required to park his rig and go inside and watch a video
explaining how to drive on that stretch of road and handle the grades
before he was premitted to leave.
Are you a trucker?

I am wondering, about those long downgrades. How do you decide which
lower gear to choose? Would you pick one that would give you something
like 1,500 RPM at your desired safe speed?
Experience. Really. What gear you will use all depends on what the load
is, how the rig is loaded, what the road surface is, day/night, single
screw/twin screw, what the grade is, what your gearing is, what items
you have to slow you (Jake brake/exhaust retarder) plus some more.

The old rule of thumb is to use one gear lower than what it took you to
climb the hill. IE if you made it up using 9th then drop to 8th to go
down. This works IF both sides have the same grade, not usually the
case. It also doesn't work well on high HP rigs since you probably used
a gear much higher coming up than the ROT covers. IE: a 525 powered KW
will climb a pretty steep grade.

Yes, lots of variables.

That is why saying that "Use this gear for this hill" doesn't work. What
you end up doing usually is trying to pick the gear that gives you a
legal speed descent with the engine in the middle of the power band for
the engine. The trick is to add all the variables up to find that gear...


By the way, I found a great mobile mechanic. For just $90 and a heavy
duty C clamp, he fully checked and adjusted my truck's brakes,
lubricated everything, and did a lot of other maintenance and checked
everything. He said that the brakes are 3/4 new, and it is generally
good to drive.

I will try to get a DOT medical card, and will then take the written
exam.
DOT physical isn't hard. The written exam isn't hard either. The actual
driving test can be interesting depending on the brownie.
The usual routine for the driving test is, Show up with your driving
partner (someone who has a license to drive whatever you bring and has
all the paperwork)
Next you will do a pre-trip and verify that everything is OK. Then it
depends on their test. But you will need to do some actual road driving,
paying attention to EVERYTHING. Check the gauges/mirrors/lane
position/gearing (no shifting in intersections)and all the rest. Lane
position is interesting because most auto drivers don't bother with it.
Then you will be doing a straight line backing maneuver and parallel
parking. They may ask you to do a blind side backing into a dock or
something like that as well.

I would try to get as much practice in the actual vehicle you will be
using for the test that you can. Driving with a trailer behind you will
REALLY get your attention....

I think that I will go the route that Pete C suggested, and will rent
a truck with an auto transmission, for the purposes of the skills test. Less
distraction when driving and less points to be taken off, for grinding
gears. I have been driving with trailers for a while.

i


Trust me driving a P/U with a trailer is NOTHING compared to a tractor
trailer with a 102" wide 48-53 foot long trailer behind you.
Especially if it's a bumper tow unit. Everything is different.

--
Steve W.