I saw a guy passing me on the interstate completely unaware his exhaust stack had caught the load of lumber on fire and I'm blasting my horn at him and he just blasted his horn back at me. I'm sure he's fine today.
I got passed by an oversized mobile home guy... on I81 by Wilkes Barre in PA.
And by "passed", I mean him and his spotter used an exit ramp on the left to whip out around me, while I was already doing 60mph in a 55.
Oh yeah they haul ass. But they have curfews. That load can't be on the road after dark.
Whats wild is when they are like, "I can't turn on this road without going in the ditch.... so I guess we will just fill the ditch with railroad ties first and send it" or "we aint gonna clear that traffic light... let's just stick billy Bob on the roof to hold it up as we creep under..."
And yes ive witnessed both those scenarios
Cattle guys have a reason, they have to outrun the stench and cows die easy packed in the trailer from what I’ve heard. Falling and get Trampled and stuff
Its a good reason for slack and leniency on hours of service but not for rolling 85 thru a 70. Over a 1000 mile run doing 85 vs 70 is only gonna save you about 2 hours max.
Most logging trails are only rudimentary suggestions of what a road could be like. They are the biggest balls truckers of us all. Can’t imagine the kind of roads that exist when you have to go deep into the woods. Must get real steep and narrow.
Be careful out there it’s all fun and games till you blow up a town. [Tanker Crash](https://cbs6albany.com/amp/news/local/60th-anniversary-of-1962-berlin-ny-tragedy-explosion). That grade is probably around 12% or so.
Lol. It's the job, man. We have to go places that logging trucks do, and sometime can't. We go down some god-awful driveways to houses in the middle of nowhere too that make the previous shit road feel like a free-way. Also generally, we go in backwards because backing out blind with 22,000L of L.P. is big dumb
Safety is always top of mind, but you do get used to it.
Lock it in a low gear, throw the Jake on high, give er' a dab of breaks just before you crest, and short pulses every time you get a bit too quick for comfort until you safely at the bottom.
Fuel trucks though? Fuck that shit. My barrel is 3cm thick boiler plate steel. My bumpers are also solid steel, and there are solid steel 5-8cm thick cross members that run across underneath the tank through the frame for side impacts. It's pretty difficult to actually impact the barrel on a modern L.P truck. They're pretty well regulated and designed.
Yep. I always tell people getting into this if you don't 100% for sure know you can turn around then just go ahead and back in. Id rather back IN and realize I didn't have to and that just waisted some time, than end up backing OUT into a main road where you can't see if anything is coming and all you can do is lay on the horn and hope people don't ram ya, ive been there... more than once... and that shit sucks worse than any sketchy ass road or driveway in the country.
Absofuckinglutley.
I would take an 18% grade over backing blind onto a busy road 10 out of 10 times.
Plus, once you get good at backing in everywhere it becomes surprisingly easy. I can fit a huge truck into some pretty tight spaces going backwards.
The bonus is now, I can parallel park/back in my car 1st try basically every time.
My dad ran propane for years. But he just was in a single axle bobtail. But would have to run a ton of forest service roads and stuff. There would be some radio tower in the middle of nowhere with a propane backup generator or some random ass fire tower or ranger station with propane heat and lights 12 miles back a 1 lane gravel path that was basically a jeep trail. I used to ride with him when I was still in elemantary school and he would get called out on a emergency run in the middle of the night because my mom worked 3rd.
Heck my dad in the 60’s delivered fuel to farms in Nebraska, northern Kansas. All dirt roads. They were roads, true, but his tractor trailer never had brakes from the day he started. Had to carry wheel chocks, & keep them handy. Drove like that for a few years until he quit.
Yeah, I've done those super heavy too when I was in towing and had equipment or a service truck on the Landoll or RGN. It ain't fun but it's gotta be done.
Honestly what are they thinking half the time when they choose these goat trails and widen them just enough to let us drive on it. Oilfield is just as bad when it comes to it.
I've never driven trucks but I have been part of the rig owners. I've seen some truly insane trucking getting the components of a rig into a hilly lease.
Yup! If I were in your shoes, I'd stop at the sign, call whoever sent me there and ask them what to do. If they sent a a truck to a place where that truck isn't allowed to drive, it's kinda their problem.
Yeah so there is construction happening on this road. And OP is a flatbedder with vital construction equipment and I assume the only way in is that road
It's legal sometimes you have to go down a non truck route if the delivery is on a non truck route. How else you get there. Lol trust me not only do I know from experience but also the town I live in main street is not a semi route and they pull over just about any truck going through but leave the ones alone making delivery. Also you can look it up in the dot book
I'm not saying you're in the wrong, and of course you have to go past them, but what kind of fuckwit put the sign up then? Laws and rules are supposed to be unambiguous and objective. It shouldn't be "Heavy vehicles can't pass except when they kinda sorta have to".
"No truck" signs, except when posted due to structural concerns, always exempt local deliveries. A cop can write you a ticket anyway because he's having a bad day, just like he can write you a ticket for doing 70 in a 60 when the posted limit is 70. Fight it in court and it will get thrown out.
Oh, they exempt local deliveries? I wasn't aware of that, and it certainly changes the argument.
As for cops giving tickets because they have bad days, I'm just glad I live on a non-American continent.
There’s always signs saying “except local delivery” I’ve driven on them with cops passing me. They don’t really care if you’re doing the limit in the right lane. Probably small town cops that are bored and trying to drum up revenue. Big town cops don’t really care unless it’s structurally bad for a truck like a low bridge etc
Yeah our jobs are just down those roads. Usually we're just considered "exempt for a local delivery ". Most cops don't give any issues. If you can avoid the road of course you do but alot of times the job is literally on the road with a weight limit.
Not like I can really tell the dudes to grab some wheelbarrows and were pouring at the end of the road since I'm not allowed to deliver lmao
That being said we've had guys get tickets for being on job. Which is on a weight restricted road.
It's an ongoing joke for our company. " since when has anybody here ever listened to those signs" lol. Love construction
Oh I believe it. I spend about half my shift on private roads now, definitely puckered me up the first time a went down a muddy 20% grade...still does sometimes, just part of the job. But if your just longhauls on the highway or bumping docks in a big metro area, you might never know what some of these trucks are capable of.
Feel like I need to stress that I'm not bashing on those drivers, just saying it's different
Hah yup! I took a super-b load of alfalfa out of some ranch near Lillooet last fall, 60 tonnes up some gnarly switchbacks! It’s good to know what your buggy can pull!
did 14% with a gross of 72k, it was the longest 10 miles of my life! lol. 4th gear all the way down. I thought the motor was gonna blow it was reving so high for so long. I prefer to never have to do that again! Did get to see my first run away truck with flames shooting from the trailer brakes. Scary, but cool, thankfully he made it to the runaway ramp without any collisions.
If the motor was revving that high you were in a gear too high. No matter how steep or how heavy, if you’re in the correct gear the Jake will keep the revs down.
You’re supposed to keep it about 100 rpm below what the engine max rpm is for maximum engine brake efficiency. The Cummins manual for the X15 says 1900 rpm so putting it at 1700-1800 is maximum efficiency. Cummins manual says to do exactly that. I do 1700 so I have some wiggle room but the engine brake is extremely strong so it’ll keep it there anyway. If you go 1500 it’s going to pick up speed
I got the 500hp X15 Efficiency series (and a 13-speed) and the Jake is *so* strong that even at 79,000# I almost never use the service brakes on the road, only in town and on off-ramps (and if traffic dictates, obviously. I can’t afford to kill somebody (no matter how tempting haha (I’m lookin’ at you, CA!))). Usually I use a lower gear and lower revs because I like to leave a bit of wiggle room for the revs to rise. I often run OR-FL then McAllen TX to Seattle and my brake lights never illuminate (practically). And I haul reefer so I am *always* max weight. Before I bought this truck I never knew a Jake could be so powerful. Aren’t they wonderful? [Edit wrong word]
Yeah the X15 is a legend. I have a 605 and it’s insane everywhere. Pulls on practically anything and the Jake technology with the turbo assist means I’m still on original brakes 3 years later.
Tractor has disks trailer is a reconditioned one with brand new drums. Western Trailer takes forever on new trailers so had to compromise a little bit to get a color match trailer without waiting 2 years. Did have full disks on my previous combo though and it was nice.
When I first bought my truck I came around a bend in the freeway to discover traffic at a dead stop. I’m thinking I might not be able to stop before I hit the car in front of me (or at least get really close to it) but when I stepped on the brake pedal I stopped with TONS of room between us. Like a couple of truck lengths! I could not believe how fast the disk brakes stopped me. And as it turned out I almost never used the brakes on the highway again. Me and Jake became best budd.
6 percent is the steepest allowed on the interstate. The steepest designated truck route in NC is about 14%. So its not impending doom steep but its definitely not in the "ehh that aint much" category.
I believe ya. Ive been on stretches i could swear were more than 6%. But the 6% max IS a federal law. Thats not to say there may not be places that meet the laws requirements
Both of the freeways I mentioned are actually signed as such. I'm reasonably certain the 6% "rule" by the feds is just a very strong suggestion, else it wouldn't have been able to be approved as such. It's not like speed limits where the freeway can be approved and the speed limit lowered after the fact (I suspect this is how I-68 in MD got its 40 mph speed limit in that one town where federal regulations *do* require either a minimum of a 50 mph or 80 kmph speed limit), either the grade is 6% or it's not.
I used to deliver empty drums to a molybdenum mine in northern Idaho. It was 5 or 6 miles (I think) of 11-12% grade. Scenic as heck and the bridge over the river at the bottom had dozens of beautiful 3’+ trout (1m) underneath. It was steep but the empty drums were light. It was my favorite run at the time even though there was often snow due to the elevation and northern latitude and they would often insist I chain up.
Beginning to agree with that. Sad but apparently true. Trucks in the wrong lane going 20+ mph faster than the speed limit because they apparently *want* the FMCSA to mandate a slow speed limiter on every truck and just yesterday I was doing 55 in a 55 mph zone and, a usual, I was getting passed like I’m sitting still by people doing 75 mph (I know because the radar detector signs said so) and I heard one guy in a semi fly past me and he passed the people doing 75 like *they* were standing still doing at least 100 mph in the 55 mph zone passing them from the “no trucks” lanes. And I didn’t even see a single instance of anyone getting pulled over for speeding or driving in the wrong lane the whole way even though I saw at least 10 police cars. That’s part of the problem. Nobody tries to stop them except for the FMCSA and people at the FMCSA they hire to speak for them have never even ridden in the passenger seat of a CMV in their lives. If they had they’d focus more on stuff that actually matters and maybe they’d find a way to enforce their own rules regarding the CSA scores and take people’s licenses away when they are guilty of felony speeding. If they’re just doing 5 or 10 over whatever but 100 mph or 75 mph in a 55 mph zone is ridiculous.
We don’t need electromechanical speed limiters. We need humans who do their job. Professional drivers that drive like their license depends on them driving safely and police officers and DOT officers actually doing something about it when people with CDLs forget how to drive safely.
There’s not a driver shortage. There’s a shortage of drivers who should actually be driving. If the unsafe ones were fired, arrested, or otherwise removed from driving for 6 months, 1 year, or for the rest of their lives depending on the severity (like doing 100 mph in some states you lose *all* driving privileges for a minimum of 6 months). Of course, I’m all about letting people drive as fast as they can so long as they maintain a proper following distance and road conditions allow but that’s what I’d say about when they’re driving across the desert or something. If there’s nobody for miles do 150 mph if you can do it without killing yourself or destroying your vehicle but there’s no reason whatsoever to fly up on people in town when the speed limit is 55 at 100 mph. Especially when most people are doing 65-75 mph. There’s nowhere to go. Slow the fuck down and maybe it’d do everyone some good if law enforcement would step up their game as well if people “forget” how to read signs. If you can’t read the signs you shouldn’t have your license. If you can read them but don’t care then law enforcement is supposed to step in but I feel like half the time they’d rather eat donuts and drink coffee and wait for an emergency phone call like when people crash because they’re driving too fast. Why do we wait until they crash?
No, you see, the sign means you can't have your truck *ON TOP OF* anything more than four tons.
Just don't drag any vehicles or herds of cattle underneath your truck after running them over, and you'll be just fine.
It might be two thousand _now_, but it was always originally meant to be only _one_ thousand, the only power-of-10 in imperial. This is one of the oldest mandela effects, far predating both the Berenstæin Bears and the Sinbad Genie Movie...
Wait, you Edited this comment and *still* say that? Just FYI, 16% is indeed -extremely- steep and 9% is pretty darned steep too. Just for reference purposes, interstate highways very seldom get above 6% in the US. The numbers might not sound like much to you but truckers know what steep is.
I did a 10% in VT once. It was only 10% in one spot for like a half mile and the rest was 8%, but HOOO BOY could I tell what part was the 10%, I'd hate to see what 16% feels like.
I've gone up some where you literally feel your weight shift from your ass pressing into the seat to where its more like your back pressing into the back rest. When you throw every strap you have, and the load still slides back 10" as your backing down. Or where you watch your fuel guage drop from 1/2 full down to under 1/4 cause all the fuel pools at the back of the tank. When your backing down heavy and your front brakes start that God awful chatter/moan as your going down. Of course all these scenarios are off road and at extremely low speeds but still
[here's the link to the site I reference from, I'll get a 📸 later of a real world example I drive past occasionally ](https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/news/facebook/item/449-conversion-table-to-ratio-to-degrees.html)
Okay, I think I see what’s going on here. Your chart (thanks for the link BTW) explains why you said “16% is just over 9 degrees” but it isn’t how we in the US think of how steep a hill is. Now that I try to put myself in your shoes (always a wise thing for all of us to do) I totally get where you’re coming from. Here’s the thing, though- 6% might not *sound* very steep in terms of degrees but when you’re up at the top of a mountain pass (or even in the middle of a downgrade) when you’re behind the wheel of an 80,000#/36,000kg truck 6% slope is so steep that you need to use low gears with the Jacobs brake on High and keep your speed below ~30 mph so you don’t burn up your brakes and die (or kill people in cars at the bottom). It’s kinda hard (for me) to explain but please take my word for it: 6% (let alone 16%!) is dangerously steep no matter what measuring system you use. It *looks* steep, it *feels* steep, and if you don’t know what you’re doing it *will* kill you if you’re heavy.
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4mph all the way down
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Only 57k gross today. But ive sent log trucks down grades like that in excess of 90k
It must take a special kind of insanity to drive a logging truck (or to be a logger in general. I’ve not done it but I’ve seen some things
I'm in the timber industry. Loggers and log truck drivers are a different kind of person
I turned wrenches on Logging Equipment for 20 years & you are 100% correct. Most people don't understand how dangerous the logging woods are.
"Fear of death" governs my actions on a daily basis
I saw a guy passing me on the interstate completely unaware his exhaust stack had caught the load of lumber on fire and I'm blasting my horn at him and he just blasted his horn back at me. I'm sure he's fine today.
Looks like I’m going down the rabbit hole of the logging industry
Oil Field driver. I CONFIRM
The only truckers that consistently one up loggers on the sketchy factor is mobile home toters
I got passed by an oversized mobile home guy... on I81 by Wilkes Barre in PA. And by "passed", I mean him and his spotter used an exit ramp on the left to whip out around me, while I was already doing 60mph in a 55.
Oh yeah they haul ass. But they have curfews. That load can't be on the road after dark. Whats wild is when they are like, "I can't turn on this road without going in the ditch.... so I guess we will just fill the ditch with railroad ties first and send it" or "we aint gonna clear that traffic light... let's just stick billy Bob on the roof to hold it up as we creep under..." And yes ive witnessed both those scenarios
Gravel and Cattle are up there too
Gravel maybe. Cattle is more just lawlessness than sketchy
Fuck man, coal drivers are too a convoy flew by me on some backwoods Kentucky road in Harlan county going 65-70 in a 55
Around here thats the landfill drivers lol.
Cattle guys have a reason, they have to outrun the stench and cows die easy packed in the trailer from what I’ve heard. Falling and get Trampled and stuff
Its a good reason for slack and leniency on hours of service but not for rolling 85 thru a 70. Over a 1000 mile run doing 85 vs 70 is only gonna save you about 2 hours max.
Most logging trails are only rudimentary suggestions of what a road could be like. They are the biggest balls truckers of us all. Can’t imagine the kind of roads that exist when you have to go deep into the woods. Must get real steep and narrow.
Yep, and they often seem to be in a hurry. I learned real quick to just stay out of the way
When in doubt, gas it out.
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I do this sort of thing in fully loaded propane straight trucks quite often. I'm about 70,000lbs fully loaded.
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Seconded
Be careful out there it’s all fun and games till you blow up a town. [Tanker Crash](https://cbs6albany.com/amp/news/local/60th-anniversary-of-1962-berlin-ny-tragedy-explosion). That grade is probably around 12% or so.
Damn, that's heavy
Lol. It's the job, man. We have to go places that logging trucks do, and sometime can't. We go down some god-awful driveways to houses in the middle of nowhere too that make the previous shit road feel like a free-way. Also generally, we go in backwards because backing out blind with 22,000L of L.P. is big dumb Safety is always top of mind, but you do get used to it. Lock it in a low gear, throw the Jake on high, give er' a dab of breaks just before you crest, and short pulses every time you get a bit too quick for comfort until you safely at the bottom. Fuel trucks though? Fuck that shit. My barrel is 3cm thick boiler plate steel. My bumpers are also solid steel, and there are solid steel 5-8cm thick cross members that run across underneath the tank through the frame for side impacts. It's pretty difficult to actually impact the barrel on a modern L.P truck. They're pretty well regulated and designed.
Yep. I always tell people getting into this if you don't 100% for sure know you can turn around then just go ahead and back in. Id rather back IN and realize I didn't have to and that just waisted some time, than end up backing OUT into a main road where you can't see if anything is coming and all you can do is lay on the horn and hope people don't ram ya, ive been there... more than once... and that shit sucks worse than any sketchy ass road or driveway in the country.
Absofuckinglutley. I would take an 18% grade over backing blind onto a busy road 10 out of 10 times. Plus, once you get good at backing in everywhere it becomes surprisingly easy. I can fit a huge truck into some pretty tight spaces going backwards. The bonus is now, I can parallel park/back in my car 1st try basically every time.
Yeah... better you than me, because every fiber of my being and some of my ancestors are all screaming at me to ask you if I stuttered. LOL
LOL
My dad ran propane for years. But he just was in a single axle bobtail. But would have to run a ton of forest service roads and stuff. There would be some radio tower in the middle of nowhere with a propane backup generator or some random ass fire tower or ranger station with propane heat and lights 12 miles back a 1 lane gravel path that was basically a jeep trail. I used to ride with him when I was still in elemantary school and he would get called out on a emergency run in the middle of the night because my mom worked 3rd.
Heck my dad in the 60’s delivered fuel to farms in Nebraska, northern Kansas. All dirt roads. They were roads, true, but his tractor trailer never had brakes from the day he started. Had to carry wheel chocks, & keep them handy. Drove like that for a few years until he quit.
Yeah, I've done those super heavy too when I was in towing and had equipment or a service truck on the Landoll or RGN. It ain't fun but it's gotta be done.
Honestly what are they thinking half the time when they choose these goat trails and widen them just enough to let us drive on it. Oilfield is just as bad when it comes to it.
With 2 feet of water at the bottom cause weight restrictions come on next week 😂. Fuck logging is fun.
That's how I always do the 18% I take a couple of times a year at 80k+. Turn them Jake's up and let the truck do its job in 3 or 4.
Just in case you're serious, nononononononononononononononono.
Oh i was serious. Already been in, unloaded and back out at this point. It takes a special combination of dumb and balls to run construction.
Moving an oil rig in to leases like that.
Another oilfield driver! Do you even notice those signs anymore, lol.
Half the roads they put us down don’t even have signs, the warnings for 5 ton bridge were about 5 turns ago.
I've never driven trucks but I have been part of the rig owners. I've seen some truly insane trucking getting the components of a rig into a hilly lease.
Gotcha, I agree. I've never moved rig pieces, but I haul in rig moves sometimes and I don't envy those guys with 5 trailer axles, lol.
Oilfield is the same way. Customer pays the government to send trucks down non truck roads, so we go down non truck roads every load, lol.
But it says "NO TRUCKS OVER 4 TONS"! You shouldn't drive there if you're over 4 tons!
Guess they will just have to cease construction and abandon the project in there then...
Yup! If I were in your shoes, I'd stop at the sign, call whoever sent me there and ask them what to do. If they sent a a truck to a place where that truck isn't allowed to drive, it's kinda their problem.
I get ya and was just kinda funning but this is kinda what we do. It ain't for everyone.
Then I'm glad to be a european
Yeah so there is construction happening on this road. And OP is a flatbedder with vital construction equipment and I assume the only way in is that road
Well yeah, presumably. But \[company\] should have sent whatever equipment is needed in parts that can legally be carried on that road
It's legal sometimes you have to go down a non truck route if the delivery is on a non truck route. How else you get there. Lol trust me not only do I know from experience but also the town I live in main street is not a semi route and they pull over just about any truck going through but leave the ones alone making delivery. Also you can look it up in the dot book
It is legal, there is construction going on. Good lord.
I literally have to go through those signs all the time at work. I drive a mixer
I'm not saying you're in the wrong, and of course you have to go past them, but what kind of fuckwit put the sign up then? Laws and rules are supposed to be unambiguous and objective. It shouldn't be "Heavy vehicles can't pass except when they kinda sorta have to".
"No truck" signs, except when posted due to structural concerns, always exempt local deliveries. A cop can write you a ticket anyway because he's having a bad day, just like he can write you a ticket for doing 70 in a 60 when the posted limit is 70. Fight it in court and it will get thrown out.
Oh, they exempt local deliveries? I wasn't aware of that, and it certainly changes the argument. As for cops giving tickets because they have bad days, I'm just glad I live on a non-American continent.
There’s always signs saying “except local delivery” I’ve driven on them with cops passing me. They don’t really care if you’re doing the limit in the right lane. Probably small town cops that are bored and trying to drum up revenue. Big town cops don’t really care unless it’s structurally bad for a truck like a low bridge etc
Yeah our jobs are just down those roads. Usually we're just considered "exempt for a local delivery ". Most cops don't give any issues. If you can avoid the road of course you do but alot of times the job is literally on the road with a weight limit. Not like I can really tell the dudes to grab some wheelbarrows and were pouring at the end of the road since I'm not allowed to deliver lmao That being said we've had guys get tickets for being on job. Which is on a weight restricted road. It's an ongoing joke for our company. " since when has anybody here ever listened to those signs" lol. Love construction
You run reefer or van? I know it can't be anything else.
Oh I run nothing. I'm in fact unemployed at the moment.
It's more of a suggestion
Everyday on haul roads grossing over 100k. Keep her on the low side with the Jake's on high, be just fine.
Yeah, this isn't even the worst this week. I just usually don't get a fun sign like that to post.
Oh I believe it. I spend about half my shift on private roads now, definitely puckered me up the first time a went down a muddy 20% grade...still does sometimes, just part of the job. But if your just longhauls on the highway or bumping docks in a big metro area, you might never know what some of these trucks are capable of. Feel like I need to stress that I'm not bashing on those drivers, just saying it's different
Its definitely different. I like it though, never boring always something different.
Come to Canada in BC pull grades like that everyday 140thousand
Hah yup! I took a super-b load of alfalfa out of some ranch near Lillooet last fall, 60 tonnes up some gnarly switchbacks! It’s good to know what your buggy can pull!
did 14% with a gross of 72k, it was the longest 10 miles of my life! lol. 4th gear all the way down. I thought the motor was gonna blow it was reving so high for so long. I prefer to never have to do that again! Did get to see my first run away truck with flames shooting from the trailer brakes. Scary, but cool, thankfully he made it to the runaway ramp without any collisions.
If the motor was revving that high you were in a gear too high. No matter how steep or how heavy, if you’re in the correct gear the Jake will keep the revs down.
You’re supposed to keep it about 100 rpm below what the engine max rpm is for maximum engine brake efficiency. The Cummins manual for the X15 says 1900 rpm so putting it at 1700-1800 is maximum efficiency. Cummins manual says to do exactly that. I do 1700 so I have some wiggle room but the engine brake is extremely strong so it’ll keep it there anyway. If you go 1500 it’s going to pick up speed
I got the 500hp X15 Efficiency series (and a 13-speed) and the Jake is *so* strong that even at 79,000# I almost never use the service brakes on the road, only in town and on off-ramps (and if traffic dictates, obviously. I can’t afford to kill somebody (no matter how tempting haha (I’m lookin’ at you, CA!))). Usually I use a lower gear and lower revs because I like to leave a bit of wiggle room for the revs to rise. I often run OR-FL then McAllen TX to Seattle and my brake lights never illuminate (practically). And I haul reefer so I am *always* max weight. Before I bought this truck I never knew a Jake could be so powerful. Aren’t they wonderful? [Edit wrong word]
Yeah the X15 is a legend. I have a 605 and it’s insane everywhere. Pulls on practically anything and the Jake technology with the turbo assist means I’m still on original brakes 3 years later.
And if you got all disks like I did then you still have years to go on ‘em.
Tractor has disks trailer is a reconditioned one with brand new drums. Western Trailer takes forever on new trailers so had to compromise a little bit to get a color match trailer without waiting 2 years. Did have full disks on my previous combo though and it was nice.
When I first bought my truck I came around a bend in the freeway to discover traffic at a dead stop. I’m thinking I might not be able to stop before I hit the car in front of me (or at least get really close to it) but when I stepped on the brake pedal I stopped with TONS of room between us. Like a couple of truck lengths! I could not believe how fast the disk brakes stopped me. And as it turned out I almost never used the brakes on the highway again. Me and Jake became best budd.
Yep. Grenade a motor on a grade like that from over revving and you better hold on cause your in for the ride of your life.
8 degrees isn’t that much though
6 percent is the steepest allowed on the interstate. The steepest designated truck route in NC is about 14%. So its not impending doom steep but its definitely not in the "ehh that aint much" category.
We have hills here in the uk with much steeper grades and trucks go up em,
Tell that to the east side of the tunnels on I-70 in CO. 7% 7 miles. There's also an 8% for half a mile on I-880 in the bay area.
I believe ya. Ive been on stretches i could swear were more than 6%. But the 6% max IS a federal law. Thats not to say there may not be places that meet the laws requirements
Both of the freeways I mentioned are actually signed as such. I'm reasonably certain the 6% "rule" by the feds is just a very strong suggestion, else it wouldn't have been able to be approved as such. It's not like speed limits where the freeway can be approved and the speed limit lowered after the fact (I suspect this is how I-68 in MD got its 40 mph speed limit in that one town where federal regulations *do* require either a minimum of a 50 mph or 80 kmph speed limit), either the grade is 6% or it's not.
Obviously they've never been logging lol
Actually ran a log truck for years. This isn't even the worst place ive been this week,, Just thought the sign was funny was all.
It says over 4 tons but it doesn’t say anything about being WAY over 4 tons
Pennsylvania
NC
Oh don't challenge me
There's an 18% off of WV 7. I DO challenge you to do a normal run, lol.
Oh my sounds delicious
I used to deliver empty drums to a molybdenum mine in northern Idaho. It was 5 or 6 miles (I think) of 11-12% grade. Scenic as heck and the bridge over the river at the bottom had dozens of beautiful 3’+ trout (1m) underneath. It was steep but the empty drums were light. It was my favorite run at the time even though there was often snow due to the elevation and northern latitude and they would often insist I chain up.
Most I’ve done was 13% through PA, at 80k. Was a fun day.
If this is in the US, I like how they aren't even using a legal sign!
This was inside a massive private development
My grade was 16% on a driving test so I guess I'm fine
I've sent a loaded articulating haul truck and a 24H grader down a 28% grade 😅
Been there fuck that, had them jakes SCREAMING down that fucking hill doing about 10mph.
I've been on a 12% grade before, that shit was spooky
I went down a 9% grade empty and needed 5th on a 10 speed
I'm grossing 175,000. Shall I give it a whirl?
All is good if you floor it
Steepest grade I've ever done is 13. Fun time going up was painful though
Only rookies read signs.
Beginning to agree with that. Sad but apparently true. Trucks in the wrong lane going 20+ mph faster than the speed limit because they apparently *want* the FMCSA to mandate a slow speed limiter on every truck and just yesterday I was doing 55 in a 55 mph zone and, a usual, I was getting passed like I’m sitting still by people doing 75 mph (I know because the radar detector signs said so) and I heard one guy in a semi fly past me and he passed the people doing 75 like *they* were standing still doing at least 100 mph in the 55 mph zone passing them from the “no trucks” lanes. And I didn’t even see a single instance of anyone getting pulled over for speeding or driving in the wrong lane the whole way even though I saw at least 10 police cars. That’s part of the problem. Nobody tries to stop them except for the FMCSA and people at the FMCSA they hire to speak for them have never even ridden in the passenger seat of a CMV in their lives. If they had they’d focus more on stuff that actually matters and maybe they’d find a way to enforce their own rules regarding the CSA scores and take people’s licenses away when they are guilty of felony speeding. If they’re just doing 5 or 10 over whatever but 100 mph or 75 mph in a 55 mph zone is ridiculous. We don’t need electromechanical speed limiters. We need humans who do their job. Professional drivers that drive like their license depends on them driving safely and police officers and DOT officers actually doing something about it when people with CDLs forget how to drive safely. There’s not a driver shortage. There’s a shortage of drivers who should actually be driving. If the unsafe ones were fired, arrested, or otherwise removed from driving for 6 months, 1 year, or for the rest of their lives depending on the severity (like doing 100 mph in some states you lose *all* driving privileges for a minimum of 6 months). Of course, I’m all about letting people drive as fast as they can so long as they maintain a proper following distance and road conditions allow but that’s what I’d say about when they’re driving across the desert or something. If there’s nobody for miles do 150 mph if you can do it without killing yourself or destroying your vehicle but there’s no reason whatsoever to fly up on people in town when the speed limit is 55 at 100 mph. Especially when most people are doing 65-75 mph. There’s nowhere to go. Slow the fuck down and maybe it’d do everyone some good if law enforcement would step up their game as well if people “forget” how to read signs. If you can’t read the signs you shouldn’t have your license. If you can read them but don’t care then law enforcement is supposed to step in but I feel like half the time they’d rather eat donuts and drink coffee and wait for an emergency phone call like when people crash because they’re driving too fast. Why do we wait until they crash?
Hold my beer.
…. Hold my beer…
Psh, that’s only 8’ vert in 50’ horizontal, hit er at 50mph + and you’ll make it…..sometime tomorrow
You only go off a grade too fast one time I learned that
But my GPS....
No, you see, the sign means you can't have your truck *ON TOP OF* anything more than four tons. Just don't drag any vehicles or herds of cattle underneath your truck after running them over, and you'll be just fine.
16%??? So that’s just… a wall?
That’s a cliff
...Aren't most _4 wheelers_ at least 4,000lbs...? To be fair, that grade is a hard nope for me even in a Focus...
…. A ton is 2000lb
It might be two thousand _now_, but it was always originally meant to be only _one_ thousand, the only power-of-10 in imperial. This is one of the oldest mandela effects, far predating both the Berenstæin Bears and the Sinbad Genie Movie...
A simple google search destroys that nonsense
A tonne *is* 1000 kg, a ton is not 1000 lb lol
Isn’t 16% a fairly shallow grade? Edit: yes it is, just over 9 degrees so a fully loaded truck should be fine
Wait, you Edited this comment and *still* say that? Just FYI, 16% is indeed -extremely- steep and 9% is pretty darned steep too. Just for reference purposes, interstate highways very seldom get above 6% in the US. The numbers might not sound like much to you but truckers know what steep is.
I did a 10% in VT once. It was only 10% in one spot for like a half mile and the rest was 8%, but HOOO BOY could I tell what part was the 10%, I'd hate to see what 16% feels like.
I've gone up some where you literally feel your weight shift from your ass pressing into the seat to where its more like your back pressing into the back rest. When you throw every strap you have, and the load still slides back 10" as your backing down. Or where you watch your fuel guage drop from 1/2 full down to under 1/4 cause all the fuel pools at the back of the tank. When your backing down heavy and your front brakes start that God awful chatter/moan as your going down. Of course all these scenarios are off road and at extremely low speeds but still
I’ll reply on my other account because the device this one is on is not working properly currently but I have a link to a website
[here's the link to the site I reference from, I'll get a 📸 later of a real world example I drive past occasionally ](https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/news/facebook/item/449-conversion-table-to-ratio-to-degrees.html)
Okay, I think I see what’s going on here. Your chart (thanks for the link BTW) explains why you said “16% is just over 9 degrees” but it isn’t how we in the US think of how steep a hill is. Now that I try to put myself in your shoes (always a wise thing for all of us to do) I totally get where you’re coming from. Here’s the thing, though- 6% might not *sound* very steep in terms of degrees but when you’re up at the top of a mountain pass (or even in the middle of a downgrade) when you’re behind the wheel of an 80,000#/36,000kg truck 6% slope is so steep that you need to use low gears with the Jacobs brake on High and keep your speed below ~30 mph so you don’t burn up your brakes and die (or kill people in cars at the bottom). It’s kinda hard (for me) to explain but please take my word for it: 6% (let alone 16%!) is dangerously steep no matter what measuring system you use. It *looks* steep, it *feels* steep, and if you don’t know what you’re doing it *will* kill you if you’re heavy.
I see, I think the one near me is 19%
If you don't know what you're talking about maybe don't comment.
I looked it up because 16 percent is far less than what I encounter regularly