Agreed on that with the traffic but still Eagle is nothing to laugh at. It is still 4-5 miles long 7% going east and with those curves you screw up you are in trouble. Drivers now think my brakes and jakes can get me out of trouble if I act stupid all the time. Well what if you lose a u-joint scratch the jakes since you have no engine brakes or if you lose your ECM there possibly goes both then you are in a world of hurt. Do not laugh I have seen it happen to drivers with over 3 million miles were an equipment failure put them in a runaway ramp.

 

AMEN! ....and not to mention wet or icy road conditions, fog, Elk, Sasquatch, mudslides, falling rocks, ............

but I think I'd rather manage my Mountain tour with Mother Nature, over the even more unpredictable 4-wheeler. At least I can respect Mother...she isn't a G#@ D$#% moron. :lol:

 

they had a thing on TV about them. they are designed to stop the truck ASAP but this one as you can see has a little too much gravel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tmVZJAsfnA :roll:

 

The back roads from Gainesville Ga to Cleveland Tn got me good.. There were few good hills on my route, I had got use to them and after a while got on the cell phone.. One thing leads to another I'm going 55 mph around 45 mph sharp down hill curves.. Jake was useless in 10 gear, I was fully loaded I smoked the brakes pretty good trying to get a hold of my speed.

Luckily I made it to the bottom without rolling it, I pulled off and watched the smoke rolling and the trailer brakes were useless.. I waited 30 minutes and was on my way.

 

It might be good to point out...if you do smoke or even worse glaze your brakes...the tendency is at the bottom to get out of the truck right away.

Maybe that's smart if you have further steep terrain to handle, but if not...this is a good way to freeze(lockup) your brakes. If you can keep rolling a ways to let them cool down first...that would be better.

 

Especially with the newer semi and full metallic linings that they are running it is possible to weld the shoes to the drums and that is not a pretty thing to explain to your company while the road service guy is replacing your baked on brake shoes and drums.

 

I tried to keep it between 25mph to 40mph. I have crossed it several times but I was either very light or in a truck with a 3 stage Jake Break. We mostly have 8 speeds, some new ones are ten speeds (they have the jake, 1 stage). My truck also may have been heavier than what the bills said, it just didn't want to slow down. I would get down to 30mph, let off the brake and right back to 45-50mph. That was the first time I thought I might need a sand pit.

 

I tried to keep it between 25mph to 40mph. I have crossed it several times but I was either very light or in a truck with a 3 stage Jake Break. We mostly have 8 speeds, some new ones are ten speeds (they have the jake, 1 stage). My truck also may have been heavier than what the bills said, it just didn't want to slow down. I would get down to 30mph, let off the brake and right back to 45-50mph. That was the first time I thought I might need a sand pit.

 

:shock: it was scary enough the first time!! :lol:

...I know ...double post... ops: :? I hate when that happens. :P

Anyway...yeah...she sounds heavy...whipping up that much speed so quick.
I bet your toenails came through the bottom of your boots!

Good point too. Every truck is different in some ways. Takes a while to learn what they are like or how they will respond.

 

Ben, that is one dangerous hill. When coming East, you do not climb up it, your already on top of the mountain when you leave out of Beckley. They do have a mandatory brake check right before you start down it but still, that 7% downgrade is deceiving as are the corners, they are nearly flat. If you do not choose the right gear when pulling out of the brake check, your already screwed on Sand Stone. The 7% starts as soon as you pull out and it's a straight shot for a good 3/4 mile.

I have followed a few trucks down that didn't get to the first curve before they were smoking like a freight train. If you can make it past the first couple of curves, you can hit the runaway truck ramp on the right on that next long straightaway. If you miss that, your not going to make the one at the bottom of the hill, it's a hard right hander that cannot be taken while your doing Mach 1. Forget trying to put'er in a ditch on Sand Stone, ain't no ditch there. The median is grass when a concrete V-ditch all the way down and that ain't enough to slow you down, much less stop you. Forget heading for the shoulders, you got a solid wall of mountain on the one side and a sheer drop on the other.