ShinerBock wrote:
Slowmover wrote:
ShinerBock wrote:
If you ever towed 33-35k combined and was not able to hold the speed limit going up a grade,then you probably needed more gears.
But why would you have to maintain upper limit? What’s the importance?
Especially seeing as other vehicles won’t. And now you’ve just killed NECESSARY vehicle spacing. With other idiots now running up from behind and into this slower traffic making a bad thing worse.
Sounds like remedial training time. Basics.
The downgrade matters. Not the ascent.
Because I don't want to be a slow mover(pun intended), and like to stay within a reasonable speed when I tow instead of taking a hill at 40 mph becoming a hazard on the road. More gears, means more opportunities to be at peak power and efficiency at certain mph. Another plus is that you can operate at safer temps depending on the situation. More gears also helps on the decent too.
I am also pretty sure that any class 7/8 truck driver out there would disagree with the not needing extra gears when towing too. Go drive an Eaton 8 speed, 10 speed, and 13 speed up and down a few hills behind the same exact engine and you will see what a few extra gears will do.
OK. You’re a big boy. Some here aren’t. Listen up:
Calling the slower (but legal) driver a hazard reveals more about your low level of “skill” than you likely intended. (You might be a nice guy, but . . .)
At any grade — ANY GRADE AT ALL— traffic will slow. . Operator or equipment
the reason is irrelevant . “”Skill” comes in as recognizing this as fact, AND ADAPTING. One knows it ahead of time.
It matters not at all how fast you can make the ascent. What matters is maintaining as much space as the situation allows. As others (you) will screw it up for everyone else by rushing forward, thus less space ahead, alongside and behind. For everyone.
VEHICLE SPACING drives ALL other traffic decisions. More gears only help to a point. And unless one lives in the mountains, specifying a TV based on .04% of its miles also questions BASIC intelligence. I’m in favor of choices, but the difference between a 10 and a 13 isn’t much.
The latest AMTs are great. I have one behind a 13L Paccar that never seems to run out of choices. But it still won’t overcome 46k in the box on the way up The Gorge.
There is only ONE Interstate lane. The RH travel lane. The left lane is reserved for passing only. One has NO ROW in the left lane (zero), and one CANNOT BLOCK ACCESS to the passing lane.
A pass that cannot be completed AT LEAST five mph faster than the RH lane traffic is spirit of the law wrong. “Lingering” near other traffic is past stupid.
But we’ve seen how millions of the stupid screw this up. Instead of backing off and easing along, they crowd the left lane. Stupid is as stupid does. (“But I’m going faster”! No, not really. Wake up).
So in a situation where ADVERSE CROSSWINDS are likely — a mountain pass — and the GENUINE high risk of a grade descent exists . . .
. . you want to run along in an unsafe manner because . . . . ? (try again).
The hazard-provoking driver is the one who ignores what’s in front of him. Cannot adapt to conditions.
And, as towing makes an unstable vehicle even less stable (what were you saying?)
You want a test?
What is your total braking distance from 65-mph? That YOU have tested and CONFIRMED. It won’t be worth beans you don’t ADD time & distance on the road.
AND if you’re passing everyone on a upgrade at a high differential, (they won’t let me say what I think of those).
Remember that you not only have no ROW in the passing lane, you may not block access. Maybe you’ll be flat to the floor in your magic one ton at 70-mph up the grade in the left lane. And I decide to move into that left lane at 45-mph to get around a guy falling below 30. A fully legal maneuver INHERENT in the Interstate design.
WHY it has a minimum of two lanes nationwide. I’ve been traveling them continent-wide since they were being built. No one misses US highways.
1). You don’t know who is the hazard
2). You also don’t understand your contribution to a traffic problem
3). You have no basic strategy to obviate the worst. To highlight tactics that might work.
Extra gears are to be smooth. Ease along. Not stress the drivetrain unless needed.
A mountain grade is reason to back off. Always.
(And the slowmover handle dates from the killingly underpowered trucks I first drove. Literally 30-minutes to 60-mph out of Birmingham to Atlanta. 18-mph up the Gorge. I was hearing, “slow mover Mm 324”, in my sleep).
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