Comments By Ruminator

Yep pulling heavy on hills and having to creep up them at almost half the speed limit is my number one frustration with trucking. I just would like to have the right tool for the job. As a company driver, I feel as if I got handed a flathead screwdriver whereas I needed a Phillips head. Sometimes you can make the flathead work but mostly its a real pain to loosen/tighten the screw if at all. I do alot of runs on mountain terrain, central and eastern Pa CT MA NY etc I'm the Cowboy and I-84 is the Bull...Guess who wins....everytime...

Well, thankfully. for the companys' sake, that they don't pay me by the hour or they might have to splurge on more hp and torque....it's a win win deal for the company. I guess I should be thankful that they gifted me the ability to do 35-40mph up the hill. they could have saved even more money and had me doing 20 up the mountain......

See this big huge truck I'm in that can crush you like a Bug! Be Afraid, Be very Afraid! Oh wait! Look! Look at him struggling to climb that little molehill.....HAHAHA What a Loser! I'm going to cut in front of him and there's not a damn thing he can do about it...... in fact I'll be home in bed by the time he reaches the top....

Those Hills.....its an ego crusher.....Soul zapper......the proverbial "Tail between the legs" Sigh!

I'm trying to get a better understanding of Horsepower and Torque relationship with each other. I kind of understand what they are separately but still not sure about it. Anyway, I seem to be hauling loads that put my Gross Vehicle Weight at 76k-78k. And I'm not thrilled with going up inclines at all.

Ok heres my question to help me understand HP and Torque.

Scenario: Youre governed at 65 mph. Speed Limit is 65 youre GVW is 80,000 lbs. you drive a 10 speed eaton cummins engine.....You begin an ascent up a steep hill that's a mile long at 65 mph in 10 gear. By the time you are halfway up you are barely doing 50 mph. a third of the way up and youre down to 45 mph where you stay til you crest the hill.

Ideally would have liked to maintain at least 60 mph all the way to the crest.

Not knowing your Engine HP or Torque numbers......based on the above scenario......If You had an option to increase either your HP by 20% or your Torque by 20% before the climb.......Which would you choose??

Also, If you happen to be at a dead stop at the middle of this hill and needed to get going again quickly, which engine boost would you choose?

Thanks for any input, anyone has to help me understand this more..

I'm referring to the noise they hear, of course, as I come to my stop, behind them and with plenty of room to fit at least another car in the space between us.....but that squeal noise does make them wonder if I'm truly will be stopping safely behind them....

Did you really take that statement seriously, .......or was you foolin me.....

Well, I don't much about other areas, tiny bit of driving in eastern mid-west part. but I've been driving as a new driver in the NE Regional for the last 2 months. I live in PA and driving NE is making me look at real estate listing in Kansas, Oklahoma right now...lol. Kidding.(Kinda)

Anyway, its a challenge, Cruise Control is a Luxury.....I'll give anything sometimes to use cruise control for more than 5 consecutive minutes.....alright I'm exaggerating but not by much....(unless your driving between like 11pm and 5am) in which I do not.....Its tough..lots of construction( one lane travel) lots of traffic jams, lots of hills, lots of congestion, etc. I'll never fall asleep at the wheel thats for sure....Oh and did i mention the really poor condition of the roads, holy cow,....Travel on I-88 in NY for awhile, it will drive you crazy....I couldn't tell you how often my belongings gradually make their way to the floor as im driving....or my drawers fly open, or something will start knocking and I just have to pull over to see what the hell keeps banging around.....Though i'm getting better at pre-securing things before I start driving...so many things have like soft things intermingled with metal and glass type things. Most highways are 2 laners with constant no trucks in left lane so that means when vehicles are coming off the ramps, its constant slow downs or lane changes....Having to drive in a middle lane is such a luxury....

You'll never really be bored....and if your one of those secret phone texters that like to use their phone on the sly alot (not me) you will really be asking for it .....not because of the police, but because of traffic, just when you think its safe to defer your attention from the road somewhat, the NE will snap its fingers at you....

That's what I figured might be the answer. Im no mechanic, so i guess I'm going to have to deal with it. Either get me some ear plugs, or turn the radio up or, perhaps, just downshift to 1st gear then use the brakes.....lol. People behind me will love that one. However, my truck is due in for some minor repairs next week, so, I hope I can plead with the mechanics to quiet them down a bit.....I may have to come prepared with a dozen donuts and coffee for a bribe.....until then, I'll just keep the anxiety high in the car in front of me that prays that I will actually stop behind them and not on top of them....lol

Been getting a lot of brake squealing for awhile....They don't really squeal if applied from time to time but after only a few minutes in a traffic jam or a road with traffic lights like every quarter mile; they like to make a lot of noise....it's finally driving me crazy enough to post, hoping for an answer.....couldn't find really anything except maybe "Burnishing". Don't know if I could do that with a tractor trailer.....WD-40? Umm. Probably not a good idea right?

Please help before I get into another traffic jam which due to running the Northeast region is often an hourly event...lol

Thanks for the replies. I was just kinda of rounding the numbers to make them even to help with illustration on my question. my drive was like 29,340 and trailer 33210 and steer 11700. I didn't want steer to be a factor in the answers i got. so i just rounded down to 11000. The steers pretty much are the same whenever i scale a 40K load. 11500 to 12200 is the range I usually get. i was just wondering about drive and trailer/tandem ratios and their relation to the handling and efficiency of truck. The "feel" of it. Anyway, I did even it out with sort of when i had the 2900 drive and 3300 trailer. My tandem holes are like 250-300 lb shift for 1 hole move. so i just counted 5 holes and moved it to move some weight over to my 29000 drives and left it at that. I didn't need to rescale as i was ok to begin with and I know my weight shift made it better.

I was just wondering if I had these weights below should I keep it like it is or even it out ...........or perhaps, make the drive a little heavier than the trailer...lets just say my steer never really changes enough to concern me.

Actual

Steer 11000 Drive 29000 Trailer 33000

Should I even it out.?

Steer 11000 Drive 31000 Trailer 31000

or should I move weight over to Drive and make it a little more heavier on that axle.

Steer 11000 Drive 33000 Trailer 29000

or just keep it like I it was when i scaled it.

Im asking for ease of hauling, hills, get more power. etc sometimes my truck does a kind of rocking, forward and back kind of thing. and my seat has a little forward/back give to it.... so it seems at times like your "*******" as your going down some roads. lol it appears this happens i think when my trailer axle is heavier.

Anyway what load weight distribution is optimal in the above scenario. for the best efficiency, and driving ease.

Thanks

You might also just need to slide the seat all the way forward first. LOL!

JJ

Thank You, LOL. You're not really a Trucker are you? You're one of those Aerospace Engineers, You work for NASA, right?

I Got it. thanks I actually didnt think of that. Although i had to get the seatbelt connector thingy out of the way. just loosened the bolt there a little and I got full swivel. yippee.... the operations manual dont tell about that trick about moving seat forward. just that it swivels and where the switch/lever is.....These operations manual generally suck i come to find out...horrible

anyway thanks again. safe travels :)

Hey, I have a 2016 Prostar and the seat has a Swivel Switch/lever under the seat right hand side...well it will swivel only a few inches/degrees and then the drivers door stops the complete swivel because of armrest. No matter how I have the armrest or seat back positioned (seat back all the way forward). I just can't swivel the chair towards the sleeper....is there something I'm missing? A design flaw? Any help would be appreciated...thanks