Engine Horsepower And Torque

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..

Horsepower is how fast you will hit the wall. Torque is how far you will take the wall with you.

Horsepower is how fast you will hit the wall. Torque is how far you will take the wall with you.

Love that quote.

I prefer Torque always.

Rumninator is impatient with hills:

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.

What's the problem? Going slow in your truck? You are dealing with the laws of physics and gravity. Same reason you get tired faster when you carry a bag of cement up stairs.

Also, consider how much of your time you spend going up steep hills - the 30mph kind. Not much at all! So why carry around an extra 200 HP just for that small fraction of your life?

Another thing to keep in mind is that horsepower and torque go hand in hand. You won't get a hp gain without a torque gain and vice versa. If you're looking for the truck that can climb Fancy Gap at 60mph fully loaded, you're going to invest money that I'm pretty sure you don't have. Oh and a simple hp and torque gain won't do it alone, you're also changing transmission and rear end ratios.

Wait until you lose an intake actuator or an injector and end up at 12 mph going up a hill... LOL

Even cars and pickups get slowed so they have to give it more fuel too. More than HP and Torque, the gearing is also a limiting factor in your road speed. The higher the gearing the better the fuel economy when cruising but the slower you climb the hills.

Horsepower is how fast you will hit the wall. Torque is how far you will take the wall with you.

neat quote but 100% incorrect actually

Horsepower is a calculation of work over a given time, it is not something that can be measured with a tool.

Torque is what actually moves the vehicle it is the force that turns the tires.

Just an FYI the equation for horsepower is torque multipled by RPM divided by 5252.

so for example 1450 (torque) X 1500(RPM) / 5252 = 414 (horsepower) Those are nor the real numbers of any motor just an illustration using numbers the in the world of semi trucks)

The whole reason horsepower was "invented" was for marketing. You got to remember cars (and trucks) replaced actual horses so they wanted something they could use as a representation of horses. Basically it was so the car salesman could go to the farmer and tell him that tractor can do the work of 20 horses and actually have real math to back it up.

Its one of the ways to can tell a real car enthusiast from just a can fan. When they talk about their cars power ask them at what RPM either number is on and peak horse power and peak torque are never at the same RPM in any vehicle. The real car guy will know the fanboy will look at you like you are an alien :D

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!

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'm not sure if I can take this seriously! You get your hills, you get your 4-wheelers, you get your wait time at docks, you get your recaps so you can't drive "forever", you get your T-calls. If these things are upsetting you, that you can't live the "pure" trucker life, maybe this isn't for you.

Sometimes it's a pain to be paid by miles, and you have to sit, or go up hills, or be stuck behind a slower truck for ten miles, and still get paid for the same miles you drove no matter how long it takes.

I have worked out the math, Ruminator. The stuff that slows you down only costs you a few minutes each day! You won't go broke driving "half speed" up hills.

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!

That's your number one frustration or just one of many? I can quickly think of many frustrating aspects of this job, ascending a grade didn't make my list.

Not sure what you expect, but there is no truck that will maintain road speed while climbing a steep hill with an 80k load. Your company did give you the right tool for the job.