Hi Just Posted... Have One More Questions About Going Up Hill

How do I know what gear to be in going up hill?? Every newbie truckers question I’m sure. So far, it’s been just in town training. Some hwy, no big hills. If you’ve never been up or down that hill before, what gear do I approach the hill in? I know there are variables involved... weather, load and grade... is it better to be in a higher gear and then down shift? I was taught to try to eliminate the shifting up and down hill. Just looking for some feed back.

I haven't dealt with big hills but you under no circumstance should you downshift going down the hill. It'll be very difficult to get your speed down to get back in gear and you loose the engine braking ability. You risk burning up your breaks and going far too fast. Going down you use 1 gear lower than you used when you reached the peak. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but you want to continue at your speed while approaching the big hill. You will need to downshift as you climb the hill and your speed drops. Nearly every company has switched to a fully automatic fleet so it's something you likely will not need to deal with. Smaller companies that run old equipment or Old Dominion (LTL) are the only ones I'm aware of outside Owner Operators and Oversize loads running sticks.

Going up the hills, it will vary depending on the uphill grade, and the weight you are hauling.

One thing will always be the same, and that is match the RPMs in each successive lower gear. You will be downshifting as you climb the longest or steeper ones, so don't worry about selecting "the perfect gear" at the bottom. There ain't a perfect gear.

Example: If you start at the bottom in 10th gear, you'll see around 1350 RPMs at 65 MPH. As you go up, the truck slows to about 57 MPH, but only 975 RPMs. Downshift to 9th gear. Speed is now 55 MPH, and 1300 RPMs. Watch the RPMs, not the speedometer so much going up. Chances are, you will already be under the speed limit anyway. Some hills are long and steep, so you may end up in 6th gear and 25 MPH. That's okay because it's not a race.

Example: If you start at the bottom in 10th gear, you'll see around 1350 RPMs at 65 MPH. As you go up, the truck slows to about 57 MPH, but only 975 RPMs. Downshift to 9th gear. Speed is now 55 MPH, and 1300 RPMs. Watch the RPMs, not the speedometer so much going up.

This is it. You want to make sure you downshift. When I was training, I was scared of downshifting because I would always stall out and I'd have to hear about it. It took a lot of practice to get used to. Because I was scared of downshifting, I would do my best to avoid it. Stalling out going up a hill sucks and if you don't downshift, you will stall out. Getting to move without rolling backwards is worse than downshifting.

The only thing I have to add to what Packrat said is, when you give it a bump, get the RPMs to the right level. That may be a bigger bump than normal since you're going uphill.