My other question, and getting out of Colorado this one is important...how do your BRAKES hold up in the mountains? The stretch of Highway I-25 starting at just south of Walsenburg Co.all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico has a couple of very hairy 6% grade downhills..this is a big truck with old school shoe brakes..who's got some good brake stories for me?
First rule of truck driving: Always come down a steep grade in the same gear you went up the steep grade.
Obviously, there are situations where this rule can't be applied literally, but the idea is if you needed to be in 4th gear to get up the mountain, and you could only make 35MPH, you need to be in 4th gear going down the mountain, and do it at 35MPH.
If you follow that guideline, you will have no problem with the brakes on any properly serviced vehicle.
Back in the days of drum brakes, the guideline for brake application going down a steep grade was to apply your brakes hard enough to slow your vehicle down below your desired speed, and then release your brakes to allow them to cool. When the truck creeps up over your desired speed apply the brakes again.
Now in the days of trucks with disk brakes that cool well, and don't fade, the rule is to apply your brakes with just enough force to keep your desired speed.
There is a lot of well reasoned debate among truckers as to which method to apply.
Judging by the trucks I saw traveling the mountains of Pennsylvania and Maryland, the new rule is: Brakes what the heck 'er them things fer? But I digress...
I found that my deuce had more engine braking ability than it had power to go up the hills, so when I went up a 5% at 35 MPH in 4th, I actually needed to use the throttle to drive down the 5% in 4th at 35 MPH. No brakes were necessary.
-Chuck