How often are you On the Floor

1 Dollar

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Just out of curiosity and drawing on the past and also present: When hauling heavy loads, especially in hillier or mountainous areas, how often do you just push the pedal down and let her pull on long grades? I'm guessing this works better with manual trannys that can hold gears, but diesels with their limited RPM range with autos could also hold a direct or 2/3 gear pretty well I think.

It seems like in some of the older less powerful trucks this might have been common. I'm young so fill me in!
 
Some people like automatics, some don't,personally I hate them.Depends a lot on the truck and how it's geared. I have a 24V. Dodge 5 speed with 4.10 rears.Will pull forever in fourth gear. Used to haul auction cars on a 48 ft. 3 car trailer out of Statesville, NC, up fancy gap mountain -7 miles- grossing 25,500.I could top out at about 50MPH with the pedal to the metal,if you hit it right,but if you had to drop back to 3rd gear you had to go to about half throttle or you would over rev. real fast.
 
IF it is a diesel then you want to open the pump up for full fuel and so ya mash the pedal . Does not matter if it is a slush box or a gear trans. Myself i work on the old adage of old , IT TAKES IRON TO HAUL IRON an no slush boxes allowed .
 
Sounds like you might have had a 550 CAT with an 18 Speed too!!! How in the devil did you get through the scales at the bottom of the mountain grossing 105,000? They stopped me for something every time I went through there.
 
When will these outdated ignorant opinions about automatics ever die?

After you blow out your knee standing on a clutch for 3-1/2 hours in stop-n-go traffic, you might change your tune. I used to drive stick because it was "cool" and harkened back to the "good ole days," but that incident on I90 in MA pretty much soured me on sticks...

The traffic was, "move 5 feet, sit for 5 seconds," for 3-1/2 hours straight. I literally pumped the clutch pedal 12 times per minute, 720 times per hour, for 3-1/2 hours.

There was no opportunity to take it out of gear and rest. Move 5 feet, sit for 5 seconds. If you didn't pull up as soon as the guy ahead of you moved, everyone within 50 yards would lay on their horns.

Clutch isn't like a brake where just the weight of your foot will hold it. You gotta stand on the thing, leg fully extended. I couldn't walk right for days, and my knee was sore for weeks afterward.

Automatics have come a long way since 1955. You might want to give one a try.
 
letting a big diesel lug below its power band is really not a good idea, i do it too, as i know my truck, and what it will do and will not do, also im usually on a reasonably familer road, so i know if i can lug it a little and still make the top of the hill,normally you keep the engine in its power band and shift it as needed to do so, all it takes is a wrong guess, a skip shift down and miss the gear, and your stopped and have to do a on grade startup, not too bad in the rolling hills of the prarrie lands but here in the middle of the rocky mountains it can be a big problem, hard on the truck and its clutch, and no real excuse to be in that position, other than being lazy
 
With a 1991 Ford F-350 and the underpowered 7.3 IDI you are on the floor all the time when loaded..On a very steep hill near Van Buren,MO I almost ran out of power in 2nd gear with a 5000 lb tractor on a 5,000 lb trailer...
 
With a 1991 Ford F-350 and the underpowered 7.3 IDI you are on the floor all the time when loaded..On a very steep hill near Van Buren,MO I almost ran out of power in 2nd gear with a 5000 lb tractor on a 5,000 lb trailer...
 
I never said newer automatics couldn't haul, but these new 6-speed autos especially when behind a gasser than can spin 5000+ RPM, you have the option of 3 (or 4) gears at 55-60MPM: Overdrive, (overdrive #2), Direct (or close to it), and a reduction gear.

Putting down the hammer in this situation you don't know which gear it's going to land in unless that auto has a manual gear selection option. I was talking of the abilities of a manual to hold a gear in that respect, because you know it won't shift. If an automatic does have than manually controlled option, then it essentially has the properties of a manual transmission in that situation.

My "rig" which is a HUGE 1999 F150 has a 5-speed. I've put it on the floor a few times, let that little 4.6L spin to her heart's content :)
 
Wondering the same thing about the scales....unless, that is if he went up the "old road" outta Mt. Airy, NC.
 
Well ya had to learn how to Play the scales and 99% of the time i had this little piece of paper that said it was OK. OR ya waited till they went home and turned off the lites . First truck was a 77 International 4300 Eagle with a built 855 small cam with a 13 speed and i can not tell ya what she could put out because the day we dynoed it she broke the chain and went out the door as they could not hold it . The last one was a 98 9400 I H with a 550 Cat with a 13 speed 3.90 rears and a Diesel Injection (now call Pittsburg Power ) box with this little switch that helped . It would go up hills a lot faster then i wanted to go down them. biggest load pulled with the 9400 was just shy of 2600000. the 4300 278800
 
When they really sock it to ya if you are caught going down (south) on the old road (US Hwy 52). I had an aquantice try that, got caught, became a guest of the State of Virginia (Carrol Co. jail) for three days before he was able to make bail.
 
Many, many moons ago...before I-77 was finished across the mountain...I had an occasion to go down that old hwy. at night...in fog...driving a pickup. I SURE don't wanna do it in a big rig...that's a scary bugger!!
 
my 99 ford 450 with a 4.88 rear and auto trans hauls fine. she won't run much past 70.. but will pull a house doing it.... auto tranny don't slow her down none...

soundguy
 
Take it for what it is worth, old advice fron dealer. They sold & serviced the IH line, Scouts to biggest, 154cu to 549 gas, 6-71 Detroit to 855 Cummins oil burners.
Stomp on the pedal. If it won't accelerate to governed rpm within 30 seconds, you are in too high a gear, downshift to save the engine.
Willie
 
It used to get one truck a week before. they changed to new interstate. Have took many a load down the old fancy gap going south.
 
What's REALLY FUN is going down Hwy (State road) 5 from Floyd VA to Stuart VA (in a big truck) especially when the road's wet. Otherwise you have to go about 40 - 50 miles out of the way.
 
A lot of guys will run over to Galax and down 89 into NC. Now and then someone doesn't pay attention and wrecks pretty good. I figure that mountain looks steep enough it ain't worth it.

I took 52 north from Hillsille one time, traffic was backed up almost to Fancy Gap. Can't really say it saved any time, but it was an interesting drive.
 
Depends on the motor. Keep it above it peak torque. C-15s, that's above 1200. 60 series, about 1300, even though the big companies want you to wait til 1200 to downshift, peak torque is a little over 1250, and they don't really wake up til 1300-1350 RPM. If it can't maintain speed above the torque peak RPM, downshift. Sometimes I will let it lug out at the top of a hill and ease off the throttle so it's not trying to make so much power while it's lugging.
 

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