ABF | Line Haul New Breed

US 95 in & out of Lewiston ID. I ran that every month rain or snow from 1978 to 1982. Mandatory brake check top of the hill. There were NO run off ramps like now. If you lost it you jumped out before you went off the edge of the pavement. That hill is a killer, but not as bad today as before they re designed & rebuilt the road. You started out in 6th or 7th gear & kept it there. 3 position Jake saved many a life. von.

6th or 7th? we only had a 5 spd direct, no duplex or 2 spd.
BTW "what's a Jake Brake, we still had some single axle trailers and long before we had 3 axle tractors on this side"
 
6th or 7th? we only had a 5 spd direct, no duplex or 2 spd.
BTW "what's a Jake Brake, we still had some single axle trailers and long before we had 3 axle tractors on this side"
I worked for Purcell Tire & Rubber. We picked up, capped, & returned up to the worlds largest tire. All kinds of mines, logging skidder tires & farm implement dealers. We had a leased cab over International from Rollings. Big cam Come Along with the 3 position Jake Brake. That was when the GVW was 73,280. Running the mountains in the Rockies from Montana to Arizona is where I learned how to drive. That part of the country is a proven training ground for truck drivers. von.
 
I worked for Purcell Tire & Rubber. We picked up, capped, & returned up to the worlds largest tire. All kinds of mines, logging skidder tires & farm implement dealers. We had a leased cab over International from Rollings. Big cam Come Along with the 3 position Jake Brake. That was when the GVW was 73,280. Running the mountains in the Rockies from Montana to Arizona is where I learned how to drive. That part of the country is a proven training ground for truck drivers. von.

You guys hauled the big loads, I guess that separates the men from the boys.
Us wusses could only gross 52,500 thru Va.
I remember the first 3 axle tractor I saw, a COE Freightliner, a company called Monkey Grip, they hauled recap rubber.
 
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I thought the Proving Ground was Rt.'s 1 and 9 in Seacaucus N.J.........and if you laid over in the Jersey City truck stop....it proved something, for sure,......incipient stupidity, I think.....

W. Pa's mountains are smaller than the Rockies,......But were laid out by the Indigenous Tribes,...about 800 years ago....So we have mountains with no runoff ramps and hairpin two-lane curves.....
Rt. 40 right through Hopwood, Pa.....before the 4-lane was put in..(..still mandatory 10MPH..)............Pennview Mountain,.......Munster Mountain ,..with the double-drop, and flat hairpin curve at the bottom,..(old road..).....
...All of Rt.30,...east of Breezewood.....Sideling Hill......Bootjack Hill,...up off of I-80....

White-Knuckle on a summer night,....with no power steering,..10-speed RR,........and 48,000 of Flammable Placard.....

And I learned why trucking companies started removing Vinyl Seats from the tractors..........The Human Body can draw suction from....various orifices......
Many nights I had to ...."release pressure"...before I could get off the seat......Cloth seats don't have...quite the adhesion properties , that Vinyl does.....

And,.....All you guys out West are used to long, sweeping vistas,...and Smooth roads.......

Here in W. Pa.......the only reason PennDOT paints lines on the roads,....is so the cows know where to quit grazing.....
 
"Deadman's Curve"...in downtown Cleveland......where the Interstate does a 90 degree turn,..with little warning.....

But,.....that's Cleveland.......Rivers catch on fire, there........
My one and only time I went through Cleveland and that curve in the 70’s, I thought it was crazy. Still not the same hazards as the Rockies, a hazard none the less.
 
This state is not immune to mistakes/blunders in road design/construction. Nobody takes credit for these expensive 'miscalculations'.


I know you mean Pennsylvania.........Hey!....We have potholes in Pittsburgh big enough to swallow city buses!
It takes an almost superhuman amount of Ignorance, Blunders, and Graft.....to get potholes that big..........

Google "Pittsburgh Bus Sinkhole"............and put yer coffee down, before you laugh so hard you spill it.......
 
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