[THE DOWNHILL DESCENT ON CANADA'S COQUIHALLA HIGHWAY | AIR BRAKE SMART]
Hi there smart drivers.
Rick with Smart Drive Test
standing at the top of the Coquihalla
summit in the sunshine.
It's a little brisk up
here.
It's just on the verge of fall and
for new truck drivers coming down over
top of the Coquihalla highway, you're
going to need chains on your truck
between the first of October and the end
of April.
As well, you're going to need to
know how to do downhill braking.
I'm
just going to go over the map behind me
here and give you some information about
what you're up against on this 18
kilometres hill - it's a 12-mile hill for
those of you watching from the United
States and might end up in British
Columbia going down one of the more
notorious hills, made famous by the TV series,
"Highway thru Hell."
So we're going to do today, we're going to give
you a bit of information on the descent
down the hill from the Coquihalla summit.
We'll be right back with that
information.
Stick around.
[OPENING CREDITS & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart
Drive Test, welcome back.
I'm standing here in
the sunshine on the top of the Coquihalla
summit.
The official name is Zopkios, but
nobody calls it that - everybody calls it
the Coquihalla.
It's one of the bigger hills - it's 18
kilometers or 12 miles for those of you
in the States.
Today we're going to go
over the board and give you a little bit
information about that.
I got one driver
stopped here at the brake check... the
rest area and the brake check are both combined.
The
trucks come in here and stop and do their pre-trip inspection.
The other
thing you want to do when you come in
the brake check, and as I've said before,
put a flag down in your log book.
That
way if something happens going down the
hill
you've done due diligence because you
put a note in your log book that you in
fact did stop at the brake check and did do
the pre-trip inspection that you needed to
do before you went down over the top of
the hill.
At the top of the grade, it's 8% for 5 kilometers
and I'll tell you that between here and the
snow shed, which you can see behind me
here in the sign at the three
kilometer mark - it is steep and there's a
runaway lane there and there's a
runaway lane there for a purpose.
Because if you don't get in the right
gear going down over the top of that
hill
you may end up on that runaway lane
because you're driving a truck that got
out of control on you.
So make sure that
before you leave this brake check you
are in the right gear: in a 13 or 18-speed transmission use
five low with a tandem-tandem.
If you're
running heavier or you're running a
different transmission, you may need to be down
in a different low gear.
For those
running recreational trailers and those
kinds of things--any large vehicle--you
need to be down in a low gear with the
Jake brake on full.
You need to be ready to come down
over the top of this hill because I'll
tell you from personal experience, the
first bit of this hill is very steep.
Once you get past the avalanche shed,
it's not too bad at six percent.
You
still need to be down in a lower gear
with the Jake on high, but be prepared
for the hill as you can see it's a total
of a 18
kilometers.
It's a long way down and this
map here behind will give you the
information that you need to
descend the hill safely.
For those of you
that haven't driven through the mountains
before, a snow shed is simply in the path
of an avalanche and prevents the road from
being blocked.
So when you go down there,
it's essentially a cement tunnel that
you're going to go through and in the
wintertime that prevents the road--
the Trans-Canada--from being blocked.
As
you can see from the map here, it starts
at zero at the brake check - its eight
percent for 5 kilometres down past the snow
shed.
Its got a run away lane at the half
a kilometer mark and that will indicate
to you that the top part of the hill is
the steepest part of the hill.
So you
need to be ready going down.
The snow
sheds is at three kilometers.
You've got
another runaway lane at about the five
and a quarter kilometer mark and down
near the end at 12 kilometers you got
the chain off area.
If chains are required there are
signs preceding the brake check
area that will tell you whether you need
to chain up going down the
hill.
As well, if you're going down the
hill and you put chains on,
it's a good idea to put a single chain
on one of trailer tires
to stop the trailer from coming around.
As
well, down there at the Portia Bridge at
the 14 kilometers mark you got the
Shylock road exit down at the 15
kilometer mark and it's six percent for
another three kilometers down at the 16
mark.
As well just after the 16
kilometres mark you've got a runaway
lane.
Down at the bottom, you got Ladner
Bridge.
And beside that sign you've got the
brake check advisory which tells you how to
check your brakes.
For an airbrake system,
check the compressor and whether the pushrod travel is
within limits, which on a type 30 brake
chamber, which is on the rear of most buses and
trucks is going to be 2 inches.
Ensure there are
no audible air leaks as you're going
around.
Check that the glad hands are attached and all lines are
secured from the truck to the trailer.
Check that the
drums brakes & bearings - you don't have any
smoke coming out...you don't have any
cracks or breaks, and all the components are
secure, not damaged on the vehicle.
The trailer air supply valve operates
properly when you pull it out and
exhausts air from the trailer and applies
the trailer brakes.
Hydraulic brake
systems - push down on the brake pedal.
The vacuum booster is operating - drums are not
overheating and you'll be able to smell
them if they're overheating.
The hydraulic
fluid - there aren't any leaks and you've got plenty of fluid
in the master cylinder.
When you open the
hood, most of the newer models are going
to be clear plastic so you will just be able
to look at the level and not have to
take the lid off the master cylinder.
The trailer brake
systems - electric, surge, and vacuum brakes.
And this
is for recreational vehicles and vehicles
pulling utility trailers.
Disconnect the brake system from the towing
vehicle for electric and vacuum brake
systems.
Essentially what they're talking
about there is the emergency brakes on
the trailer: that if the trailer disconnects
from the towing unit that the brakes on
the trailer are going to activate.
Disconnect the breakaway devices to
activate breakaway devices and lock
trailer brakes on.
Electric brakes - set
away switch; surge brakes - pull and lock
mechanical lever on surge brakes.
It's
essentially a spring mechanism on
the hitch on the front of the trailer -
the towbar, so when it surges forward it
activates the brakes on the trailer.
Vacuum and air activated hydraulic brakes -
disconnect both hoses to the
trailer and perform a tug test by attempting
to pull the trailer.
The trailer should
not be locked and not move or skid.
Reconnect the breakaway devices - so
essentially on a utility trailer or a
recreational vehicle you want to test
all of the trailer brakes and test the
breakaway systems before you end up down
over the top.
If you've got an automatic
vehicle, you want to be in a lower gear -
probably down in the second or first
depending on how heavy the trailer is
that you're pulling before you go over
the top of the hill.
The other thing you can do with the
information here on this map -
take note of what the mileage is on your
odometer and take the major landmarks
going down on the map here, that way you
know where the runaway lanes and those
things are going to be if you get into
trouble going down the hill.
You know
there's going to be a runaway lane
there.
As well, you know that the
avalanche tunnel is going to be at the
three kilometer mark.
So once you get to
the avalanche tunnel, you can let off a
little bit, maybe shift up one gear if
you've been down here before.
If you haven't
been down here before, just take it slow, and
take it easy because like I say about
downhill braking: "you can go downhill too
slow a thousand time; the one time you go
down too fast,
maybe you're last.
So proceed with
caution until you get some experience
with the vehicle that you're operating
and you get some experience with the
hill.
Question for my smart drivers: do you
have any tips for new drivers coming
down over the top of the Coquihalla.
The
Coquihalla being one of British Columbia's
longest and steepest hills.
There are
others, no doubt, but this is one of the
most notorious because it's on the
Trans-Canada highway.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Thanks
very much for watching.
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great information for those drivers
getting a license or working towards a
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Thanks again for watching.
Good luck on
your road test, and remember pick the
best answer ,not necessarily the right
answer.
Have a great day.
Bye now!
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