Advice for Getting up Steep Gradients (1 Viewer)

DaveFromBarrow

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Sep 11, 2020
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I live in Aboyne so the Cairn O Mount is my road south, and pretty much everywhere is south from Aboyne. I bring the Apache over no problem but to be honest for the extra 20 minutes or so a much easier way into Deeside is the Stonehaven to Banchory road, known as The Slug Road, itā€™s the A957.

It adds 20 minutes, itā€™s a good road and way less stressful and rattley. You can even use the new Aberdeen bypass (dual carriageway) to get across from Stonehaven to Peterculter (pronounced Petercooter).

The Cairn O Mount road is a lot of fun on motorbikes and cars.

d

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Oct 2, 2008
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I had the luxury of a 180 bhp Gardner in a Mk 2 Atki Borderer with a six speed David Brown box.
In the mid seventies I did a few casual night trunks for Wilkinsons Transport in Rochdale.
I had held a Class1 licence for a few years but did not not have that much experience.
One night I was following another driver down to a depot in Abingdon and the route took us past Gaydon towards Banbury.
There is a quite steep hill on the old road, Edge Hill?
I was trundling along behind this other guy, in the dark, when all of a sudden his tail lights seemed to grow wings as he climbed the hill.
This was a bit of a shock and much rapid double de clutching ensued, luckily I didn't miss a gear and successfully reached the top of the hill.
An experience never forgotten.........obviously :Smile:
That Hill still stops some of the several hundred horsepower modern trucks , if they get wheel spin on the white lines and come to a halt , used to get called there to tow them up every so often :)
 
Jun 8, 2019
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Tell the Mrs that since leaving the EU they have flattened most of the alps out, to build house for the immigrants šŸ˜Š
as said befor itā€™s not going up thatā€™s a problem itā€™s coming down donā€™t overheat your brakes. And donā€™t worry about those behind you.
 
Mar 26, 2020
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2008
Did my PSV-1 (D+E equivalent) test in an ancient double-decker bus. Three forward gears, no synchromesh. The problem was the bus only got to about 10mph in first, so on the level only the second and third gears were used. Now on even a gentle upwards slope, the bus would end up going backwards if an attempt to double-declutch between 1st and 2nd was made (2nd would stall the engine); so a 'snatch change' had to be made. Put bus into 1st gear; accelerate; while bus is accelerating, forget the clutch, take foot off the accelerator and slam gear stick back into second.
For youngsters: Double-declutching:
1.Going up (ie 1st to 2nd to 3rd etc): While stationary engage gear; accelerate; take foot off accelerator and depress clutch; move gear stick to neutral; lift clutch; depress clutch; engage next gear.
2. Going down: very similar to going up, except when the vehicle is in neutral the accelerator should be tweaked to get the engine speed up to that required for the next gear (down). Some crash gearboxes were better than others; the worst one I experienced was with a car: a 1964-ish Volkswagen Type 1 utility saloon (beetle) (in Germany, I don't think the utilities were exported).

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Aug 18, 2014
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Hi jopparocks its all about predicting the correct lower gear early enough on steep hills, especially when you come across a few blind sharp bends that knock off your speed very quickly. Luckily we have synchromesh on 1st gears these days, it would have been a lot harder with much gear crunching in the old day.
I just google earthed the road over Cairn o Mount, and yes it is steep with many potholes due to the winter snow, which sometimes are impossible to miss.
I have found you the best tool to have another go at this trip, with the wife safely strapped in I am sure she would love the experience, I know I would, so enjoy.(y):giggle:
LES

Lovely sound.
and the result is becoming stationary with a difficult, or sometimes impossible, hill start.
The last coachbuilt was a 1900 cc normally aspirated & I'd never used 1st gear even going over col s in the pyrennees. Got out in the sticks in Devon near to friends house & it was a 90Āŗ right straight on to a steep hill. Only place I always had to change in to 1st at the bottom
I was crawling in first gear , somebody on a bike overtook me
Reminds me of buying a mini digger here. Collected it using a LT28 + ifor williams trailer(699kgs). whole lot weighed in at nearly 6T . :giggle: Came back Mazarron to Ɓguilas over the hills & stuck in 1st wondering whether we would actually get to the top when a couple of cyclists went past. What was even worse was we never actually caught them up either.:laughing:
 
Feb 22, 2011
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Manys the vehicle that had to go up Porlock Hill, or the old Telegraph Hill by Exeter before it was levelled out,
Telegraph Hill finished off the clutch in my 1964 Triumph Herald 1.2 on my first lads holiday in 1976, camping at hillhead brixam in that long hot summer.
Ended up spending all my beer money on the motor šŸ˜­šŸ˜­šŸ˜­
 

sedge

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Jul 7, 2009
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Yep, caravans are banned from Sutton Bank for a reason.
Yes - but they had not used to be banned although most people could drive and tow properly going back to then. I recall going down Sutton bank for the fist time ever about 20 years ago riding pilllion on OH's Blackbird - and him saying then last time he was 'here' it was foggy and he was towing his caravan. May have had his Range Rover or possibly his Granada at the time, dunno, before my time with him!

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Oct 12, 2009
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Have heard the term many times but don't know what it is.
Basically it is depressing the clutch then revving the engine to match the revs of the lower gear that you want to go into, then using the clutch to slip into that gear quickly at the right revs, so not relying on the synchromesh, which loses momentum.

It can be done without using the clutch - I have driven from Wetherby to St. Albans with no clutch, once I had got into 1st gear.

Geoff
 
Dec 16, 2017
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Basically it is depressing the clutch then revving the engine to match the revs of the lower gear that you want to go into, then using the clutch to slip into that gear quickly at the right revs, so not relying on the synchromesh, which loses momentum.
Close but no cigar.

Clutch in, shift into neutral, clutch out, match revs, clutch in, engage lower gear, clutch out.

Hence double de-clutch. Mostly needed before syncromesh was devised, so more applicable to vintage, Edward Ian and veteran car classes, though quite a few cars didn't have synchro on 1st until relatively recently.

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Aug 18, 2011
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Close but no cigar.

Clutch in, shift into neutral, clutch out, match revs, clutch in, engage lower gear, clutch out.

Hence double de-clutch. Mostly needed before syncromesh was devised, so more applicable to vintage, Edward Ian and veteran car classes, though quite a few cars didn't have synchro on 1st until relatively recently.
Absolutely correct,,BUSBYšŸ˜€
 
Aug 18, 2011
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Seems then that the advice is to get the gear right before getting on the hill and then stick with it and never try changing down.
If you worried and not confident,,Yes.BUSBY.
 
Mar 14, 2019
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I take the view that those behind me on a narrowish road will have to bear with me even if they are frustrated. Just because the road say has a 50mph speed limit it does not mean that you have to go at 50 you go at a speed up to that that you as the driver judge to be safe and within your own driving experience and limits. We have just been in Somerset using very narrow roads all twists and turns on the look out for those huge four wheel drive tractors taking up more than half the width of the road. Knackered my passenger side mirror avoiding one.
Replaced the mirror what a performance as one of the Four screws well and truly not budging so had to be sawn off. The discovered the mirror I had bought has two locating dowels no holes for mine as it did not come with them so had to saw the dowels off. My hands too large to get in the space to clip the sockets for the electrics so long nose pliers brought to bear. Took over 2 hours to change it minus one of the four screws which does not seem to affect the security of it

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marchie

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Mar 9, 2021
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And stopping at the top of Horseshoe Pass to let the radiator and engine cool down in the Ford Prefect ... Flask of stewed tea and tomato sandwiches, trying to avoid being chased by the sheep, and theme back in the car for the descent, when the brakes would get a little warm ...

Steve
 
Mar 26, 2020
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And stopping at the top of Horseshoe Pass to let the radiator and engine cool down in the Ford Prefect ... Flask of stewed tea and tomato sandwiches, trying to avoid being chased by the sheep, and theme back in the car for the descent, when the brakes would get a little warm ...

Steve
Not the sort journey you should do in an old Ford, when it's raining: wipers at a standstill on the way up, and going like the clappers during the descent.
 
Mar 23, 2012
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Not the sort journey you should do in an old Ford, when it's raining: wipers at a standstill on the way up, and going like the clappers during the descent.
Just about to say the same of my dads old ford popular side valve engine and 3 speed gearbox vacuum wipers etc. It was an adventure driving from Mansfield to Paignton in the 1960's and a long days trip. He always had it serviced first and at the top of a long hill there were always a couple of cars stopped overheating

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Oct 12, 2009
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And stopping at the top of Horseshoe Pass to let the radiator and engine cool down in the Ford Prefect ... Flask of stewed tea and tomato sandwiches, trying to avoid being chased by the sheep, and theme back in the car for the descent, when the brakes would get a little warm ...

Steve

I was in our old Ford 10 (pre-Prefect) 1939 Reg ADB711. Grandmother was driving and we went through the ford in Kenilworth, after which there is a sharp bend on a slight crest. Gran had not tested the brakes after the ford, lost control going round the bend, hit the kerb at 45 degrees and tipped over.

My Great Aunt was in the passenger seat. Neighbours came to help get her out and I can still hear Gran shouting "Be careful she has a broken leg". They were just about to call an ambulance when I told them that had happened weeks before.

No damage to all of us, except pride, and a few scratches to the old Ford.

The incident was etched in the Family Annals.

Geoff
 
Dec 19, 2020
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Went up Porlock hill a few weeks back. Plays havoc with your average fuel consumption. It's the tight corners where you need to take a fairly wide swing that are the problem if you meet a coach coming down.
 

MartinW

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May 10, 2020
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I have 2008 Burstner which is built on a Ford Transit. I have been up and down steep hills all over Europe and after a full service and MOT spent a month in Scotland in June taking on every challenge, but a couple of weeks ago I was beaten by a steep farm track up to a camp site on a farm in the Lake District.

The instructions from the site said to engage first gear after the cattle grid, which was about half way along the path, but even in first I simply could not make any progress. As well as being steep the path was very uneven, and the more I tried the less progress I could make. I had no alternative but to reverse a long way down a narrow track and then look for a layby to overnight in as it was getting dark.

It turns out that while the farm has an established rental cottage business, so access in cars is acceptable, I was their first customer for their motorhome parking. When I let them know why I had not arrived they said that they would close the motorhome site for the summer and concrete the path over the autumn.

I suppose that I assumed that there must be a problem with my clutch which only shows up on very steep hills, but I had everything checked when I got home, and no fault with my motorhome could be found.

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petrocspals

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May 23, 2014
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Female perspective...I had a LR to get me to/ from early shifts on ungritted steep hills. Threw it at anything. My Nuevo is 2003 , 1997 cc diesel and I very quickly learnt to listen to her engine. Yes I take her up very steep windy hills. Sometimes I coax a little more than I anticipated. I think the key is to know your engine & gears. Don't get flummoxed into thinking speed is the answer and that getting a run at something is good practice. You may get stuck behind something slower than yourself. Stay calm , stay kind to your years and engine.
 

petrocspals

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Forgot to mention in the land rover going up Porlock Hill many years ago. Back door opened wheelchair fell out rolled upright back down Porlock Hill.Traffic mayhem.
 

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