MTFCA Forum

We were out today and took a rough old dirt road. As we proceed the road started down the mountain and was quite steep but it held back all right and at the bottom we were greeted by a nice river crossing. As soon as we were out of the water back up we climbed and the further we got the steeper it got until finally the old car said that it had had enough and stalled. I restarted several times and tried to pull on up the grade but it just couldn't do it. The road was narrow and there was no way to turn around. As I started backing down I soon realized that my brakes were fading fast and even with the hand brake it was all I could do to hold it back; the rough narrow road didn't help matters much. Thank the Lord we backed down safely and I stopped and adjusted the band and we were okay to proceed. Have any of you ever made it to a place where a road just got to steep to continue. My car is a 26 so fuel supply on a hill isn't an issue but it is a tough old girl and always is ready to go just about anywhere. This is the first time that she has said no.

Hi Joshua,
Yes in my Firetruck I got stuck behind a left turner @ the bottom of a unusualy steep hill. I had no reason to think I could not make it up the hill in
low pedal. To my amasement half way up the hill she started to bog out. My attempt to go to Muncie under resulted in finding overdrive & a
stalled engine. Restarting the engine produced a problem of once I took it out of over drive the Rockey Mountains would not hold it from rolling
down hill & getting a Aux. Trans in gear rolling backwards is a real issue! Throttle all the way down hard on revearse, into under drive & then
hard on low pedal, & up the hill we chugged. My wife has big beutiful eyes but when I told her if I said to get out to get out they were just real
big & scared. Fortunetly there was no one behind me or things would have turned out much different. Glad we both made it.
Craig.

You can still hold the car in reverse even if the engine isn't running. You can use any gear for engine braking whether the engine is running or not. I'd use reverse if moving backward and low or high if moving forward. (** I don't know how well the oiling system would work with the engine turning backward, but as long as the engine is turning in the normal direction it should work fine.**)

Using the transmission brake with the engine stalled is OK, but keep in mind it is not getting the usual amount of oil if the engine is not turning.

Reverse is a very low gear, and holding the car firmly in reverse with a stalled engine should give a lot of braking force if you are forced to back down a steep hill. Stopping the car on the way down, if possible, to give parking brakes time to cool would be a good idea.

If you use engine braking in a stalled engine emergency, shut off the ignition to make sure the engine does not start until you want it to.

When dealing with hills bring the car to A complete stop before shifting an aux tranny. When going down leave the engine off to increase braking. If course I am talking mountain driving not "rolling hills"

A advantage of backing UP a steep hill is that the engine will be oiled better when it’s working hard. Obviously this only works when on back country roads. I grew up where we had a creek crossing that was a challenge!

I was driving my friend’s roadster pickup and it stalled on a steep hill In Pennsylvania. Not enough gas in The tank. Had to be towed up by a modern truck.

Will
Another situation where backing up the hill would work

Driving up VERY steep hills risks burning out the # 1 rod bearing and perhaps seizing # 1 piston.
This is especially true if the oil supply is low or of poor quality. The amount of oil supplied to the front end of the engine will be reduced when climbing very steep grades, at the same time the engine is likely to be operating at maximum power and speed. That's a bad combination.

A good auxiliary oiler with the capability of moving a high volume of oil can reduce the risk.

A broken crankshaft might leave you with excellent engine braking, or no engine braking at all.

I'll leave the serious hill climbing to Ts with appropriate modifications.

I guess it’s sort of like counting the cost and what you would think a Model T will do going up or down steep hills.
You can get in a dangerous situation stalling on a hill with curves and trying to back even if you’re an experienced driver. Going down a steep hill can be just as dangerous too.
Yes I know a Model T has gotten “legendary “ status back in the T era for going and doing things that seemed really hard to do. BUT remember it’s 100 year old technology with out real brakes like we are used to today. The aftermarket brakes helps a T for sure.

If you want to drive your T on hills or steep curves do it where you don’t have much traffic. It’s the other folks that we need to worry about when they see an old car in a bad situation.