Road condition surveys show that the long and steep climbing section of asphalt pavement is one of the regions with the most significant rutting that seriously affects the road performance. And rutting is more serious for steeper longitudinal slope. In this paper, the changing rule of shear stress and its distribution characteristics in pavement are analyzed on conditions of different longitudinal slope and different horizontal attachment coefficients by a finite element method. The results show that the maximum shear stress is less subjected to the component of gravity when the longitudinal gradient changes. Due to the existence of longitudinal gradient, the changes of the adhesion between tires and road affect the shear stress significantly. The peak maximum shear stress gradually moves to the surface with increasing the horizontal force coefficient. The research results presents guides on how to prevent and control distresses for asphalt pavements on a long and steep slope. .