braking on big mountains...

Snub braking is the term some schools are using for using your brakes and then letting off of them.

As has been stated; be sure your brakes are adjusted, gear down 1 to 2 gears depending upon the weight, grade of the hill and the length of the hill.

While going down the hill allow the truck to go up to the "safe speed" you determined then use firm pressure to slow the vehicle 5 to 10 mph. Then release the brakes and repeat as many times as necessary until your at the bottom. Light steady pressure is the old way of braking. Snub seems to be the new way and works great.

If your brakes do get over heated I have found letting the brakes off and continuing down the road will cool them faster than sitting on the side of the road. This is provided your at the bottom of the hill and have fairly flat highway in front of you.

Allowing the air to get in between the brake shoes and brake drums is what you want.

Setting your brakes on the side of the road and waiting for them to cool will simply cause you a couple hours of wasted time. Many do not understand that the proper way to cool over heated brakes is to chock the wheels and leave the trailer brakes off. The more surface area the air is exposed to the quicker they will cool.

 

It used to be called stab braking.

 

I worked for one company that the only way the jake brake was activated was 3 seconds after the brakes had been applied. Made very little sense to me.

 

I might be wrong, seems like they used to say apply brakes to bring down 5 mph. then release. I was thinking that this was stab braking.

 

Yes you are correct.

2 different concepts in play here.

Stab braking is used primarily in emergency situations such as driving on ice or snow. The release of the brake is to get the tires rolling again rather than sliding sideways.

Snub braking is the newer method being espoused at the accredited truck driving schools.

As has been stated it is friction that is the culprit of over heating therefore you must stop riding the brake to permit air onto the surface area of the brake shoes AND the brake drums.

A newbie mistake is locking the tires up and then sitting for hours waiting for the brake assembly to cool. This is another prime reason to carry chock blocks on your truck. If you feel you must stop with hot brakes then once you stop, chock those trailer tires put the truck in gear, release the trailer brakes, and shut er down.

2 million plus miles driving in all 48 states plus Canada and never had a tire fire. Snub braking works folks.