Winter, to set or set your brakes gamble!

Disc brakes for the win!

 

I strongly agree with both comments above.
I will note that in 28 years of driving in 48 states I never had to beat on my brakes to free them. My tactic was as @OdderThan mentioned. When looking for my parking space in snow/slush/cold I would lightly ride the brakes to heat them up, then back into my parking space and then sit with both vales pushed in, no foot brake applied for a few minutes waiting for the heat to dry out the brakes. If there is snow on the ground I would also drive a few feet forward and back trying to flatten all of the built-up snow in front of where the steer tires would be. This didn't force me to "climb a hill" of snow the next morning trying to leave the parking space. If there isn't any build up of snow at the front of the parking space It's good to roll back and forth so your drive tires don't have any hill of snow to get over the next morning. Obviously I would pull both dash brake vales before leaving the driver seat for the night.

When my brakes seemed to be stuck the next morning, I found that by rocking forward and backward I could always break the shoes free from the drums. And it seemed that pushing backwards helped the shoes & drums break free more than trying to drive forward. I believe the brakes are made to be most resistant to slipping when going forward. By pushing backwards your force is pushing the thingamajig in the brakes apart if they were stuck together.

I had disc brakes for 3 years. I loved them. Better in ice, rain, hot, cold just better in every way but maybe price compared to drums. Disc brakes are fantastic.

 

Not sure where tscottme is located, but in the North Pole( Wisconsin) frozen brakes were a regular thing,,,in winter, that is. While what was mentioned, riding the brakes to get them warm does help, it's the dropped trailers that always gave me trouble. Since the dust shields are usually gone, a good whack with a hammer usually freed them. Many times rocking back and forth didn't do it, especially if it's still snow covered out. One of the things an old timer taught me, "make sure all your wheels are turning". Drivers that didn't we called them "boom boom" or "slider,",,not to be rude, but I wonder how new drivers that can't back up will deal with frozen brakes, to name a few.

 

^^^^^
In a very short distance, dragging frozen brakes will chew up a set of tires. Some times, this may be difficult to “feel” (if you know your truck, you can feel things like a low tire, stuck brake, heavy trailer…etc…from the driver’s seat). If you can’t feel, put it in gear and pull forward, but as soon as the movement starts, shift to neutral. If the brakes are all free, the truck will roll very slowly. If one of them is frozen, the truck will stop moving as soon as it’s shifted into neutral.

Don’t be one of those drivers who were
-too lazy to crawl under the rig to free the brakes.
-too clueless to know, drag the trailer across a parking lot and chew through a set of trailer tires until they burst.
-don’t check their mirrors when pulling out. A slight left turn to see the left wheels, then a slight right is all it takes.

 

Had a driver, owner op, that had the brakes freeze on his tractor. Being lazy and smart, he locked the power divider, revved the 550HP engine and dumped the clutch to break it free. He broke it free, but something else was now wrong. He called me.

“Hey Six, what does it mean when you drive forward but you have one side of an axle spinning backwards?”

Busted differential. $2500-3000. Why didn’t you get under the truck and beat the drums?

“I didn’t feel like laying on the ground in the snow.”

For $3000, I will lay all night in the snow. Anyway, for those who may not know, the stronger the engine, the easier it is to shred the tires, and grenade the drivetrain. The primary reason that the megas underpower their trucks is to prevent this type of destruction.

 

Well, I doubt that's the reason, it's more about fuel economy, new drivers destroy underpowered ones too and whoever you are talking about won't be an O/O for long. What kind of moron would do that? People don't understand how a power divider works. When I went to pick up my '72 Pete from a truck dealer, I noticed it was in the shop. Going inside, the power divider and front drive axle were out. I said, what gives? Foreman said, the lot boy was told to wash the truck for me, was stuck on ice, spinning like the Tazmanian devil, flipped the power divider in a panic BOOM. I said, nice, did you fire him? No, he said, and at least I got a new power divider and carrier out of it.
The last day for a company I was quitting, it was dark, I pulled out of the yard empty, and noticed a trailer dual wasn't turning. There was no place to turn around, I didn't go but a mile, on wet roads, it ground both tires to the cords. I offered to pay for them, but the boss was cool. I was told you should be able to feel it, but on snow covered roads, you might not. They told me you could feel a flat tire too. Baloney.

 

If I had been running in a bunch of powder and had snow built up on everything when it came time for bed I’d find a mostly level spot and park with the truck in gear so I didn’t have to worry about any of the brakes freezing.

 

Was that dragged? Why isn't the inside ground off. Was this just a blowout?