Going up and down a mountain questions

I guess our trucks must be different... When we lose an air line or air bag, our bakes completely lock down within a few seconds. It's happened to a couple buddies of mine.

Of course, Maverick spends ungodly amounts of money for all kinds of little quirks for these trucks. We have that OnGuard radar system, the tire pressure monitor for the tractor, a system that automatically airs up the trailer tires, disc brakes on all of the trailer wheels.... The list goes on and on.

Ive had several drivers walk up to me at truck stops and customer locations screaming that my brake chambers are about to fall off the trailer. I have to let the get under there and look and say "Nope, that's how they're supposed to be." Have had two mechanics unable to replace failed chambers because they couldn't buy that model - Maverick had to overnight them from Little Rock.

But right now I'm sitting on a steep hill driveway waiting for McLane to open. It's steep enough that I can't even stand up in the tractor, and I've got only my trailer brakes engaged, the tractor brakes are not, so the truck will idle and keep me warm.

That does bring up a good point though... You have to know your equipment to operate it safely. No two trucks are the same.

 

lmao!!!! that's too funny

 

Are you people paying attention? There may have been one, but I have never seen a heavyhaul in a runaway ramp. If a jake and proper gearing can stop 250000 lbs from losing control, what excuse is there for any freight hauler to smoke their brakes? First rule of heavyhaul, let the gearing do it's work. If that means coming down the mountain at 5mph, then so be it.

 

I lost my brakes once. Was in the Poconos doing a run I had done 5-6 times before with about 45 on the floor. Ride the jake, maybe three taps of the brakes on the way down, nothing to it.

Not this time. Noticed I had to hit a lot harder the first time to get slowed. Second attempt and I barely had any brakes by the time I got slowed. At that point I knew I was screwed if I couldn't get into a lower gear. Took a shot at a downshift fully expecting to miss the gear. I was ready to put it into the ditch if I missed. I did get the gear and got stopped. Blue air line was snapped clean in half. Ever since I ditch those things as soon as I can.

 

At the top a small hill at night and an Alligator/tire cap was laying in the middle of the road. No time to avoid it so straddled it. It took out my service line so when I applied the brakes I just lost air. Not a good feeling..........made it down but I was lucky it was a small hill.

 

In 1981 my brother switched from bed bugging to flat bedding as an O/O with a '74 Ford Cabover. I remember it had a weak engine and the jakes were fine when I was bed bugging with him, because you don't generally haul really heavy loads of household goods. He'd already done the Grapevine many times as a BB, but when he pulled his first max heavy load of rebar northbound he figured he could simply drop another gear than in the past and all would be good...

... wrong.

He downshifted once, then twice, and it wasn't holding. Pretty soon the brakes were smoking and had nothing left. He got on the CB to warn the truckers below and wanted to hit the suicide ramp, but unfortunately there was a double wall of trucks as he approached... but then that was probably fortunate. As he made the final turns he put it into Mexican overdrive and let it fly, pegging the speedometer. He had sense enough to let it run on out for quite a ways before pulling over and changing undershorts.

Fast forward to my reentry to trucking this year and teaming again with my brother, this time in an '03 KW, we were running eastbound on I-40 with a max heavy load in a box. All is good, the KW has a great jake and we have a good sense for gear versus jake selection... then suddenly there is no jake. He's behind the wheel braking hard and trying to downshift and meanwhile I pop open the glove compartment, find the fuse for the jake to pull it to see if it needs replacing... and just by wiggling the fuse to try to get it out the jakes deploy!

So the moral of that second story is if you think your jakes can't suddenly go out, you're wrong. If you have no teammate to work with the fuse, then you are left to try and use the service brakes to slow it down or stop.

Regarding the issue of downshifting on a steep slope, I do it all the time. If I determine my present gear isn't low enough to descend I apply up to 20 lbs of brakes smoothly to bring rpm's down to about 700-800 then downshift to the 1200-1300 range, it gives me time to make that shift and if I miss I can follow the speed up to 1500-1600 and catch it. If I miss altogether I simply apply foot brakes again and repeat, but that is very rare. The key is to make your determination early in your descent and use the service brakes while they are still fresh.

I take certain descents regularly, like Cajon down to San Bernardino. Each time is different, depending on the weight of the load. I try to find the combination of jake setting and gear that gets me down without braking or braking very seldom and about 5lb of force.

 

I've been saying that for years. It wouldn't be hard to do either. The information you'd get would be priceless.

 

I remember before adjustable remote mirrors were in trucks I thought it would be a good idea. Maybe I should some of those Engineering degrees to use.

 

Brake drums fracture or explode.

Slack adjuster rods fail.

Brake shoes break.

Brake shoe pivots fail.

Securing bolts shear.

Threads strip.




The list goes on and on...

Yeah, improbable. But not impossible.

 

you are so right, I had both steer axle brake shoe break at the pivot point, made a heck of a sqweel when backing up! So thing break without warning. That is why it is important use your Jake, and been in a gear the it will hold you on a hill.