Going up and down a mountain questions

I always wondered what types of mechanical problems could cause brake failure. Thanks for this info Lux, very useful!

 

[/sarcasm], am I right?

Sadly, that's just a small list, I'm sure I could find a few more.



Number of years ago, when I lived in Wyoming, one of my coworkers and I were fishing under a bridge when we heard a loud BANG!! from a trona hauler going over the bridge; a couple seconds later a superheated piece of a brake drum hit the water about 3' from the boat...

Yes, the brake drum exploded and tossed the pieces all over the place, and d4mn near on our heads.

 

I'm sorry but you're missing a major safety point. NEVER EVER rely on a part/system or item to be flawless and work correctly until it suffers an event that may bring doubt into it's reliability. Any system or part can fail (and do) just sitting there. Your trucks are no different than most. I know Maverick and they do keep a clean appearance but anything can happen so be ready for the unlikely.

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr.../138853-whos-using-dash-cams-what-kind-3.html

This scares me more than a mountain road.

 

Number of years ago up in Canada I think some new guy with a gravel truck, stopped at the brake check, this was back with manual slack adjusters. being new he turned the slacks the wrong way, had no brakes, If I remember correctly he was killed along with a number of people in the town.

 

Forward-facing cam is highly useful in proving the accident was someone else's fault, or when a cop goes off the reservation...

 

Here is a link to an article about a conviction related to such an accident the happened out here.

Personally I do not think he should have been convicted because the city had planted stuff in front of the ugly run away ramp and sign

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Marcos-Costa-Runaway-Truck-Crash-Verdict-126427888.html

 

If he had a dash cam, he might've been acquitted...

 

^^^ Possibly not. He's noted to have poured water on his smoking brakes, didn't wait for them to cool down, and went through the intersection and crashed into buildings; all this in addition to crashing into the victim's car.

If you have smoking brakes, you are doing it wrong. Period.

Gear down, use the jake. If the jake isn't holding you aren't geared low enough. Relying on service brakes to slow you down is never the correct choice.