Brakes

Yo Frank-Tank ...How the heck is it you dont know if you have drums or discs..Dont you look at your brakes everyday during a pre-trip..disc are very rare,but you would know instantly if you had them just by looking at them...

 

He didn't say that he didn't know the difference. He said that he didn't know if that difference was the reason for the sound.

 

If your truck has the applied air brake pressure gauge, all you need to figure out it the 10psi reading on the gauge. You can apply 10 psi to the brakes all day and the drums will not overheat. So basically you go down hill in any gear with and weight that the brakes can hold with a 10psi or less. You ride the brakes all the weather down the hill at 10psi. If the brakes can't hold the truck back with 10 psi, then you need to drop a gear.

 

Also look in mirrors and if you see brakes smoking your going to fast.

 

ah OK that makes sense

 

I also pull a flatbed, and am new at it. I thought my brakes sounded weird when I first started. I noticed in traffic that many truck brakes make different sounds. I would think that you would hear air from your glad hand area or notice the rubbers need to be changed ( I always carry a few ) if that was a problem. Do you use the same trailer all the time? I get the abs lite on different trailers sometimes. Like someone else said start down the hill in a lower gear than you think. Easy to go up a gear. You probably know more than me but, Ill just remind you to do your inter trips and check your securement good. As you know loads settle. Tighten that $#!&. It would suck to have something shift on a downhill curve.

 

I run vail pass all the time at 75-80k the speed limit is 45, I go down in 8th for most of it with Jake's on 3. I drive a kw 660 with a 10 in it.