Are there any " Warning signs" for A Jack knife?

Accelerating is the last thing you want to do. Get off the accelerator and steer in the opposite direction of your tandems. But once you get past 45 degrees, your trailer will push you past the point of no return.

 

Accelerating on a slippery road is what has initiated a jack knife in the first place. The only solution is to stop those wheels from over spinning and to steer in the opposite direction of your tandems to recover.

 

Actually accelerating works. The truck slowing down faster than the trailer is what's causing the problem. Worked for me twice. But I was going under 20 and negotiating a turn at the same time. Or maybe now that I think of it , it was more like I was feathering the throttle to get the truck to pull the trailer around the corner as opposed to the trailer pushing me into the ditch. I don't know, what ever it was, in those instances I knew that slamming the brakes on was definitely not going to turn out well. I think we can agree on that part.
The one time I just came into the turn off, too fast with icy conditions. The other was coming down a steep driveway with a 90 degree turn that you either made or went into a swamp. At first I rode the brakes down, then as it levelled just as the turn came up the jakes kicked in and with the trailer still coming down it started to jackknife, I got on the throttle and it pulled me around the turn. Later I figured that using the hand valve would have worked out better in that case.

 

Only if there is no one else on the road. The vast majority of jackknifes I've seen or investigated were drivers who needed to slow or stop and as the braked, the trailer came around... letting off the brake or accelerating was not going to solve anything. Too fast for conditions is almost always THE factor in jackknifes

 

Why are you tearing apart a thread from 3 and a half years ago?
You are arguing with guys who have not been on this fourm for years

 

Every season all of this becomes relevant.. I don't see much arguing, but if this gets someone to read and head the discussion and not crater themselves or someone else... who cares how old it is..

 

When the roads are slippery, slow down and increase following distance to eliminate any chance of needing to make a hard brake.
Imo, the best way to prevent a jacknife is not putting yourself in a situation where one might occur.

 

This should have been locked after first answer.

 

You call it arguing. I call it correcting. I found it after it was posted in 2012 and if some new guy finds it, I want him to have a clear understanding of what works and what doesn't work.