Empty trailers take longer to STOP

There is also the fact that you have been doing it for 38 years and I just started.

NOT GOING TO ARGUE WITH YOU.........

 

The one redlight ticket I got in a discussion with the officer was weight. I was at 79K. His arguement was I was heavy I should of been able to stop quicker. My arguement was the truck tailgating me and the timing was down to 1/100th of a second decision. The light didn't turn red until the back of my sleeper. The point is the DOT officer backed the decision of the books on semi truck physics.

Trucks are designed to run heavy. Of course physics says heavier is harder to stop. But the brake system is designed to stop that weight too. The difference is the downward force and loss of traction when empty. Instead of 18" of solid tread grabbing, you have 12" of tread wanting to hop.

On flat ground any heavy truck can stop quicker than an empty one. If you want to throw in a hill then of course gravity comes into play. Mainly because your weight shifts more towards the front and your brakes are already at a hotter temperature.

If some of you think you are smarter than the books, maybe you should write one of your own. I'll value a degreed engineers facts that have been backed by thorough testing on a track over a 3rd grade education any day.

 

this is the dumbest thing I have EVER heard....

maybe on your computer trucking game you stop faster loaded.

go read a basic physics book it will tell you the RESEARCHED science behind the dynamics of inertia and momentum and the force needed to stop...

just saying.....
im NOT a rocket scientist
but ANYONE with some real seat time will tell you this is NOT true...

anything written by the gov about any industry is just a bean counter with an IDEA of how it really works....
NO real first hand knowledge of how it works....

So your saying when I am loaded with a set of super B's at 63,500 KG running the mountains it will stop faster then being empty???

if your doing 10 mph downhill loaded...MAYBE...
but at posted speeds NOT A CHANCE

try again

 

Outstanding. I agree. Sitting around calling people names as a teaching method went out in the 1950's. Now the OP did set the tone by calling out another member and using his knowledge to prove a point thereby inciting the other member truckers' natural instinct to disagree lol.

But yes if you have something pertinent and positive to add to help the new truck drivers out, by all means offer up your sound advice. For better or worse this is indeed in the books and no amount of name calling, dirt stomping, toddler tantrums will change that.

 

The sad fact is they have to past the test.. I had to past the test..

I did past the test, then I started to learn how to really drive this truck...

 

Here is what is written in the California Commercial Driver Handbook regarding braking distance with loaded and empty combination vehicles.

http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/cdl_htm/sec6.htm#drivingsafely
Brake Early
Control your speed whether fully loaded or empty. Large combination vehicles that are empty take longer to stop than when they are fully loaded. When lightly loaded, the very stiff suspension springs and strong brakes give poor traction and make it very easy to lock up the wheels. When the wheels lock, your trailer can swing out and strike other vehicles or it can jackknife very quickly (Figure 6-1). You also must be very careful about driving "bobtail" tractors (tractors without semitrailers). Tests have shown that bobtails can be very hard to stop smoothly. It takes them longer to stop than a tractor and semitrailer loaded to maximum gross weight.

 

dear jax1000x

when you get out and get some real seat time in many different situations and you apply your book read theory in a situation, and if you end up in the toolies or in a wreck because your book read theory failed...

let us know...

what EVERYONE is missing in this equation with "your theory"
is the driver componant reaction times/actions
mechanical failure/other obsticals or vehicals.

all your "book theory" is done in a controled setting....
key word..."controled" setting.

anyone with ANY experience knows or should know that you NEVER solely rely on your truck to do what it is suppose too...

its a little thing called overdriving your truck....
I see it EVERY day...
just cuz the sticker on the engine says 550-600 HP DOESN'T make it a racecar....
I have seen more then one wreck with a young buck driving and it all boils down too overdriving the truck...as per WHY he wrecked...

what did they teach you about that aspect of it at your presigious driving school...
about not over driving the truck?????

and fyi WHY your instructor was a crank is probley he is like most of us with experience and frustrated with what they teach or tell at those schools....it doesn't equate too how the real world works...

which scares the heck out of me
driving schools are interested in one thing....
getting YOUR money
and giving you just enough info too pass the test.

thats it!