Empty trailers take longer to STOP

I'm only 22, have only been driving for four years, however it HAS NOT taken me all this time to figure out that there is a lot of things that are not taught in the driving school, and that some things aren't practical in the real world, such as NEVER having to swing into the lane next to you to make a right hand turn, yeah right, every corner is made just for 75' long vehicles, LMAO...

 

Ya I remember having to wait till no traffic was coming to make a turn so you could go into the oncoming lane.

I told my trainer, in the real world the trucker turns and everyone backs up. ROFL

 

I will open up a whole new can of worms. I guess that is the same book that states stab braking is the only way to go down a steep mountain without killing yourself. Stab braking was invented for those without enough common sense to go down a mountain the right way.

 

Unbelievable!!! Empty trailers DO TAKE LONGER TO STOP!!!!!!
Ive driven local most of my career(14 1/2) years most of it on the freeways of Los Angeles.The weight, believe it or not,helps your brakes catch quicker.Sure you have momentum from the weight, but it gives you control.Empty trailers don't give you control and you dry hydraplane(skid).Trust me, driving local makes you realize many things and empty vs. loaded is just another thing you recognize.Knowing how to jam gears down quickly helps too, but its very hard on the tractor.I just can't beleive that people don't seem to understand this.next time you bobtail around,see how hard it is to stop quickly,and the distance it takes.if you don't flip the tractor that is).I used to go up and down the grapevine everyday, and trust me, you would rather drop a gear and be loaded going down,you can adjust the flow of speed better, jakes on or off.

 

Okie-dokie. I'm looking at all this stopping stuff and just have to say...in a way, everybody is right.

Errruuwaaaahhh?? (Think Tim Allen.)

An empty trailer has no weight on it, making it less stable due to no weight on the wheels. That's pretty much a given.

A fully loaded trailer creates more friction, requiring more heat dissipation in order to counteract its momentum, causing the brakes to work harder.

Both points are valid and hold water.

In my real world experience of a measly 1,566 days, perhaps (roughly) 10,000 times of applying brakes under various circumstances with varied loads and conditions, I find a heavier load takes longer to bring to a stop than a lighter load. This is absolutely true. Especially since one of the things I am cognizant of is the condition of my customer's freight when I show up to give it to him.

However. When my trailer is loaded at perhaps 20,000 pounds, I find it easier to stop than an empty trailer and my stopping distance is slightly reduced. Again, this is purely situational. My subjective opinion is based on normal braking and stopping conditions. I do not have much experience in stopping on a dime, as the occasion has only arisen a sum total of 6 times thus far.

Yep, you read that correctly. I have a total of six hard-brake events in the entire four-plus years I've been driving large articulated vehicles. I do not have enough experience in hard stops to properly address it.

 

I'm no edja-macated genius or anything but I know I've had to stand on the brakes to get a loaded trailer stopped once and I've almost put myself through the windshield just from tapping the brakes when I didn't take into account that I was empty. Didn't take real long to figure that one out. I thought it was the most bass akwards thing I'd ever heard when they taught it in school. While it may be true that the brakes are designed to handle a full load, my truck still weighs thirty thousand pounds empty and it stops real f'n quick.

 

When loaded to the limit the limiting factor on your ability to decelerate is the actual
maximum level of the friction between the break shoes and the break drums.
Usually.


When empty it limiting factor on your ability to decelerate is the actual maximum level of friction between the tires and the road surface.
Usually.

There are a lot of factors that can alter these so called rule of thumb statements.
The biggest been the friction coefficient between the road surface and you tires.

As for disc breaks on class 8 trucks.
We have a few of them and they are better for stopping in all circumstances.
I have not found them to be that much more expensive.
Especially when you consider how easily and quickly you can change pads.
I do believe they don't hold up well on muddy roads as they get all bogged up.

 

I have been told both methods as well. SNUB braking from the books and light steady pressure from the 20+ year guys. "20+ years, never smoked a brake." Hey, I'll take that. However, the snub method makes me feel like I have much more control and my brakes are given a chance to cool rather than constant friction, thus creating heat. I was told I was foolish for snub braking down donner pass, when the 20 year guy used the light steady pressure. Neither one of us got the brakes too hot, safe speed has a lot to do with it.

 

What he said.