Empty trailers take longer to STOP

Light steady bpressure is still taught,but only at slow speeds under 20 mph.You use light steady at higher speeds,your gonna smoke your brakes.To much friction at higher speeds.I train drivers on descent of mountains at loads of over 65000 lbs.This is taught without a jake break.You can use this method at under 20 mph(5 to 10 lbs)of constant pressure,get to the bottom of Parley,Union Pass,California Pass,I dont care what grade,get out at the bottom,put your hand on the trailer rim,and it wont even be warm.Use the snub method on these grades,and they are gonna be hot.Done it and taught it many times.Never even had a inkling of smoke on my brakes.So those of you that disagree,lets hear it.

 

I know of no current accredited trucking school teaching light steady braking pressure. I have trained new drivers off and on as well for several years (attended trucking school back in 1991 myself) and back then snub braking was being taught at every reputable school on the east coast. That is the method I was taught and continue to teach today, it works well and I have yet to hear of any driver crashing and burning that used this method correctly.

The key to descending any mountain grade is appropriate gear selection, and speed based on road conditions as well as the weight of the vehicle.

Of course if there are any brakes not adjusted correctly then the remaining brakes have to work extra hard which does cause overheating.

Most of the trucks I see descending mountain grades today travel at much faster speeds than the 20 mph you suggest in your post. I suspect at that speed the slow moving truck would become more of a road hazard than is prudent creating a bottleneck going down hill and possibly leading to rear end collisions.

 

Braking technique down mountains has alot more to do with the the truck and how it is specced. Cummins have an excellent jake brake and detroits aren't bad either. I have had a 3406B, a 3406E, and now this C15 Accert. They have all had terrible jakes, hell I can run my jakes on hi ,empty on snow. Thats pathetic. My boss has a 3406B with what they call super jakes on it and they are alot stronger.

 

I noticed the difference in Jakes as well....my 1999 Cat C-10 eng brake was nothing compared to the one on my 2006 Cummins ISM. Prefer the Cat overall but a stronger jake would have been nice.

 

You're right local driving does teach you a lot. But I don't know where you're coming from. My local driving was right there in your town and I never seen, heard, or been told that the brakes work faster if you're loaded. There's a lot of us that drive around town and we do not jam gears to slow because we use the Smith System. That's from people that have 20 or so years driving so maybe it's not us and you that doesn't understand. I can see if you're trying to say that the trailer may be bounching so the brakes won't work as well when there's no down pressure. But have you driven a truck with ABS? We couldn't lock our brakes up if we had to. It is true that the older tractor were hard to stop and you would skid a lot but you should try the newer ones with good brakes.

 

Yeah, with a empty trailer you can downshift faster and brake faster, your jake is stronger, and you dont have weight pushing you. If conditions are dry and the wheels dont lock, I would tend to disagree with a loaded trailer stopping quicker than a empty trailer. Big time.

 

I don't think anyone is disputing that a trucks brakes are more efficient when loaded. However, more efficient does not equal faster.

 

LOL ya beat me to it.
I would say myself A 25-30K load stops faster than either of the scenarios laid out so far (best of both worlds)

pre-EGR motors have a much weaker jake than the EGR motors. (my boss clued me into this when I started here) I hadn't driven anything older than 06' when I started driving and am now in an 01' classic and I can definately tell the difference.
with the newer trucks (cat and cummins) I could roll down monteagle fully loaded without touching the brakes, NOT so with this tractor!

 

It is best to sit there and look stupid, than to open your mouth, and comfirm it.