My brakes are smoking when on steep grades.

That's not what happens. It gets excessively hot and embeds pad material in the drum or rotor. Creating a Glaze finish. To slick to stop. Yes you will regain some stopping power when cooled. But it will never stop the same without maintance.

 

The binding material in the pads begins to melt. Doesn't matter if it's drums or disks. Elephant Racing • Brake Fade: What causes it?

With drums, the expansion of the drum also plays its part, but it's never to the point there is no shoe contact. As the drum expands, the shoe friction decreases to the point of equilibrium, where the heat from friction equals the heat dissipation rate. And at this point expansion stops while pad disintegration starts, which generates the smoke and dramatically reduces friction even further, I.E. Total brake failure.

 

You can ride the brakes all day at 10PSI at 10MPH or 70MPH. They still won't make more heat then the drums can dissipate Because people are not putting much brake pressure/ heat to the drums. That's why I think the way I was trained was so good. A driver can go down any hill at any weight and any speed. If you can hold the truck back with 10PSI or less brake pressure you are going the correct speed.

If they turn on the engine brake and combine that with 10PSI you can go faster down the hill. So a driver can always get down a hill even if the engine brakes stopped working, they just have to go slower because all you would have is the brakes.

If a driver is at top of mountain and he can see he needs 15PSI to hold the truck back. He would already know he is making more heat then the drums can handle. So he has to slow down now before the brakes over heat.

 

Breaking 101
Breaking 103

 

At 10PSI we are not making so much heat material is melting or glazing over. Their was a study I think Virginia tech did on fancy gap hill testing both methods. Light Steady Pressure vs snub braking. The drum/brake temperature were almost identical.

 

That first vid [EDIT: which I thought pushed steady, but apparently does teach stab. I was only paying 1/4 attention, my bad] , which is what @Brandt is always pushing, isn't how guys who run the mountains every day do it. Yes, you can get to the bottom without overheating the brakes, but you have used up a substantial portion of your brakes heat capabilities. You have to make a hard stop in the middle of a grade, you're gonna wish you'd have been riding the Jake with completely cool brakes. Because a hard downgrade stop at gross at the speeds 10 psi and Jakes allow WILL generate fade before you're completely stopped. Add in the heat from the 10psi, and you're gonna be severely puckered before you get to the stopped traffic.

Come to the mountains, you'll not see brake lights from a downgrade local unless it's to slow for a tight corner. It's only the OTR guys doing it.

 

Never said it did. The point was discs can and do experience brake fade.

I don't disagree that you can run your 10psi method without overheating, I just thinks it's a very bad habit to save a few minutes, for the reasons enumerated in my previous post.

 

What method do you think is better going downhill on a snow or ice covered or when driver has tire chains on ? We were trained you are better with light steady pressure. If you are applying lot of brake pressure you are more likely to lock up a tire. Going downhill in snow or ice or slippery roads you are less likely to lock up a tire with Light Steady Pressure vs Snub braking. That's the main goal to have the most control in snow and ice or slippery roads and the overheating of the brakes is really not a problem, using both methods.

 

On the Cascadia, you can also put the engine brake in the lightest setting (1 click down) and then just set your cruise when you reach your desired speed at the top of the hill. It will hold that speed automatically. That's what I usually do.

I used to run Snoqualmie, Cabbage, Grapevine and others weekly, and the automatic Cascadia would hold it right at 40-45mph at 80k gross.

 

I'm probably missing something really big.. in that first (as well as second) video they say snub breaking is the goal, not drag (10 or whatever psi) continually in order to avoid uneven breaking pressure distribution. 5x3 rule?

Thank you for the invitation, just came to TX from Portland. Maybe on the way back