New to the forum, Have questions, mostly stopping ?

Never slam on your brakes, and never swerve. If someone cuts you off and you can't stop in time, hit them. You'd be doing the world a favor anyway.

 

Putting yourself in neutral and braking is a huge no no. keep your following distance, if some ####### cuts you off and he decides to slam on his brake all you can do is lay on your airhorn stomp on your brakes and run the dumb ####### over, if he dies one less stupid person to deal with. Always always keep your lane. As long as you keep your following distance know your surroundings you will never be in this situation

 

At the point of no return ,What do you do ?Dont put yourself in a situation .always know your surroundings.sometimes u can't help stupid .

 

I'm still in training, so take this with a grain of salt...

My instructors say that for a panic stop, grab gears as you can on the way down, but concentrate on directional control while braking hard. Never be out of any gear for more than 7 seconds.

We have one instructor that drills us by having us dive for an exit ramp at the last second, downshifting while slowing. We have 10 speed transmissions, so we downshift 2 gears at a time - even or odd, whichever he calls out. Most students hate it, but I like the challenge.

 

Hi Ryan and welcome to the forum.Don't worry,you're not going to smash into anybody.The main thing is KEEP YOUR EYES MOVING AT ALL TIMES.Look far ahead.You follow those simple rules to trucking you'll have time to slow down long before a car cuts you off.When you're in alot of traiffic the best thing to do is just take it easy and also leave plenty of following distance between you and the other traffic.You cannot stop on a dime like you can a car.Its a good couple trailer lengths it takes to come to a complete safe stop.Just remember to keep your eyes moving at all times and always plan what you think the other traffic may do.Like sometimes I see a car or trk coming on the interstte from an exit and I always set myself up for the unexpected like the idiots not yielding like they're suppose to.Backing a trailer is not easy at first but it does get easy with pratice.You can do it so don't worry.You being new I would drive at the speed you feel most comfortable with.The worst thing to do at 65 or 70 mph is slm on your brks.Thats a good way for brks to start smoking or possibly jack knifeing and hitting another vehicle with your trailer.Shifting is'ct easy at first but like everything else,with practice you'll be a pro in no time.Matter of fact a car cut me off 2 days ago.Did'nt bother me though,had I hit her,it would have been her fault,she was the speeder not me.She passed me and just inches from my front bumper after getting over.

 

I use the heel toe technique. Heel on the brake, toe on the fuel pedal.

 

(not really sure how they work)

There are two types of "Jake brakes" one is a engine retarder and the other is an exhaust brake, both essentially work for the same purpose, but work entirely different.

An exhaust brake is a means of slowing a diesel engine by closing off the exhaust path from the engine, causing the exhaust gases to be compressed in the exhaust manifold, and in the cylinder. Since the exhaust is being compressed, and there is no fuel being applied, the engine works backwards, slowing down the vehicle. The amount of negative torque generated is usually directly proportional to the back pressure of the engine.

The term "Jake brake" comes from a Jacobs Engine brake, or engine retarder. It works when exhaust valves in the cylinder head open, releasing the compressed air that is trapped by the head and slows the truck down. When the accelerator is released on the truck, its forward momentum continues to turn the Diesel engine's crankshaft. That intern compresses air in the cylinder.

As the piston passes through top dead center, the compressed air in the cylinder acts as a spring and pushes the piston back down the cylinder. It returns most of the energy expended in compression back to the crankshaft. This causes the truck to slow down, without the use of the service brakes.

A "Jake brake" is used along with gearing down the truck to keep from overheating the service brakes that are used to stop the truck. Although some trucks are not equipped with an engine retarding system, so gearing down and using the service brakes is required in order to slow or stop.
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At 80,000lbs you can't just hit the brake pedal and stop.

If you think that, then you are sadly wrong.

If you only just hit the breaks truck's service brakes in a panic stop, they will get very hot get glazed over. When a truck's service brakes are glazed over, this means that they have been very hot, and usually it will make the driver seem he/she has no brakes. Glazing is the hardening of the brake lining, and the only to fix them is to replace or grind the glaze from the lining. The term "Jake braking" is what happens when a driver is using the engine retarder to keep from using the service brakes. Or some truckers say: "I'm saving my brakes, by using the Jake brake."

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Before you get into that problem:

Alway keep a large follow distance away from cars or trucks in front of you.
Keep checking your mirrors on what is behind you and what is heading your way.
Keep an ear on the CB in case you hear of trouble heading your way from a trucker behind you or in front of you.
If you see someone coming up fast from behind or weaving in and out of cars, let the craze nut pass you and keep a distance way behind them.
And warn other truckers on the road over the CB of the problem.
If they cause a accident you and others will have time to stop in time.

If they are way to close:

#1 HIT THE AIR HORNS AND KEEP THEM GOING....
most of the time they will get scared and take off faster then you can break

or

#2 If it is not wet out, or snowing out and only on a straight road.
Put the jacks on fully and gear down 1 or 2 full gears and let the jakes scream and can scare the hell out of any one around you for miles around. It is used along with gearing down the truck to keep from overheating the service brakes when you need to stop the truck.

Most of the time you do not have time to slow down at all and hope the car gets out of the way.

If they do not get out of the way then it is too bad for the car and any one in it.

A 2,000 pound is no match for a 80,000lbs full loaded truck.

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If you are worried about damage, put a full set of Large Ram Bars on the front of the truck used for MOOSE or Bison. It will save your rad and other front end parts on the truck.

To bad for the car.

 

NOTE: the Truck Horns warned other drivers of a problem on the road

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtAO8pvVDw4[/ame]