Semi stopped near bottom of the hill. Much smoke.

My opinion its because the don't have respect for equipment and the road. I've seen young drivers come down a steep grade like a bat outta hell. So far I've not seen 1 lose it but there's still time. I'm always nervous going down steep grades for 1 reason, IDK who's behind me. I don't want to be a bump cushion for a DA that thinks they know it all and ignored any postings and has lost control.

 

I get passed all the time going down hills...It is many times accompanied by some remark from the fool driving the fast downhill truck.
I have found that when you attempt to explain the reasons that you are keeping your downhill speed down that the knowitall rookies are the first to start talking trash and calling you names and so on...I just wait till I'm about halfway down the hill and see the idiot sitting there with his brakes pouring smoke and have a private laugh at his expense as I roll by with cool brakes.

If someone asks, I'll tell them or show them but other than that, They're on their own!

 

The reason you keep rolling is we are talking about metal and wind cools metal. Some of these rookies think about wind fanning a wood fire. Shoe ends will actually liquify if overheated. That's when the smoke starts. That's when your drums glaze. You see disc brakes do the same thing. That shiny surface is liquid glaze cooled down.

When you stop, that heat radiates outwards towards the tires. When enough heat transfers, there's a chemical reaction in rubber that can't be stopped. It just gets hotter and hotter until that tire errupts in flames. Throw you a tire on a brush fire and watch it burn a round hole in the middle.

You always keep driving to cool everything down, unless you are only halfway down the mountain, you better be eyeballing the runaway ramps.

You can read stories back in the 60's and 70's about runaway trucks. They talk about saving each other and like all can overheat your brakes, even the experienced. Talk about it today, you are a rookie. I'm just sayin...
They always had good trucker stories in Readers Digest. I use to read them as a kid.

 

MrPlumcrazy described it best I guess the word 'fuse' is not the best to describe the chunks of brake pad stuck to the freakin drum I saw that with my own two eyes....plus the way I see it learning from others mistakes will save you alot of time in the long run...funny how the veteranos "know it all" I thought learning was an everyday thing no matter how much experience you have.

 

The reason I didn't say anything about fusing this is the first time I heard about it. But I will comment on thought and other stuff I know.

How many drivers have you seen pull drums off on the side of the road to inspect and see chunks? So how do you know other than your brake is froze? Brakes can stick from many reasons like being in a bind or a broke spring.

I think "stick" is a better word than "fuse". They call it glazing as the wheel is turning when all this liquidfying is going on, distributing it evenly. Heat and friction will not only crack linings usually from the riveted points, the metal drums will develop surface spider cracks in an overheat. Drivers beat on brakes with a hammer at various times of it's life. A frozen shoe will easily fracture.

I can't count the brake jobs I done on a 4wheeler. Though disc brakes are exempt from fade, most have drums on the rear. I know they don't haul the weight, but the size of the brake is proportionate to the size of the vehicle. And 4wheelers ride their brakes all the time. How many do you see running down the road with their left foot on the brake? All that said, I never seen a 4wheeler fuse. But then again, I never seen one smoke em.

I think you can get a better perspective from a big truck brake mechanic than a bunch of drivers. If they are so experienced and know all about it.....that means they smoked em themselves. Not so experienced now, lol.

Forums are for discussion. There is nothing wrong with people throwing their ideas out there.

 

Had to check...but yes, you are the same fella that argued in the past about down shifting when coming to a stop, and being in control of your rig had nothing to do with being in gear or not.

Fine example here.

 

hmm, correct me if I'm wrong but when in neutral you are considered not in control of the vehicle correct?

 

Yeah we had a lengthy discusson on this a few months back...started by Mr. Gift here.