That trailer brake handle, how does it work?

I thought it was the factory headset and gasket holder for tanker drivers?

 

Using 10 brakes to stop you is much smarter then using 4 trailer brakes.

I have 2 drop axles. Even when I'm lightly loaded. I use every brake I have. Cuz you just never know what cars will do.

Only time my drops aren't used is when I'm empty.

I also pull a tanker. So my loads constantly shift around.

 

Are you using your drops because you have to in order to meet bridge law? Or just so that you have the extra brakes? If it's just for the extra brakes, it explains a lot in regards to your posts in that other thread regarding traction. By running the drop axles when they are not necessary, you reduce the weight (and therefore available traction) on the other tires.

Drag Slicks and Traction: Why Bigger Isn't Always Better When it Comes to Slicks - OnAllCylinders

Ultimately, your stopping distance is unaffected. If anything, it might actually increase. The brake systems on these trucks are designed to work when loaded, performing better under a load, because they can utilize the increased traction available due to the weight on the axles. When you reduce the weight, you increase the likelihood of the brakes locking up, or on a newer truck, the likelihood of the ABS activating (which doesn't cycle nearly as quick as a car...but is extremely effective at using a lot of air, which decreases the pressure available to apply the brakes thereby limiting their effectiveness, lengthening your stopping distance). It's why a loaded truck stops quicker than an empty one.

Straight out of the CDL manual:

 

THat's some pretty insane writing and thinking there HOSS.

Less traction. Vehicles stop faster when empty. It's a pretty safe bet that none of us have required longer stopping distances when empty vs. loaded.
Drops needed for bridge. NOT HARDLY. You gotta be shorter then roughly 38 feet to have a bridge issue with 80k pounds. According to the bridge table. I"m roughly 52 feet. Bridge isn't an issue.

You clearly haven't pulled tankers.
At 77k pounds. The trailer gets dropped. Tandem is at 34k.
AT 81k. Truck gets dropped. And 2k shifts from steers to drive.
Traction. INcreases with weight. But taketh away because of drops. Not much. But guess what. There's 2 more tires on the ground. Doesn't that make for MORE traction????
A 3/4 loaded tanker is harder to stop then a fully loaded tanker. THINK OF ALLLLLL THAT WEIGHT PUSHING YOU FORWARD. then sloshing back. THEN FORWARD. Back and Forth.
LOAD SHIFT.
And guess what. I have no control. Unlike you all hauling non moveable freight.
I have 2 baffles in my tank. A tank with no baffles. Even a 1/2 loaded tanker can be a P I T A.
Anything over 65k and I use the drops for extra brakes. Has absolutely nothing to do with bridge. I have brakes. I"m gonna use them. Because I drive 110 miles one way. In heavy traffic. And I have no desire to be thrown in to a car because my load SHIFTED FORWARD.

Tires locking up. Was in issue when I first started with the company. In the snow. Empty.
New drums and brakes and all has been good since.

BTW. A quick search on google says if it's snowing. Leave the rwd home.
If they were safer. Fwd wouldn't have come in to play. And they've been standard since 81.

 

The Johnny bar on Volvo's is for hanging 50 air fresheners.

 

I agree with @snowwy I have 5 axles and am permitted to 95k. Somedays when near 80k to 86k i wish i had extra axles with brakes.

 

The coefficient of friction relies upon weight over a surface area. If you increase the surface area WITHOUT changing the weight, you have not increased that coefficient of friction. Read the link, paying attention to the brick diagrams. It takes the exact same force to drag a brick across a surface, no matter which way the brick is laying. Why? Because when the brick is standing on it's small end, the weight is concentrated over a small area...and when the brick is laying flat, that same weight is spread out over a larger area. The coefficient of friction is the same either way, because you have less psi over a greater surface area vs a higher psi over a smaller surface area...but the end result is the same because the weight has not changed.

That is ALL you are doing adding axles without any real need. The state requires those extra axles if you exceed certain weights to spread your load out over a greater amount of surface area, thereby lessening the damage to the roads.

You know what else you're doing when you spread out the weight? Since each tire is pushing down with less pressure, it becomes that much easier to hydroplane, that much more likely to slide on ice, etc...because you have less pressure squeezing whatever happens to be on the road out from between the rubber and the asphalt. That's why a front wheel drive vehicle with the weight of the engine over the tires might be able to move where a rear wheel drive car can't...or why a couple sandbags in the trunk will help that rear wheel drive car find traction.

And that drop axle isn't shifting 2000 from the steers to the drives. It is pulling 2000 pounds off your steer, and probably another 10,000 pounds or so off your drives. That means LESS traction for driving, because you have unloaded your powered axles when you dropped that dead axle to the ground.

Just going out on a limb here (not really), but I'm guessing Science wasn't your best subject in school.

 

Are you basing this off the standard 80k or less? Because adding wieght to an 80k brick will change how efficient braking/downward force is/how much energy is required to change its movement.

 

I just don't drive myself insane about posting complicating comments over stupid stuff.

I go with works. And don't worry about irrational thinking. It'll drive you nuts.

 

The trailer you're talking about is called a Goldhofer. They're used to move extremely big and heavy loads a short distance.

On the other hand, there's this style trailer for longer distances.
The guy sitting on the back of the trailer in front of the push trucks is called a 'tillerman.' He steers the trailer from the rear (kinda like the guy on the back of the fire dept's ladder truck), and is required to have a CDL also. The back of the trailer is powered, not for pulling hills, but the steering.