A trucker's worst nightmare (Brake failure)

[Gibson99]

Even without a Jake brake you can still slow down some by downshifting. It's not as effective as with an exhaust made for it, but it's better than nothing.

 

[dashy]

Not easy, as you will be near red line and gearbox won't allow it.

 

[Sunny]

When coming down from Pikes Peak they have a checkpoint to check brakes' temperature.
If it's over certain temperature they want you to stop at least 15 minutes before heading down further.
It's for any vehicle.
Never had my brakes overheat few times I was up there but I always saw at least few vehicles waiting to cool down their brakes.

 

[Dashmellow]

There's a particularly nasty mountain road near where I live where they finally installed a runaway truck ramp with barrels full of sand after one disaster too many.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

There's a particularly nasty mountain road near where I live where they finally installed a runaway truck ramp with barrels full of sand after one disaster too many.

View attachment 16485

Sure would not want to be in front of a truck needing that Beautiful area

 

[dash riposki]

It's been a while, but I once saw a family in a car, stopped at the entrance to the runaway truck ramp like that, with a blanket spread on the ground, having a PICNIC.

The newer compression brakes don't seem to work so well. The 'Jacobs' brand ones were what I'm used to, but the ones too many big trucks in the US come with now are often equipped with compression brakes built by the engine manufacturer. Some are virtually worthless.

I threw a rod one time on the long downgrade between Flagstaff and Phoenix on I-17.
I was in a rental tractor, and grossing 105,000 pounds. (legally)
I had all the brakes smoking before I got stopped at an off ramp a few miles down the road. Being in gear didn't matter....no compression. Once the brakes were gone, I was toast.
My pants dried later in the day when it reached 110f, and I was still waiting for the tow truck.

Since I was in a rental truck, I didn't have my normal amount of supplies in the truck, but had a few bottles of water, and I think a 6 pack of Diet Dr Pepper. The breakdown happened like at 6 am, the wrecker finally showed up at 4 pm. No AC. No cell phone.
No satellite communications in the rental truck. I think it was August or early september. Long day......

 

[Dashmellow]

It's been a while, but I once saw a family in a car, stopped at the entrance to the runaway truck ramp like that, with a blanket spread on the ground, having a PICNIC.

Sounds like it had the potential to be the ultimate "picnic spread".

 

[Deleted member 46308]

My pants dried later in the day when it reached 110f, and I was still waiting for the tow truck.

It took that long

 

[dash riposki]

Sounds like it had the potential to be the ultimate "picnic spread".

Bears and coyotes may have had a 'pancake supper' later if things had gone really wrong.




Gabacho, they probably got dampened a few more times as I thought about what happened.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Bears and coyotes may have had a 'pancake supper' later if things had gone really wrong.




Gabacho, they probably got dampened a few more times as I thought about what happened.

 

[Gibson99]

our little isuzu nqr truck for SCCA has the control for engine braking built into the wiper stalk. pull it back to switch it on or off. most times i don't need it and can just downshift, but then we don't tow much weight (maybe 10,000 lbs), and there really aren't many hills in houston, so simple downshifts are usually enough.

 

[erkme73]

My RV has a GVWR of 20 tons. When it's fully loaded, it takes a good amount of skill and forethought to avoid brake fade. The air brakes are just like commercial truck brakes - they use compressed air to keep them off. If you lose air pressure, the brakes clamp down.

The general rule is whatever gear (and speed) it took to get up the hill is the maximum gear you want to be in on the way down. I have yet to travel I-17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix. But I did come through the Raton Pass between Denver and Albuquerque (I-25).

Using the engine brake helps, but there's no avoiding the service brakes on really steep grades. The key is to use them sparingly. I try to maintain 35 MPH on the way down using the engine brake. Once I get to 45MPH, I hit the service brakes hard enough to get my speed back down to about 30 MPH, and completely let go. The engine brake will keep the speed from increasing back to 45MPH too quickly - but by the time it does, I repeat the hard service brake. Riding the brakes down is suicide.