Air Brake Failure

I was watching "CDL life" on Facebook this morning and they had an old Rescue 911 video of a truck going down a mountain with complete air brake failure.

I'm sure some of you will laugh at me but that's some scary mess! Is this something most drives may experience in their career?Please say no...:\

Honestly, there are no guarantees. This is an extremely dangerous job. Going downhill is always dangerous. You have to really know what you're doing so you don't burn your brakes. If they overheat, you won't have any brakes anymore. I've burnt my brakes before, and at the end of the hill by the time I stopped the brakes were done. But I was stopped by then. I can tell you that losing your brakes is probably the scariest thing in this world.

Air brake failure is possible. Moisture can build up in your air brake system and freeze which can cause air brake failure. That's why it's always a good idea to drain your air tanks before driving. You want to have as dry air as possible and not let moisture build up.

Well Daniel B, I will certainly be draining my tanks daily if I ever become a driver! Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah losing breaks scares me a lot as well. As Daniel said, drain your tanks regularly especially in cold weather. Doing a FULL break inspection every day is not only the law but is important to catch issues before you reach for the petal downhill. It's not just for your job, it's for your life.

After all is said and done. S... can just happen. Such is life.

Learning to use your jake brake will go a long ways in helping you to conserve your brakes....Its a art, since the gear you need to be in depends on the load, how steep the hill is, and road conditions...but its a equation that is worth learning....I've seen trucks come down Cabbage Hill with their brakes on fire...then the stupid fools pull into the fuel island...looking for WATER !! If you flame up your brakes,...and make it to the bottom...just slow down, but keep driving...the fire will go out...and trying to put it our with an extinguisher or water is really tough...For the trucks that flamed up, and kept driving when they got to the bottome of Cabbage...it took 'em about 9 miles before they could safely stop...So the bottom of Cabbage is at the 216...and they would pull over at the 207...lol

LMAO at the brakes on fire pulling into the fuel island!! I can picture the look on everyone face as that is happening! Sounds like something out of a comedy movie.

When I thought my brakes went out when going down an off ramp, I just let off the brakes looked (VERY QUICKLY) for cross traffic; went through the stop sign and went up the on ramp. Luckily I used a hill to slow myself down.

Dave

It's probably a lot less likely than it used to be. I drove for 20 years before letting my CDL go because I got into construction. In 1986, when I first got my CDL, it was at my company's request and I had to learn everything the hard way. I think most trucks back then had manual slack adjusters. All of mine did. I had no training and there was no YouTube or internet to look things up. I didn't take adjusting my brakes as seriously as I should have until my fire. Going down Grapevine, the driver's side on my 6th axle lit up. By the time I could stop, the wood deck on the back of my trailer was on fire. The fire extinguisher was useless. Luckily, I had a gallon jug of water. That helped. Needless to say, the experience scared the heck out of me. I've never had a brake problem since.

Learning to use your jake brake will go a long ways in helping you to conserve your brakes....Its a art, since the gear you need to be in depends on the load, how steep the hill is, and road conditions...but its a equation that is worth learning....I've seen trucks come down Cabbage Hill with their brakes on fire...then the stupid fools pull into the fuel island...looking for WATER !! If you flame up your brakes,...and make it to the bottom...just slow down, but keep driving...the fire will go out...and trying to put it our with an extinguisher or water is really tough...For the trucks that flamed up, and kept driving when they got to the bottome of Cabbage...it took 'em about 9 miles before they could safely stop...So the bottom of Cabbage is at the 216...and they would pull over at the 207...lol

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What Starcar said. Nailed it exactly. Cabbage is one of the WORST downhills you'll encounter. Rule of thumb. Start downhill in one gear lower than you went up. If you don't know the hill, Jake brake on full and adjust upward until it holds going downhill with NO braking whatsoever. Have your hand on the switch and increase jake if you start speeding up, back off a little as you slow. I rarely use brakes on a downhill anymore unless I get cut off.