Smoking The Brakes

Once you’ve got them smoking, what’s an appropriate amount of time to wait before getting going again?

Start from when the smoking stops and add 30 minutes.

Also, tell them to stop smoking as it will shorten their lives. Yours too, maybe...

I must say I'm surprised that an experienced driver is asking, but here goes..

First off, why are your brakes smoking to begin with?

Are they out of adjustment?

Or has your axle locked up/failed bearings, leaking hub seal and no lube in the axle hub?

Or did you over use the brakes or be in an inappropriate gear going down a grade?

If repairs are needed, get that taken care of asap. If you have self adjusting slack adjusters on your equipment, simply bleeding down all the air should readjust your brakes.

If you simply over used them, just allow a few minutes to let them cool and roll on.

Brakes do not overheat for no reason, so it's important to know WHY they overheated in the first place.

Be careful and always pretrip and check your equipment thoroughly. Defective brake equipment is a serious DOT violation and can result in citations, fines, csa points against you and it's very UNSAFE.

Best of luck and keep the shiny side up.

Thanks Bill, last comment was hilarious.

Thank you Susan; guess I’m not as experienced as I thought I was. Ran this same load down this same mountain last week w/o incident. Overuse... in too high of a gear, I believe.

If you overheated the brakes you need to let someone know. Brake pads can glaze from excess heat and that will cause the brakes to lose effectiveness and should be replaced.

Not a problem at all Pete. I gave the whole spiel so it could possibly help others in the future. Incidentally out of adjustment brakes can also overheat quicker so that might have contributed besides the gear and/or over use.

Pete, anytime I get my brakes smoking I generally have caused another problem also. So... I just allow the time it takes me to change my underwear and then I get back on the road.

There's nothing scientific about that approach but it's worked for me. Those brakes can take a tremendous amount of heat, but like Dan67 suggested, you might ask the shop personnel at one of your OC's to take a look at your brake shoes and make sure they are not glazed.

I used to run 80,000 lbs. down an 18 mile stretch in Death Valley coming back to Las Vegas that had a switch back at the bottom... let me just say ... you made sure you came down that hill in the right gear, cause it would not only be a career ending problem at the bottom. It would most likely be a life ending situation. Wouldn't matter how much experience you had. Knowing what you are dealing with on any grade is ultimately the drivers responsibility.

Don't be that driver ... just don't do it...

Once you’ve got them smoking, what’s an appropriate amount of time to wait before getting going again?

I must say I'm surprised that an experienced driver is asking, but here goes..

First off, why are your brakes smoking to begin with?

Are they out of adjustment?

Or has your axle locked up/failed bearings, leaking hub seal and no lube in the axle hub?

Or did you over use the brakes or be in an inappropriate gear going down a grade?

If repairs are needed, get that taken care of asap. If you have self adjusting slack adjusters on your equipment, simply bleeding down all the air should readjust your brakes.

If you simply over used them, just allow a few minutes to let them cool and roll on.

Brakes do not overheat for no reason, so it's important to know WHY they overheated in the first place.

Be careful and always pretrip and check your equipment thoroughly. Defective brake equipment is a serious DOT violation and can result in citations, fines, csa points against you and it's very UNSAFE.

Best of luck and keep the shiny side up.

Hey Susan, I'm curious if you don't mind. How do you personally check you brakes during your pre or post trip? No sarcasm here being genuine. Curious to know what your thoughts are on the most efficient way to do so.

All our slack adjusters are self adjusting. We're taught to look at the angle/position. Other than that, typical stuff, brake linings, air lines, brake Chambers, leak test, etc. Just performing the leak test readjusts the slack adjusters on our equipment.

If you don't have automatic slack adjusters, it's the standard way. Chock wheels release brakes no more than 1.5" of Freeplay in the slack adjusters. Basic pretrip stuff.