Braking in a Semi Truck 101: What You SHOULD Already Know (But Might Not!) 

Thanks bigg Bro and fam, for all the gems that you share with the trucking community! I have followed this channel for awhile (ever since I started driving OTR 4 years ago) and yall videos has been a tremendous help out there!! Love to hear the stories at the end as well! Just want to show my appreciation for keepin us all on our toes out here. Thank yall

I never hit that Johnny bar for anything other than to test my brakes while leaving the yard or truck stop. Always look 15 seconds ahead and never stop scanning. It'll reduce a lot of problems when it comes to braking in all situations. I've had the chance to operate with a truck and trailer with disk brakes and I love them. God be with you drivers

One more thing...with 40,000 in a refer box I was one of those guys rolling down Fancy Gap full jake in 7th gear at 35mph with my 4-ways on. Kept off the brake all the way down. (Sorry to have slowed the rest of you drivers down.)

A Johnny bar or Trolley handle (in my opinion) only has 3 possible uses. 1. Slide axles, especially if the parking brakes are not holding properly. 2. Test the stopping power of trailer brakes when hooking up to a trailer. 3. Doing a tug test when you get back in your truck to make sure someone didn't pull your 5th wheel pin while you were away from your truck. Awesome video, as always!!

Rule of thumb for the new mega carrier drivers is to always tailgate the four wheeler in front of you

My favorite part about disc brakes is DOT can't right you up for brakes out of adjustment. And they stop a hole lot better than drum breaks. I believe that's because the don't loose adjustment.

I've always used Jake's and the brake pedal sparingly. The brake pedal is used to drop speed by 10 mph then let the speed slowly pick up with the Jake doing most of the work.

The panic brake/stop in my experience you are so focused on minimizing damage, and hopefully trying to avoid the wreck. About a year half ago. Had a car cross center line. Aftermath skid marks showed i slightly turned my wheel to the right. Making it more of corner to corner rather direct head on. I remember foot and brake as hard and fast as I could. Never had time to reach for air horn or trailer brake lever. Skid marks and point of impact marks told whole story. I was in my lane whole time even after the steer axle broke. Car had a kid in his 20’s who was airlifted out and lived. Tested positive for being intoxicated. Whole point of this. When you run into the panic brake you very well may not have time to think. Just do

You’re right, only drivers truly know how intelligent and smart you truly have to be to do this job. Anytime you say, “ok, you try driving this semi” they simply act like the job is somehow above them or they’re above doing manual labor for some reason.

Also in my opinion 7 out of 10 drivers in the trucks on the roads today do not have no where near enough training to be driving. Just hop in and push the drive button and take off. Crazy stuff

I try not to use the trailer brakes in the rain.

I remember seeing a gal in a compact slide in right in front of a big rig in stop and go traffic. All I could think of was how easily that car would have accordianed with her in it. Follow the rule of Superior Tonnage - the Superior Tonnage has the right of way. It helps you avoid being squished.

I'm local; we have decent grades but in short periods. I don't have to worry about braking too much. I always got taught the gear you went up in is the gear you go down in or even lower. Jake's on also. When pressing the brakes, Speed limit is 50. Five down (45mph), let go of the brakes, five up (50mph), five down (45mph) and so on so forth in order to help your brakes to remain cool.

I was in fort collins last march at the big budweiser plant and I met this big ol black girl who burned her trailer up coming down i70 into denver 4 days before. She swore she was using the jake brake but i knew what happened. I gave her usefull hints since she was knew and none of her supervisors had ever held a cdl. A few hours arfter we both departed i get a frantic call from her and she said her trailer brakes were smoking again. I asked her if she was using her jake and to send me a pic of it. She was driving a t680 and thought the johnny bar was the jake brake like in many other newer trucks that have it on the column. I told her to sit tight for 20 minutes with her trailer brakes not popped so they would cool. If her supervisors had any idea what she was doing she would have been fired but luckily for her (unluckily for the public), they had no idea.

Before automatic adjusters, I always kept my own brakes adjusted. Always had a 9/16 wrench handy.

Hey there Driver. So glad you were able to take the time from your busy day, to check out today's upload. How about you? What's your 'braking' theory? Do you have a different approach? Do you feel in control at all times when behind the wheel and confident you have the skill to get stopped when you need to? Love to hear your thoughts.

The skill, the knowledge, and the training. Be safe out there.

Dave the problem with the younger drivers today, is that they feel they know it all in the 1st- 5 years of driving. My take, is that they go accident free for the 1st- 5 years, and they think they have a complete understanding of trucking. I will be 50 years in trucking in 3 years, and to me, if a rookie does a job that I never have, am I any better than that person... Even the TTSAO, feels that a driver only needs a bare 5 years to become a trainer. Something I have argued for a long time now. 10 years should be the basic minimum to become trainable driver to train others. I have never seen so many roll-over, rear-enders, load shifts and jack-knives, in my career as I have in the last 10 years.

I can tell a pro driver because they don’t drift out of their lane and on the rumble strip . They pay attention to what they are doing and leave a large cushion between them and the vehicle in front. Rookies and super truckers are usually the ones in the ditch.

When they implemented ABS systems on big trucks, I felt like I was learning to brake on slick roads all over again.

You're exactly right. The judge will always be right there to blame the driver unfairly as usual when something goes wrong. Been-there-done-that

I started selling air disc brakes about four years ago and my small company in Vancouver bc sells hundreds of them a year now.

Your friend's trailer brake situation is one of the best arguments for keeping the trolley valve in the cab of new trucks. I always test my trailer brakes on the yard before I leave by driving at about 5 mph after the air has had time to fill the tank and pulling the trolley valve. Any hesitation in stopping means they're out of adjustment and the unit is not roadworthy until fixed. Nobody wants that delay. The good carriers, including mine, will pay you for your time while you wait for a technician to fix the problem or while you get your freight moved to another trailer.

The trolley brakes were originally used before spring breaks were required. To this very day, some 50 years after spring breaks have been required, the proper procedure for test purposes, for hooking up to a trailer, is to back up to the trailer, get out and hook up the brake and electric line, and then apply the trailer break so that it does not roll away when you try to get underneath it. I use it To make sure that my trailer brakes are working fine. As I pull out from the spot in the yard, I put my automatic transmission in neutral, and pull the trolley break. If I need to, a back up and hit the brakes a couple of times to adjust them

In my experience I've grown to hate disk brakes. When I drove garbage trucks I got to drive a couple trucks that had them and I had brake fires on two separate occasions and almost had a 3rd just from normal use. It was always just one brake that would stick and all the others would be fine. I also never noticed any difference whatsoever in stopping power compared to drum brakes. Maybe there was just something wrong with those trucks, but I've always been skeptical about disk brakes after that.

Descending grades, i pick a proper low gear with the jake fully on, I know I picked the proper gear when the jake is slowing me down instead of speeding me up, then I lower the jake a notch and let it pick up speed, then I turn it back on full power and let it slow me down. And I keep doing this until I reach the bottom of the grade. On a 12 speed, 7th gear for a 7% grade with the jake fully on is perfect. For 6% grade I like to go with 8th gear :) Never as so much as need to even use my brake pedal, only to down shift when I need a lower gear.

My daily dose of knowledge

I never realised how useful that trailer brake handle can be until I got a truck without one. So many problems can be solved with the ability to use only the trailer brakes and not having to pop the supply valve to set the trailer brakes. But I have never seen a time that using only the trailer brakes is good when the truck is moving more than 10mph. The air disk brakes are great. But I get paranoid because it is impossible to see the brake pads most of the time, so when picking up a trailer, not being able to see if you actually have any pad left on them is a bit scary to me. Especially after hooking to a trailer that someone dropped and the trailer brakes had been dragging and there was virtually no braking effort from the trailer(with disk brakes) because they were pretty much metal on metal at that point.

Amen Dave best message yet I'm retired and been beating this in my son's head, I even turned the company he works for to the Alabama DOT which levied a hugh fine and CSA Points to them. Keep relating this topic 😊

You could also mention proper gearing.

Thanks, now I can professionally come to a stop in American Truck Simulator!!! 😎

I use the trailer brake handle inside the truck during my pre-trip after I hook up to the trailer to check the trailer brakes

I my self can see your point with the air disc brakes being good for making vehicle owners more liable, but I see that as a problem too! The driver not being able to know the condition of their brakes puts them at just as much fault as the owners.

OMG!!! Dave, you have just hit the nail on the head! Brakes are not anything to egnore! Your explanation of how to use the brakes is spot on. I have never understood the practical application of the trailer brake other than your explanation. Thank you for these wonderful tips on how to use your brakes in several different areas and how, if not used properly, can be a real bad day. Stay safe and we'll see you on the next back haul!!!!

I hear down to the point that the jake will hold the truck the whole way down. I may be going slower than every other truck in the hill but at least I can stop if needed.

Thanks again Dave. Awesome, video brother.

As a wheeler, I will put my car in low gear where appropriate on flats, but most importantly, descending a hillside, or mountain side as you do, to minimize the wear and tear on the brakes, letting the engine do the braking.

Your channel helped me pass my permit test lot of good information you guys put out I start in the yard training on the trucks Monday morning at 7 am

Great video Dave . I was with a common carrier that pulled doubles and I had to change some of my breathing habits. One was being aware of were that back pup was because it had a nasty habit of coming around and hitting the truck . You are right on about braking. Be safe ✌️

Brakes and Braking are Very important! Excellent video!

Love your content and been following for 3 years. I team drive from Hartford Ct to Salt Lake City each week. Drive doubles and can. This winter has been rough. Going down I-80 or I-70 is no fun in general . This is a powerful and important message. Keep up the excellent work. From Ohio

I got my CDL the first time thirty years ago. They used to teach safe speed going down a hill is the same as going up. Example 40mph when you crest the hill is the speed you go down 8th gear and use the Jake to slow you down. Now I’m the automática they teach that safe speed going down a hill is speed limit minus five. Use the Jake and stab the breaks. I think the issue is driving an automatic truck with bendix etc. teaches mental laziness, rather than attentiveness to what is going on around you.

1 year experience I believe.

Having good quality tires and tread depth is key. Combine that with good brakes adjusted properly you can't lose.

I used to use the spike on really slick roads when having to turn a corner on the bottom of a hill. I had to haul on some really sketchy roads and the trailer brakes kept me from jack knifing.

Thanks for the good video

Hey Dave. Thank you for this most informative video.

The only thing I ever use the trailer brake for is a dead last check (while still in the yard) that I’m coupled properly to trailer and trailer brakes are working

I want to Thank you Dave, to educate inexperianced drvrs. You have excellant content. 12 yrs ago I graduated a renown drvg school. NETTTS, New England Truck Trailer Training School. My hat is off to you ,Dave...storytime, a instructor made a comment to me while at this school, remember what I learned to pass it on to someone else. A yr ago this school called me & asked if Id be interested in becoming a instructor. I replied we had moved to NC. 😇

I remember a few years ago I was doing a test drive to get a job with Celadon. The instructor threatened to pull the trailer brake if I didn't slow down enough on a 360 degree off ramp in Indianapolis. Needless to say I walked out of their orientation.

This a very good topic keep up the great work 👍

Glad you made this video, We all should know this but sadly many don't.

Outstanding video 👍🏽😎

I'm glad that you always said professional driver because I always get scared when there are experts driving road tractors no driver should be experts always put professional drivers in road tractors

I use different chassis from the ports and rail yards. Some of them have brakes out of adjustment. It’s pretty easy to adjust them.

Call me crazy but I check the conditions of my entire truck at least every 600-700 miles ☠️

Always good advice..

Your awesome !!!

Thank you I'm Chris form 🇿🇦🙏🏾😊

Spot on!

I drove my first truck with disc brakes in 2005. Haven't looked back. In my opinion there's no reason to ever manufacture a new truck with drums. If I hop in a spare truck with drums for a day I have to be careful to remember how much my stopping distance will be increased.

This is a great and very informative video. My company that I work for is out of California and we go to Washington and Oregon alot and I know I have seen truck breaks catching fire on the Grapevine in California. Also the Siskiyou Summit on the California/Oregon borders on both the north and south side and the infamous Cabbage Hill

Trailer brake handle is handy with an end dump

The automatic slack adjusters for your brakes if you pulled over and you pump them up 10 times make sure your pressures over 100 pounds while you're doing it you can bring the tolerance up on your adjustments

I don’t want to come off as an expert on trucks but I always did my own brake jobs. Replaced the slack adjusters, the s-cam bearings and s-cams themselves. The air brake chambers 30/30, and the brake linings, the oil seals on the axles, airlines, and different valves like the quick release valve. I always adjusted my brakes and it was not at all complicated or difficult. When I was in steep terrain I would check my slack adjusters travel a couple of times in a day. Going down steep grades I let the engine brake (Maxidyne) do as much braking as possible, like one of your other friends stated he did too. Yes you would hold up some traffic, but the wear and tear on the truck was important to keep to a minimum, and it was for the safety of the vehicles around me.

Hi Dave! Great video! Thank you! I think it should be required for RV'ers to have to take this type of training! I feel if they think they get into a situation like this all they have to do is hit the trailer brake's. Your opinion? Thanks Dave for the videos! 🤟🤟

Im doing my CE lessons now..and asked my instructor when to use trailor brakes..he told me they are illegal here in ireland..truck don't have them anymore

I only use the trailer brakes when doing a tug test after grabbing my trailer

Checking brakes here in Arizona by crawling underneath them, in the summertime, when the asphalt is over 120°, is no picnic either!

I've always used the trailer brake in the parking lot. I like to do it to make sure the brakes are grabbing properly.

Great Videos ! What would you recommend that would Help New recruits in Army : That would prevent very young drivers from Roll overs and head on accidents That severly injured young Tank drivers and Truck drivers ?

I only use the trailer brakes to lock in my tandems at a shipper/receiver or truck stop after scaling

I came of Doner l80 back in 1976 318 Detroit 318 two stroke with a 13 speed no engine brakes. but a lot of pinch the seat. Thanks

The thing I worry about the most is what the Cuban guy went through. I have been a fairly safe driver in my driving career. Thanks for the content.

The company I work for implemented a speeding grade card that's produced automatically from GPS location and the listed speed limit. Some of the drivers have 99 100% but I have a hard time because anything over 11mph gets points deducted automatically and anything over 15 gets more of a penalty while anything over 6mph for over a minute only loses .07 of a point if you don't slow down. I'm one of the slowest drivers out there, but on beltways 55mph is to slow and mountains have trucks listed at 35mph sometimes & I find it very difficult to keep out of the overspending limits because I don't want to ride my breaks or be a hazard to everyone else around me for going so slow, even 55 in situations like that can be difficult. IMO there's two types of speeders, there's those who speed for the sake of speeding and being number 1 per say and then there's speeders like me who speed defensively, I've drove for 4 years all over the NE USA and sometimes out to Omaha, I went to Des Plains- interior Chicago delivering 40 plus stops weekly for a few years and haven't had a speeding ticket yet I can't seem to keep that dang speeding score above 50%, Imo it is making me a hazard out there in some situation. I think it's a good tool but I just hope it remains a tool and isn't weighed heavily eventually. They have safety drawing where they give raffle tickets yearly for each month a driver keeps it over 90%... I got 1 last year lol, pretty much all of Chicago is 55 while pretty everyone goes 70, same with the Beltways, then there's the steep grades. I just don't get how so many of the drivers are able to maintain a high grade... Anyway rant fin, I assume other companies will follow suit with this stupid speeding grade card is part of the reason I commented. Also I accidently found myself on 40 in Pennsylvania the other day when I stopped paying attention, heading over to 76 on 70e... beautiful road, not for trucks, I didn't want to go through Pittsburgh 25mph zone before and after the tunnels and 68 is harder on the truck... then I ended up on 40 and pushed the truck very hard and effed up my score even more than going through Pittsburgh lol

I used to used the spike when going down a slippery hill on ice. If the Jake started trying to stall the engine. Apply a very small amount of trailer brake till the revs come back up and the drive axles stop sliding. But you run the risk of your trailer sliding sideways. But that was before Jake’s cut out automatically for you so jake stalling was a real danger.

On slippery roads the trailer brakes only can keep you OUT of a jackknife by keeping you straight.

No Lettuce King story? I do look foward to them at the end of your bideos.

I also question that kids inspection reports. He not only lost his brakes and killed 4 people but I wonder what condition was the truck and trailer in before that accident…

My trailer brake busted off of the weld to the trailer yesterday. I was using my jakes and going slow too. 6% grade

I was in denver that day, I could see the smoke, They need to train these drivers better.

What you mean when you say never use just your trailer brakes? I didn't even know you can do such a thing. EDIT* got to the part where he talks about the trailer brake lever which my truck does not have. Thanx for covering that

While grossing 65,000 lbs I went down cabbage in 8th gear staying at 42 mph most of the way down I only needed to use the brake twice. I touched 47 mph and braked to 37. That’s what my old school trainer taught me 18 years ago.

I’m with you Dave I naturally common sense but the big one start off slowly and just slow down all together our road here in Australia are a national disgrace . Then zombie drivers in every type of vehicle includes big 🚘

I wish you were training new truck drivers there would be far less accidents. I've been driving truck for 20 years and have seen some pretty bad stuff due to poor training. God bless

Shiny side up 🤠

Keep the rubber side down and keep her aligned,,, I am 47 years in trucking, over 5,000,000 miles accident free. Recently I had a discussion with a teacher when they were about to strike, they make 60,000 per year at the low end of a full timer. I told them I make that at the company I work at working in the city. She belittled my career by saying the exact thing you said, I am just a truck driver, and not very skilled because I only need 2 weeks of training to be a truck driver, and she needed 5 years of university degrees to become a teacher. I simply told her, that if that is what she thinks I had to go thru to be a trucker, that she got ripped off in education.

I still remember that one Pete rig I drove that had very bad brakes on it, that one gave me nightmares it's service brakes and jake brakes felt weak going down Mt down grades even going down small hills the service brakes felt weak, I think something was wrong with the jake brakes and service brakes, on the Mt down grades I was driving down I would have my rig in 4th gear with the Jake brakes on it would still pick up speed fast the service brakes felt weak when I would stab them tap them I tried to not use the service brake too much since they can over heat easy if they are used too much riding them, then when I would shift down to 3rd gear it would still pick up speed fast causing me to use the service brakes more then I wanted to I ended up smoking the brakes I pulled over to let them cool down them service brakes felt weak it was scary driving that rig, I was glad when I was given an brand new rig to drive, when i drove the brand new rig it's brakes felt alot safer and stronger, the only thing I miss about the dangerous one with bad brakes is that it was more roomier inside of it, it had two beds an top and bottom bed and icebox and TV it had alot of room in it.

If your jake brake does not work go down the grade in third gear around 10mph and watch your rpm gauge don’t let it get it too high Like me if you buy a truck without engine brake than stay away from the mountains . Now I stay within 400 mile radius of Chicago Don’t F around and find out😂

You forgot one thing, when about to come down a mountain pick the gear to which suits the job having the right gear will help not leave it in high

What happened to go down in one gear lower then what you went up . I never touch breaks on my way down I set gear and full j brake and cruse 5 mph below what I want to go down at the most

Use tlr brk every day, checking tlr. Twice in one year.. one had NO brakes, inner line detached. 2nd time, blown can. YES, every new tlr gets 'tested' 1st!!

3:11 Isn't it worse to use the front brakes? It will just make the end push it's way out of axis faster?

That runaway truck lane probably would have helped aswell.

Excellent tips that are spot on, Dave. I actually learned and perfected the “science” of descending a hill properly on the Grapevine. EVERY driver should know how to do this properly with confidence. Low skilled job? Ha! I’ve been at this for 29 years now and I STILL learn new things because the learning never stops. How could this statement be true and correct if driving a truck is a low skilled occupation? I’d like to see some wise ass just try and answer that question.

I was taught the trailer brake was to test the trailer brakes or if your trailer starts sliding

Does GP Transco take new on new drivers. Just finished truck driving school at TDI and got my CDL last month. Thanks

I'm in a weird predicament now. I just started driving for the company and they just installed a new AI. There is no way I can practice stopping or Emergency Braking without triggering the system and possibly facing a write-up!

The proper gear and Jake is best shouldn't need to use brakes much if speed is correct. I drive a straight bore tanker. So double important to take your time. And get there safe. That's what we get paid for. Simple if you see a sign that shows steep downhill grade pretend your pulling up the hill .Nobody cares if you get the load there an hour earlier,but if you have a problem they will surely care about that.

Swift drivers need to watch this