[Mr. Ford95]

I had a slight jacknife while empty on a rain slicked road 2 years ago. I was stopping for a redlight on a cruve with slight banking going down to my left. When I was nearly stopped, I heard an odd noise, like grinding. Looked in my mirror and could barely makeout that the trailer was sliding into the next lane. Let off my brakes and tried stopping again only for the tires to lock up on the trailer and start it coming around again. Luckily, nobody else was around at the time.

head, I was talking about outrunning the trailer if you have a full load behind you and it starts shoving you down a hill to where the trailer tries to pass you. Can happen in prefectly good weather, if your already running at the governor when it starts shoving you and coming around on you, you ain't outrunning it.

[canada]

Interesting stories guys..keep them coming....it could help a lot of beginners, especially when they hit the mountains.

Canada

[Snowman7]

Well as long as we're telling stories, there was this one time. I drive a single axle daycab with a set of doubles. When your empty, traction is just a distant memory.I was crusing home 55-60 mph at daybreak, empties, cold crisp morning, no precipitation but real cold. No reason to worry but as a precaution I tend to lift off the throttle on bridges. Well I hit this bridge and quicker then you can snap your fingers my tractor was sideways. I had lifted too much and the engine locked up the drives and I dont even have a jake break! I'd like to say I saved it, I immediately clutched and steered into it, but the truth is the bridge was so short it was over as fast as it started. I hit the dry pavement and it all straightend out, after nearly shaking those pups right off!

[Brown67]

Do trailers have anti-lock brakes?

[Mr. Ford95]

Mine says it does on the sticker on the side of the trailer, yet I can still lock the trailer tires with ease. 8)

[Malaki86]

I think all new trailers have anti-lock brakes - the key word being "think". All of the trailers at my company, except for 3 or 4 old ones, have anti-lock brakes. Whether they work or not is a completely different story.

My truck has ABS, but they don't work. The wiring harness for the ABS is bad and they don't want to spend the $800+ to replace it. So, I have normal braking on the tractor.

[One]

Originally Posted by Creek Jackson

I have no first hand experience of this, but I have heard that braking of trailer only may help get back behind you. :shock:

Is this acceptable practice, should the occasion arise?

Creek

NONONO- you have already lost traction to the trailer, applying its brakes now will only insure that you wont at all...

[Mr. Ford95]

Along the lines of what CFM said, know a Walmart driver who was running out of Maine empty in the winter. Had a driver behind him calling on the CB to let him know he was jackknifing at 45 mph. A gust of wind had blown his trailer out from behind him while he was crossing an area that had ice on the road. All he could do was hold his speed and let it come back on it's own.

[jamesinge]

Had it happen twice in one night the first year I was driving.
I had a cabover Pete and a 53 foot Reefer with 2 pallets in the nose. Going across South Dakota toward Rapid City. Lost traction on the tractor and it spun out from under the trailer.

What I did both times besides crap myself was.
Pushed in the clutch immediately and steered like my life depended on it.. Each time I saw the trailer in my mirror coming at me I just sawed the wheel as fast as possible the opposite way.

Probably went from side to side a total of 4 times each occasion. Left Right , Left Right. I am just turning that wheel in a blur , all the while whith my foot mashing the clutch to the floor. Didnt even have time to take it out of gear was not about to take my hand off the wheel.

Just mash turn turn turn turn , "holy crap I did it" :im not in a ditch" "im gonna stop next off ramp" . ......... "damn wheres the next town?" " Wow there isnt anything out here" ...... HOLY @#$% its doing it again" .

LOL.

[headborg]

Ok, here's my Jackknife Experience( which I didn't win )

Scene: Eastern Slope of La Veta Pass, Co (9413ft)
Date: April 15th, 1995


I had just picked up a load of potatoes out of Blanca, Co headed for Florida.
I had also just concluded my 2nd Winter of driving, and just 2 weeks earlier
had unloaded all my "winter" tools/equipment. These were the days before
qual-com and only the rich businessmen could afford cell phones. I had a new "dispatch" which I hated...was a smart-ass kid just out of school...and when I would be making a "check call" and tell him something like...."I'M on
I-71 mm 36 Ohio at the rest area." I'd get back something like...."I don't thank so..are you sure....there's no hwy 71 in Ohio" well anyway, it was Saturday...and on Saturday's they left out of the office at Noon.. It took longer to get loaded than I had planned and a "winter storm " was blowing in...I wanted to make it over the pass before I got snowed in on this side of the pass. And I wanted to make it to "our chance" truck stop before Noon so I could give the Prick his "loaded call".

So #1 mistake: I was in a hurry

I started up the western slope and it was just wet, all the truckers coming down the mountain reported just wet roads on the CB. I think I passed 4-5 trucks going UP the mountain with my 44,000 of potatoes on slipsheets. I was driving a T-800 KW with super10, no bells or whistles at all...just a foot brake and gears. I had just unloaded my thermometer I kept "taped to the west coast mirror" so I'd know exactly when the temp was dropping.....not that the freezing rain didn't usually give it away.

I topped the pass at about 60mph, and started down the eastern slope S-curves( 15 years ago- you had 2lanes coming up-1 going down)
I got 1/3 of the way down just fine- the roads were just "wet" like the other drivers had reported 20 minutes earlier.<<<< Mistake #2 ---Conditions change rapidly at high altitude.

I started around another set of the S-curves(well banked--I might add) when what to my shocked eyes should appear before me! The prettiest blanket of fresh powder that had been blowing in down below right around the exposed curve of the switchback. Here at that section of the mountain..the wind was blowing up the canyon and I knew that under that
fresh powder was a sheet of ice. I still had about 50 yards in front of me--1 more switchback before I'd reach the edge of that "frozen section"...I looked at my speedometer---it read 60mph.....I knew I was
@#$%$%#! I got on the brakes hard.......and got 'er down to 45 as my I
reached the White pavement and let off the brakes....I was probably as white as a ghost.....I was giving my mirrors a quick glance..and we were doing fine...at first....but as soon as I reached the "banked" part of those curves....the trailer started sliding that way.....I corrected....but that put me in the center lane-westbound lane) which I was coming up on a blind curve- I pulled 'er back over in my lane and knew I had to do something...the next curve was 45mph curve...and now I was back up to about 50mph and there wasn't any real estate to the right of me. I straddled the zipper and started praying there wasn't anyone coming UP that Hill....and sure enough as I eased down on the brake..that and the banked slope of that curve started her back toward the ABYSS( canyon below) I straighened her out again(over corrected- in the next switchback---trailer went back across the lane-- I over corrected again...and this time I got my right tires just off the pavement-----but it was just loose sand......leading up the the guard rail......which I plowed down 8 foot of before jacking the tractor/trailer and coming to stop with my driver door and front of trailer hanging over the edge of the cliff.

By the time the trooper got there----the sun had came out--all the ice/snow was completely gone and there were 0 skid marks---except for the trench I dug right up to the start of that guard rail.

One of the wooden post of that guard rail splintered and took out my passenger finder and punctured my fuel tank...I seperated the sleeper from the cab, and crushed the exhaust stack into the trailer.
And that load of potatoes were very messed up!