Question:
After running in wet, sloppy, slushy snow, DO NOT..........I repeat........DO NOT SET YOUR TRAILER BRAKES!!!
If you do, one of several things WILL happen.
1. You take off and drag your tires..........smoking them until they blow or break loose.
2. You lay in a snowbank or puddle of slushy water with a 2lb. hammer beating on the brakes.
3. You wait for hours for a road service truck to show up.
When you go to take off after running in that crap, lock your power divider in before even attempting to move. Once you 'break loose' with the drive tires, you can unlock it any time you want......as long as you're NOT spinning the wheels.

Answer:
What about the tractor parking brakes? Can I set it when going to park the truck?

Answer:

Yep. If your tractor brakes freeze (shoes to drums), you can usually break them loose by
(1) engaging the Power Divider
(2) attempting to move forward
(3) attempting to move backward
However, you can usually avoid having your tractor brakes freeze by releasing the tractor brakes and moving your truck again a few minutes after you park. Once the shoes & drums cool off, they are less likely to melt the accumulated snow & ice and freeze together.
Moving the truck (I'm only talking about moving a few feet forward and backwards) after a few minutes will also give your tires a chance to cool down and not freeze themselves into any slush/snow accumulated on the ground. This is particularly important if you're loaded light, or bobtailing, and you're in an area full of ruts/potholes, etc.

Answer:
I just run with light pressure on the brakes before I set them. Dosn't take long to evaporate the water.
I have never had a set of breaks freeze on me. Even when I lived and ran in North Dakota in -20 degree weather. I have heard of folks and helpped folks that have had problems. Just not many of them.
Most were ones that were running in bad rain for hours. Then the temp fell to like 20 over night.
I just try to make sure my breaks are hot to get the water off them before I set them.202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

Answer:
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The outside temperature has less to do with brakes freezing (assuming that the temperature is below the freezing point) than does the road conditions. If you're running in snow/slush, you don't want your brakes to be hot when you put the truck to bed. The heat of the brake shoes/drum will tend to melt the accumulated snow/ice/slush which may then run into the brake drum. When the brakes do cool off, this water tends to freeze the drum & lining together.

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I've never had the mentioned problems so I have to ask. Won't the above action also loosen the trailer brakes?

Answer:

Yes and no. If the brake shoes do freeze to the drums, providing power to the drive axles will break the shoes loose from the drums. Since there is no way to provide power to the trailer axles, the only way to loosen them is to.......

1. Crawl underneith and give a few smacks with a hammer.
2. Drag the trailer to a 'dry spot' and hope the weight of the trailer & load and the sudden friction of the tires hitting 'dry pavement' knocks 'em loose.
3. Have road service come out.

I've seen guys try doing #2 and they've dragged the trailer quite a ways before they end up calling road service or crawling underneith.
It's best to just NOT SET your trailer brakes.

Answer:

Thank Goodness I live in Northern Ca. No snow in the Sacramento Valley!!!! Who Hoo!!!! Ivey EnviroTech Services
Start Up date: 3/1/06

Answer:

Thank Goodness I live in Northern Ca. No snow in the Sacramento Valley!!!! Who Hoo!!!! Ivey EnviroTech Services
Start Up date: 3/1/06

Answer:
Slow down Hoss....you're hyper-ventilating.
"...Since there is no way to provide power to the trailer axles, the only way to loosen them is to.......
1. Crawl underneith and give a few smacks with a hammer.
2. Drag the trailer to a 'dry spot' and hope the weight of the trailer & load and the sudden friction of the tires hitting 'dry pavement' knocks 'em loose.
3. Have road service come out."
All that shouting doesn't give your post any more credibility. And your advice above is just wrong.
You can rock the trailer gently backwards if, for any number of reasons, you had to use the trailer brakes and they froze up on you. The final item on a winter VI should be visually insuring that all of your wheels are turning as you're leaving the yard. I'm sure this is second nature to Canadian drivers (not counting the freighthaulers between Windsor and TO, or the 48 state supertruckers......you sometimes see mooching meals off each other.
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Answer:

That's ok advice for when you're in the yard and have the guys from the shop right there to help just in case that doesn't work.
The other day, I ran into a pretty healthy rain / sleet / snow storm down in Kansas, between Wichita and McPherson. I planned to stop for the night in McPherson anyways since I had a pick up there on Wednesday morning.
There's an old Wal Mart there that's unofficially turned into sort of a 'impromptu' truck parking area. There were maybe 50 trucks the in the lot when I got there.
Because the weather was so nasty, I set my alarm for about sun up. Figuring to get a handle on road conditions and etc........before going over to get loaded.
When I woke up, there was about 5" of what used to be wet, sloppy, slushy snow covering everything, but now it was frozen solid. When I had stopped the night before, there was maybe 2" on the ground.
While sitting there having my 'wake up' smokes, I watched probably 15-20 trucks leave the lot.
Of these, maybe 3 of them had ALL their tires rolling. The rest had their trailer brakes frozen to the drums, with the exception of 1 Landstar truck, he had his r/rear drive axle frozen.
Now explain to me how you're going to 'gently rock' them loose when there is ice built up under the snow? Sorry Chicken Hauler, but it ain't happening.
Oh, for the record, I highlighted and increased the font size to grab the readers attention. I wasn't 'yelling' or hyper ventilating.
I still stick to my advice about not setting the trailer brakes after running in snow. I've yet had to crawl under and bang on the shoes or drums with a hammer due to frozen brakes.

Answer:
When you are setting on snow or ice it is very easy to have the trailer wheels frozen solid and not notice a things until you are on dry pavement reaching for 5 th gear. By this time it is very possible to have already ruined the tires.
Hoss has given some very practical advice here, and it is advice that I have been hearing long before I ever thought about climbing behind the wheel of a big rig and advice that has served me well since I started driving.
Answer:
Like I said.....watching all the wheels turn should be written in as the final step in the official Vehicle Inspection report, since common sense is in such short supply.
Running in cold weather is about preventing problems. The way it works, usually, is that a problem hits you out of the blue...you deal with it according to your best information and move on. The more problems you have, the bigger your list of things to try and prevent. No matter how clever your solution to the problem at hand, the smart money is on prevention.
I am not the only driver here who grew up, driving a truck in the most unimaginable winter conditions. My list of things to avoid is a mile long.....and even today I still listen to crochety old BS'ers like Pipeman, who, when not trying to mooch a meal from you, could probably add a few more to my list.
Big caked crusty ice immobilizing the push rods is preventable......always keep in mind the parts of the truck that MUST be kept working...in adverse conditions.

Answer:

Okay, I'll bite; how is it preventable? I'm not that fond of crawling under the truck/trailer and chipping it off.

Answer:
"Okay, I'll bite; how is it preventable?"
If I say "Keep them working...." will you use that as the reason you get out of the sleeper and move your truck, what is it, every half hour...???
What I'm really saying is, if the push rods were moving before you stopped there is a 99.9% chance they will still be moving.....after your stop. A big part of problem solving is knowing what the problem is....
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