[Corey]

Glad you are OK, Dave and Liz

[Archived]

Wow! Glad you were able to stop.

I would not immediately think about pulling the parking brake in a situation like that. Is that what you did? Did it jerk you to a stop?

Davy

[Tim]

Pulling the parking brake probably did not help due to an anti compounding valve that prevents over stressing the brake components, but regardless you are to be praised for quick thinking and a successful outcome.

The lesson here is very clear. We can be presented with a dangerous situation such as this one every time we drive and in addition to making sure our coaches are in tip top shape for such braking events, we as drivers really need to be constantly on the lookout because everyone else is really out to get us.

[tom]

I had a similar situation with the Suburban and race car in the trailer on the Milwaukee expressway a few weeks ago. Ended up on the left-hand shoulder next to the last car in line. Was really surprised (1) the tires didn’t slide on the gravel and dirt on the shoulder and (2) how straight the trailer tracked.

Do you know if any of the tires actually locked up? Good reason to mark the valve stems on the tires (which I going to the coach to do right now!) to indicate if the tires moved on the wheels.

[Brady]

The valve stems are fixed to the wheels, so unless the wheels are marked relative to the tires it is unlikely you will be able to determine if the tires did slip on the wheels.

Does your coach have ABS because if it does that would explain why you did not skid or lock the wheels? I suspect yours does have ABS because of its age and the converter.

[Archived]

The tires did not lock up ,(ABS) to tell you the truth i really didnt tell the difference ….lets just say i havnt been that upset in many years… once that was over i heard the back seat driver the rest of the trip.i am glad the boss doesnt look at this forum… we went to the redwoods on hwy 199 (Cresent city) pretty tight going thru redwoods … lets just says the Co-poliot AKA the back seat driver told me when we got home that I was the best driver in the world…. i made her write it down and sign and date it..LOL lets just say it all worked out and we had a AWESOME Vacation….

[Brady]

required feb 1998. Point being prob not but can’t say for sure. Been quite a bit of disscussion on first ones built VS non abs of same vintage. I would be intrested if drive tires did skid because of e-brake application. Has anyone else noticed how many little cars zip in front of you when your slowing? They have no idea they just could be a crunch zone! Sorry about rant! Drive as if they are wanting YOU to hit them. Most are clueless of stopping distance. Stay safe= stay alive.

[Peter]

About 2 years ago, on our way back from Florida to New Hampshire, we approached a fork on the Interstate somewhere in NJ. We took the right side. Going up over a small hill, unable to see what was around the corner,

I came close to shi***** my pants when I came around the bend and saw 2 cars stopped dead in the middle lane in front of me.

Because of traffic, I could neither change lanes to the left or to the right. Instead, I applied the emergency brake.

I am sure the driver in the car in front of me saw me hurtling towards him and said his last prayer.

If there were 2 inches of space between me and him when I came to a full stop, that would have been a lot.

Now get this. The driver of the car in front of the car ahead of me had apparently missed his turn. Instead of taking the right fork, as we had done, he had wanted to take the left fork.

Guess what. After all the traffic had come to a stop, he did a sharp turn to the left to cross all the lanes and he worked himself back into the left side of the fork.

If we had arrived 30 seconds later, that driver (and possibly the one in front of us) would now be singing hymns in hell.

I have learned to drive very defensively ever since. Preferably, 5 miles below the speed limit, to allow all of the other “better” drivers to pass me by.

Ronald

[Archived]

Jon wrote: “The valve stems are fixed to the wheels, so unless the wheels are marked relative to the tires it is unlikely you will be able to determine if the tires did slip on the wheels.”

I put a white dot on each tire adjacent to the valve stems using a paint pen.

[Greg]

It would have never occurred to me to release the parking brake in an emergency stop situation. Is that what you should do? Or is full application of service brakes better? Or both?

My coach: No ABS, drive wheels are the only wheels with parking brake.

[Doug]

Any response is likely to be pure speculation. I have had a panic stop in which I had my foot planted hard on the pedal and I was pulling up so hard on the steering wheel my butt was almost off the seat. In that case I didn’t have a free hand to even think of pulling up the emergency brake, or the time things happened so fast.

According to Bill Jensen when the emergency brakes are applied at highway speeds it is not an emergency sudden stop but a rapid slow down. I do know I can over drive my emergency brakes. If they are locked (on) I can apply enough power to move the coach. I haven’t tried this with the coach, but I know for certain I can apply full power to any of my cars and I cannot over come the brakes.

[Archived]

If you have the brake pedal pushed all the way down pulling the park brake won’t do anything there is a anti compound valve in the system so you can not apply twice the force to the brake can ,if there was not that valve if you pushed on the brake pedal when the park brake was pulled up you would be applying twice the force on the brake can and it would blow up👹

Dick what does it matter if the tire moves on the rim ,if you have balancing rings on it or beads in tires it only matters if they are weights for balancing wheel and tire

[Archived]

Pulling the emergency brake will not help, the foot pedal puts maximum force on the brakes, not the spring.

[Peter]

That’s what I was saying