Two Types Of Tractor-Trailer Jackknives, And How To Deal With Them

A trailer jackknife tends to happen when you're empty on slick roads. You hit the brakes, the trailer brakes lock up, and the back end of the trailer starts sliding to the left or right. The tractor often keeps pointing straight ahead and has full traction.

Now trailer jackknives tend to happen rather slowly and are normally pretty easy to get out of if you can let off the brakes a little and lightly touch the throttle. Once you let off the brakes the trailer tires can begin finding a grip and touching the throttle will pull the trailer back in behind you. I've had this happen on slick roads with an empty trailer in strong crosswinds without hitting the brakes. I've also had this happen when hitting the brakes with an empty trailer on slick roads.

As soon as you notice that trailer is moving to one side or the other you let off the brake, touch the throttle a little, and you're usually fine. Of course if you aren't in a position to be able to let off the brake and touch the throttle a little you're in big trouble. Once that trailer loses traction and starts coming around it's not going to stop coming around until you allow it to. Fortunately because the trailer is so long it comes around rather slowly.

A tractor jackknife tends to happen on slick roads when you're loaded heavy, your tractor and trailer are not quite lined up in a straight line, and you hit the brakes. It can also happen if you hit the throttle too hard on slick roads causing the drive tires to break loose. Maybe you're going around a curve. Maybe your trailer tandems are out of alignment a little bit. Anything that makes your tractor point in a slightly different direction than your trailer...and I mean slightly....can cause this.

The drive tires on your tractor will lose traction and the rear of your tractor spins around to one side or the other as the weight of the trailer pushes your tractor around. The trailer stays straight ahead and often times does not lose traction. The tractor spins around and slams into the side of the trailer.

A tractor jackknife normally happens so fast that by the time you realize what's happening your tractor is facing the wrong direction on the highway and you get smashed into the side of your own trailer. Because the wheelbase is so short on the tractor it whips around way more quickly than a trailer jackknife. The only time I had this happen in a scary way was when I was climbing a hill on slick roads with a light load and the drive tires broke loose. I heard my engine wind up and suddenly my tractor was on a 45 degree angle toward the snowy field to my right.

From the time I was going along quietly until I was facing that field was less than one second. Fortunately the moment I heard the engine rev I knew exactly what it was and instantly let off the throttle and started steering left. The entire tractor and trailer went about halfway into the hammer lane, which was empty fortunately, but I saved it and continued on.

Now I'll say this.....having the drive tires break loose like that when you're on the throttle like mine did isn't nearly as bad as having them break loose when you're on the brakes. I was able to save a tractor jackknife caused by too much power to the drives on slick roads. But you normally won't be able to save a tractor jackknife caused by over-braking on slick roads because:

1) The trailer is "pushing" the tractor harder if the drive tires break loose when you're on the brakes than it does when you're on the throttle so the tractor tends to spin around more quickly if you're under braking.

2) There is a delay in the air brake system that you don't have with hydraulic brakes. Hydraulic brakes react almost instantly. Air brakes react more slowly. So even if you react almost instantly to a tractor jackknife caused by heavy braking that 1/2 of a second or so can mean the difference between saving it or wrecking it. Here's a quote from air brake section of the High Road Training Program regarding this delay:

That same delay that exists when you step on the brake also exists when you're letting off it. From the time you release your brakes until the pads leave the drums is about 1/2 second. That's an eternity when you're in the middle of a tractor jackknife. Now there is no delay with Jake brakes themselves, but there will be in your reaction time when turning them off.

So there's almost no way you're going to save a tractor jackknife, especially if it's caused by over-braking (Jakes or foot brake) on slick roads. You're going to smash your face off the side of your own trailer and run over anything in the path ahead....unless of course there's a cliff ahead of you in which case the last thing you'll see is your trailer landing on top of you as you fall backwards and upside down to the bottom of the ravine.

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