[A/S] Exhaust brakes - A word of caution

["Tom Patterson" <pattersontom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

      As I have mentioned earlier, I use my BD exhaust brakes when 
travelling in hilly terrain, or in traffic.  I neglected to mention that 
I will often engage the brakes when on wet road too.  No more - BAD 
IDEA.
     Yesterday, while returning to Houston, we hit off and on rain, and 
so, I was travelling with the brakes on.  Near Lufkin, Texas, while 
proceeding downhill around a turn, we hit standing water.  My speed at 
the time was about 55 mph.  I took my foot off the pedal, intending to 
roll through the water.  What happened was that the truck went 
immediately into a skid, heading for the rail.  What I think happened, 
was that in effect, the exhaust brakes halted the rear wheels, but 
without affecting either the front, or the trailer wheels, so that I had 
the trailer pushing the rear of the truck in toward the rails.
     We escaped unhurt and undamaged because of three things.  God 
obviously was with us!  Also, there was not any traffic in the lane 
beside us.  This was fortunate, because I fully used both lanes going 
back and forth across them about four times trying to control the skid, 
until my speed dropped enough that I could use the accelerator so as to 
straighten out.  Finally, my instincts took over, and anti-skid tactics 
on ice that I had learned while growing up in Canada had me steering 
into the skid and otherwise doing what I had to do to get through the 
trouble.  In retrospect, I should have cut the exhaust brakes off and 
have hit the brake controller to activate the trailer brakes, but this 
did not occur to me at the time, and I don't know that I had time to do 
so, because everything happened so fast.
     While all this was going on, the trailer was whipping around behind 
the truck, and I think that I can be thankful that I have as much truck 
and as little trailer as I have, because a larger trailer, or a smaller 
truck would have made the situation completely unmanageable.  When I did 
open the trailer, we found that the mattresses and box springs, as well 
as the contents of the refrigerator had been somewhat rearranged, which 
speaks for the violence of the swinging around of the trailer.
    I learned a lesson from all of this, and will no longer be using the 
exhaust brakes while on wet, or slippery pavement, at least while 
pulling the trailer.  With the truck alone, I don't think there would be 
a problem.
     I pass this information on to the rest of you who could be in this 
situation with your exhaust brakes and trailers.

-Tom