Once lost the brakes going down Holcomle brook and got away with it .Lets hear some other good news tales.
i lost the brakes on an s21 foden artic by the winking man on the leek to buxton road . she went off the clock at 80 before i got to the 1 in 7 section . had to chuck it in aberdeen overdrive & let it roll . god knows what speed i was doing through the bottom , but i got to leek before i got it in gear , came to a stop by the pub at the top of buxton road . john3300 will know where i mean , i always tried the brakes a bit further back after that to give me time to ditch it if they failed again
I ran out of brakes going down the Italian side of Mont Cenis after the customs in an F88 and tandem axle trailer loaded with two MF diggers on my first trip to europe. I was trying to keep up with several Howell and Reavell drivers who had lighter loads, but managed to creep down the last bit and by the time I got to the Turin ring road they had cooled down enough to be adjusted up.
Coming down Heads of the Valleys with a D9 Cat Dozer on board,complete with Kelly Ripper,something like 80 ton all up weight,ERF with ■■■■■■■ 250 with Jacobs Brake,King tandem low loader trailer,I misjudged the steepness of the drop down to the roundabout,and with that amount of weight on, the Jake Brake was almost useless,managed to come to a halt about 20 yards from the roundabout,having watched the trailer brakes smoking like a trooper,almost on fire!
I got out to see how bad they were,all 4 brake drums and brakes were glowing in the semi dark,our police ■■■■■■ didnt want to know,just took us to the nearest laybye for the night.
Cabbed it again,brakes appeared ok in the morning,made it to Staffordshire by the end of the day,again under police ■■■■■■ up the M5.
Great days though,wouldnt have missed them for the world!
Take it easy,
Rgds,
David 
rigsby:
i lost the brakes on an s21 foden artic by the winking man on the leek to buxton road . she went off the clock at 80 before i got to the 1 in 7 section . had to chuck it in aberdeen overdrive & let it roll . god knows what speed i was doing through the bottom , but i got to leek before i got it in gear , came to a stop by the pub at the top of buxton road . john3300 will know where i mean , i always tried the brakes a bit further back after that to give me time to ditch it if they failed again
Hiya rigsby…i used the cat tor stacks of times i used to get past the top turning and loose her(loaded) the seat would hit you in the back as she went
20 mph to 80+ in 200 yds, as you say you could go right past the army camp still doing 50+. I came over in 79 and i was on 8 inches of snow
my old man was in hospital and i had to take mum to visit.I stopped at the top and just crept(perhaps crapped) over the top as soon as the engine stopped
(wheels skidding) i change up and up just easig the brakes i come through the bottom doing 45 mph on 8/10 inches snow (the road was closed to any vehicles)
i then had to do the other hollow but got into leek.as i moved the road closed signs a copper got me and said i should,nt have gone past the sign i,d only have to turn back. i said i,d come from buxton. he did,nt belive me so i showed him my weigh bridge ticket 16 30…22 ton of bricks. he said the road was closed all that day…looking back i think it was a nutty thing to do.
John
hiya john , i did similar on cat tor , buxton side was gritted ok , but ,leek hadn;t bothered & when i dropped down past the witch the road was a sheet of ice . one 8 wheeler passed me with the drive axles turning backward & i knew i was in for an exciting ride . i put the nearside wheels in the grass verge & slithered down . it took the council about 3 days to fill the ruts in come spring . one of sam longsons drivers used to knock the atki out of cog by mo grindys cafe every morning , must have had no nerves [ or brain ] , the law could never catch him [ before radar ] he always laughed as he flew past & his gold tooth twinkled at you . i think we were all a bit mad at that time cheers dave
lost my brakes once with 40000 litres of gas (petrol) aboard ten mile hill golden british columbia canada have been a good christian ever since
I had brake fade one day coming back over Woodhead empty and a wagon pulled out of the Robin Hood so had to brake hard 
vacuum brakes and when I got to flouch crossroads I did not have enough left to stop to turn right as it was busy coming up so ended up going through Penistone lesson learnt 
why do you always get very hot and sweaty when this happens 
John, I loaded a transformer at Ferranti Manchester after being away for a couple of weeks and going through Tintwistle I thought it was quiet coming the other way but it was getting late so I carried on the road closed or snow signs there were not saying the road was closed so onward we went after climbing the top it was rain turning to sleet so no problem as I got to the dam it was snowing very heavy so over dam stopped engaged diff locks which on the Atki 6x4 locked all the drive bogie up and off again still nothing coming the other way so I was thinking it would be other side coming up cutting they must be stuck as there was 6-8 inches of snow now but grossing around 60 tons was going very well except going round corners had to ease right of throttle as she was wanting to go straight on when I got to the top to come down stopped at the top and knocked diff locks out and 1st gear but I had to drive it so changed up and still had to drive it but not as much so very happy when I got to the Flouch Crossroads barriers across road so stopped and my mate Ron got out and moved them and a cop appeared from somewhere and said where you come from I told him and he said it had been closed all day as they did a lot of ■■■■■■ work he took my particulars and said he was going to check and would call in our yard later which he did and confirmed I was right. ( you would not get that now days ) 
5thwheel:
Coming down Heads of the Valleys with a D9 Cat Dozer on board,complete with Kelly Ripper,something like 80 ton all up weight,ERF with ■■■■■■■ 250 with Jacobs Brake,King tandem low loader trailer,I misjudged the steepness of the drop down to the roundabout,and with that amount of weight on, the Jake Brake was almost useless,managed to come to a halt about 20 yards from the roundabout,having watched the trailer brakes smoking like a trooper,almost on fire!I got out to see how bad they were,all 4 brake drums and brakes were glowing in the semi dark,our police ■■■■■■ didnt want to know,just took us to the nearest laybye for the night.
Cabbed it again,brakes appeared ok in the morning,made it to Staffordshire by the end of the day,again under police ■■■■■■ up the M5.
Great days though,wouldnt have missed them for the world!
Take it easy,
Rgds,
David
robinswh:
lost my brakes once with 40000 litres of gas (petrol) aboard ten mile hill golden british columbia canada have been a good christian ever since
Hiya …robinswh is that ten mile hill where they was building a bridge to straighten out the bends. it must have been 5 years ago
since i drove down that road and the construction was still been done.if i remember i got brake fade in the car,
is,nt it very steep about 7 miles before you hit Hope going towards Vancouver aswell. that must be tricky in a big rig.
John
yes thats right its not quite as bad as it used to be…I havent run it since 2008 when I hung my boots up…the whole run from calgary to vancouver(700 miles) is bad …check out u tube coqualla in winter …also on the southern route highway three the salmo/ creston is challenging 17 miles up and 17 miles down…I know a guy who put a super b rig with 50000 litres of diesel on over the side of that mountain…jumped out and lived to tell the tale…the whole thing was caused by a distraction when his cooler fell out of his bunk…he was forced to change companies shortly after that.