On Jun 6, 2:10 pm, wrote:
In fact, I
would think that if you hit the trailer brakes that if anything it would make
the trailer more likely to sway. Afterall, when you want to drift a car,
the easiest way to do that is to pull the emergency brake. It transfers weight
forward and off the rear wheels (on in this case the trailer wheels) and it
reduces the available traction for the tires to counter the swaying.
Admittedly, removing weight from the back end reduces the polar moment as
well.
At one time I drove semi's and they have two ways to apply brakes; one
(a pedal) worked exactly like your car (operated all the brakes) the
other was a lever in the cab to operate the trailer brakes only. The
rig could be slowed down or stopped using the trailer brakes only,
theoretically a sure way to prevent jackknifing. I can tell you that
tapping that trailer brake took the sway out very nicely. While it
worked very well, owner/operators were rumored to use only the trailer
brakes to save on their tractor brakes. This would cause premature
brake failure of the trailer brakes and that would lead to some
interesting situations during panic stops or runaway conditions with
very effective tractor brakes and no brakes on the trailer.

Anyway, I think maybe you are not understanding the use of the E brake
in a drifted turn, which is done to break traction on the wheels
(inducing drift) and not primarily for weight shifting (I think).