Hi was on cpc course yesterday the talk was about air pipes ie suzies, the top man was stuck why they call them suzies anybody know the answer.
For the same reason they call a vacuum cleaner a Hoover.
Suzie is a trade name, and you can still buy genuine Suzie air lines.
And if ‘the top man’ didn’t know this, then he’s a [zb] gonk.
Most trainers have done the physical job for years, then moved into training.
Sounds like he ain’t done the physical job.
There’s an old addage: Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.
The coiled type were first invented by sir Edward suzenderger british mother and german father in the late 1940s hope this helps.
Thanks for replys.
The first prostitute killed by a trucker was called susie he used a line to strangle her. True story.
cieranc:
There’s an old addage: Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.
Or work in the transport office!!
merc0447:
The first prostitute killed by a trucker was called susie he used a line to strangle her. True story.
Cool 
When I first started we had 3 air lines. red, yellow and blue. I was told the yellow controled the ‘deadman’ brake (now that is total crap because it works just as well without it). When the first Ford ‘Crappy’ cargo demonstrator came to Swifts it had the yellow line missing, I asked the Ford guy “What about the deadman ?”
“It’s still in the system, you have to switch the red and blue lines over and there you have it” he replied.
“So if I am gouing down a hill and my foot brake fails, I can just hop on to the cat walk with a spanner and change them over as the vehicle hurtles towards a school bus and sva ethe day” … damm idiot.
This rep obviously had no idea what the hell he was taliking about
Luckily they sent that pile of junk back to Fords anyway.
Ah, one of TruckNet’s most popular questions returns. That’s nice, like seeing and old friend for a drink.
Pat Hasler:
When I first started we had 3 air lines. red, yellow and blue. I was told the yellow controled the ‘deadman’ brake (now that is total crap because it works just as well without it).
When I first started, we had three air lines too.
The red one filled the trailer with air.
The yellow one put the brakes on when required.
The blue one was to allow an uncontrolled feed of air to the trailer
brakes upon operation of a lever in the cab, known as a “Dead Man”.
Not to be recommended unless in a dire emergency when all else has
failed or you preferred tyres the shape of a thre’penny bit.
(Another thing we had, but before I started driving lorries,as they used
to be known.)
A very British thing, not done by the Europeans, who preferred to send the uncontrolled
feed of air down the yellow line and not have a blue one at all.
Regards,
Nick.
where did the ‘i’ come from in suzie/suzi if the guy that invented them was called suzenderger?
blackbox:
Hi was on cpc course yesterday the talk was about air pipes ie suzies, the top man was stuck why they call them suzies anybody know the answer.
I prefer this explanation
The air and electrical lines are “suspended” between the tractor unit and the trailer.
‘Suzi’ is just an abbreviation for “suspended”.
Regards,
Nick
I call mine Polly 
Polyamide is the material they are made from and I like to be different 
But suspended is a sensible answer as the previous type were straight rubber hose that laid on the wooden catwalk. (pallet)
in the berliet i coaxed along (as it would not pull skin off a pudding) had a lever on the dash that only applied the trailer brakes, loved it used it all the time like a retarder, (as the one on the engine just made noises), plenty of thumbs up from the mechanics as i never needed new linnings on the unit and all the trailers were scac out of portsmouth. nice tilts to strip with alloy cages above the side boards.
I covered this in a video, they are named after Lady Suzanna Airline
switchlogic:
I covered this in a video, they are named after Lady Suzanna Airline
Is she related to Sir Bertie Legohead ■■
Ha ha, fantastic, I’ve heard some new ones I haven’t came across before, similar to they were named after the ■■■■■■■ the production line! hell she must have been a busy lass. It also isn’t a trade name, some company (won’t mention it) tried to use the name and claimed it but after a court case which couldn’t prove the originality then this said company couldn’t prevent other airline makers from using the term.
We have to use the correct spelling also, SUSIE and not with a Z, why, because it stood for SUSpended Insulated Electrical lead, shortened to Susie lead at some point, as we tend to do with our language. Oh hang on its the airlines I hear you cry, well no, the electrical lead was coiled (hence the suspended, it didn’t lie on the unit like the older straight lines), sold and fitted before the coiled Nylon airlines appeared which were still found in the straight rubber hose lengths and with the Palm Coupling. Those that were around then will also remember that telephone leads also changed from the woven and twisted cord to the rubber coated coil around the end of the Fifties, early Sixties.
I’ve tried to find a more positive date when the transport industry first used the coiled electrical lead but all I have come up with is a photo of a MK5 Mandator (50’s/60’s) fitted with straight air lines and Palm Couplings and the new small coiled (the coils were quite small originally) electrical lead, before that they were straight like the air lines. All the lines either air or electric got called Susie’s once the air lines became coiled a little later, only you would ask for a Red Susie or a Yellow Susie etc, it just became a generic term and the reason why the company mentioned above couldn’t prove they had rights to the name, it may have been workshop, driving or sales staff that first used the term, it seems it was never recorded and that part of it would be almost impossible to verify.
One final point about the air lines, Red (Emergency) fills the trailer air tank and releases the brakes, it is a permanent feed to the trailer and why the brakes come on when the line is released. Yellow (Service) it feeds the trailer brakes when the Service (foot) brake is pressed (why you have two lines going into the brake chambers, one Service, the other Emergency). The Blue (Auxiliary) provided a Secondary brake by the use of a hand operated lever or Dead Man as it was more commonly known, this braked the drive and trailer brakes and not the steering axle.
Today you still have the Secondary brake except it is all in one with the hand brake lever, pull to the first position and the brakes apply, pull further to lock the lever and the Spring brake (hand brake) is applied, wonder how many of you have used the Secondry brake, that’s if you knew about it in the first place! When going back to a two line system the Blue line wasn’t needed anymore, some may recall hooking the Blue connection back onto a connection on the unit when pulling a newer two line trailer, this allowed the Secondary brake to remain functional. I mentioned going back to the two line system, there were one and two brake line systems in use before the Blue line appeared, again early Sixties. Hope that has cleared one or two things up, please don’t call them Suzies, its an old traditional name that needs to remain in its original guise. Franky.
Frankydobo:
Ha ha, fantastic, I’ve heard some new ones I haven’t came across before, similar to they were named after the ■■■■■■■ the production line! hell she must have been a busy lass. It also isn’t a trade name, some company (won’t mention it) tried to use the name and claimed it but after a court case which couldn’t prove the originality then this said company couldn’t prevent other airline makers from using the term.We have to use the correct spelling also, SUSIE and not with a Z, why, because it stood for SUSpended Insulated Electrical lead, shortened to Susie lead at some point, as we tend to do with our language. Oh hang on its the airlines I hear you cry, well no, the electrical lead was coiled (hence the suspended, it didn’t lie on the unit like the older straight lines), sold and fitted before the coiled Nylon airlines appeared which were still found in the straight rubber hose lengths and with the Palm Coupling. Those that were around then will also remember that telephone leads also changed from the woven and twisted cord to the rubber coated coil around the end of the Fifties, early Sixties.
I’ve tried to find a more positive date when the transport industry first used the coiled electrical lead but all I have come up with is a photo of a MK5 Mandator (50’s/60’s) fitted with straight air lines and Palm Couplings and the new small coiled (the coils were quite small originally) electrical lead, before that they were straight like the air lines. All the lines either air or electric got called Susie’s once the air lines became coiled a little later, only you would ask for a Red Susie or a Yellow Susie etc, it just became a generic term and the reason why the company mentioned above couldn’t prove they had rights to the name, it may have been workshop, driving or sales staff that first used the term, it seems it was never recorded and that part of it would be almost impossible to verify.
One final point about the air lines, Red (Emergency) fills the trailer air tank and releases the brakes, it is a permanent feed to the trailer and why the brakes come on when the line is released. Yellow (Service) it feeds the trailer brakes when the Service (foot) brake is pressed (why you have two lines going into the brake chambers, one Service, the other Emergency). The Blue (Auxiliary) provided a Secondary brake by the use of a hand operated lever or Dead Man as it was more commonly known, this braked the drive and trailer brakes and not the steering axle.
Today you still have the Secondary brake except it is all in one with the hand brake lever, pull to the first position and the brakes apply, pull further to lock the lever and the Spring brake (hand brake) is applied, wonder how many of you have used the Secondry brake, that’s if you knew about it in the first place! When going back to a two line system the Blue line wasn’t needed anymore, some may recall hooking the Blue connection back onto a connection on the unit when pulling a newer two line trailer, this allowed the Secondary brake to remain functional. I mentioned going back to the two line system, there were one and two brake line systems in use before the Blue line appeared, again early Sixties. Hope that has cleared one or two things up, please don’t call them Suzies, its an old traditional name that needs to remain in its original guise. Franky.
The dummy plug for the blue line was just that, but in those days we had taps, apparently modern drivers are not trusted to turn them on 
Many A frame drawbar trailers still use straight rubber air lines.
The dummy plug for the blue line was just that, but in those days we had taps, apparently modern drivers are not trusted to turn them on
Fraid not Wheelnut as you see on this diagram, the Blue line is re-routed to operate through the Service line to the trailer brakes, not everyone seems to have realised or understood that, the unit connection wasn’t a dummy, so they were cutting out a part of the braking system if they didn’t connect the line or if they kept the tap turned off. Not many people realise thesedays they have a Secondary brake on a rigid too.
In the late 60’s early 70’s we had to covert all new Scania’s to 3 line air,to comply to british regs, the continentals only had the 2 line system. The 3 lines was a much safer sytem and carried a bigger volume of air through larger pipes but eventually we had to fall in line with everyone else and just have the 2 line.
billybigrig:
switchlogic:
I covered this in a video, they are named after Lady Suzanna AirlineIs she related to Sir Bertie Legohead ■■
Distantly I believe, cousins, many times removed.
On another note it’s a little known fact that Sir Bertie Legohead did actually invent the windscreen wiper. Before this time it was a legal requirement to have a midget harness with a midget on the front of your vehicle to clean the screen. I believe the wiper came in in 1993 and made many midgets unemployed. All actors now of course.