this tip may just save your life
when you hook the airlines do the red one last and hold the slip ring on the female back onto the stop, now push it onto the male just long enough to release the trailer brakes and remove ,if youve forgoten to set the brakes this is the moment it will run away, by doing it this way you are in control if it moves it will only roll about a foot and you can then find out why ,if it dont move you aint lost any thing.hope you can understand what im geting at .
I think there was another post recently on this issue.
oh sorry just ignore it or rub it out
regards airleak
I have found that if you have forgotten something when you attach the service line it goes on very easily as there is no air in that part of the system
the member ROG pionted out that this subject had been discused recently,so i dont want to labour the point .But i would like to answer this one point and then i will keep quiet and leave it to the experts.Not all tractors are piped up the same way,the e.e.c ruled that we would change from c&u regs to eec regs,ie-3 line to 2line(doing away with the blue line and using the yellow line for service and secondary braking).To achieve this we would use a supply/dump valve as was the norm in europe,but there was no specific way to pipe it in, it just had to achieve certain elements. So, to your point you, are correct in so much as most tractors will have a live yellow line when the tractor hand brake is on but not all. Also this would not tell you that the trailer brake is on .If you picked up a loaded trailer that did not have a big enough gap beween cab and trailer to accomodate a person (fridge etc) and left it on the run up ramps/plate whilst you hook up the lines with the trailer brake off and on a slope, one of 2 things would happen; the trailer would roll backwards off the ramps or forwards towards the cab. In which case the gap you are standing in would very quickly dissapear.
never come across a secondary line as none of the vehicles i have come across use it, but what i ment was if you attach the service line first so nothing else connected there wont be a rush of air as the connection is made as there is no air flowing through the system.
I have a bit of a problem understanding this one as if you have the h/brake on the tractor applied why would the trailer move off the 5th wheel forwards or backwards as you should definitely not be connecting airlines without first ensuring the 5th wheel is secured and the safety lock / dog clip is engaged.
Also why are you standing between the trailer and the cab when connecting airlines to a trailer that “might” run backwards or forwards as I was taught (many moons ago) that before you connect airlines you must ensure that the 5th wheel is connected properly by giving it a pull with the tractor unit to see if it is locked, I would have thought this is the safest way of checking for trailer security so as not to lose your trailer on the road.
When I used to pull fridges if the fridge unit was too close to the cab I would put the red line on only and pull forward a few feet and turn to the left or right and then couple the other lines without having to climb up the back of the cab.
Another thing I always use is the system of when coupling up to a trailer I use the abbreviations PLS / AL / LL and to drop a trailer I use the reverse of the abbreviations which are “Pin Lock Secure” (dog clip etc.) / “Air Lines” / “Landing Legs” for picking up a trailer and the other way for dropping a trailer i.e LL first as if you are distracted by someone coming talking to you in mid stream of the operation it is very easy to make a mistake and find you have dropped a trailer without winding down the legs which if loaded can be bloody hard work unless it is a tipping trailer which is easy to pick up even loaded as long as you have some timbers available (railway sleepers are the best for this exercise!).
NEJ:
I was taught (many moons ago) that before you connect airlines you must ensure that the 5th wheel is connected properly by giving it a pull
Nej, was taught the same procedure you’ve mentioned early this year and I’m yet to come across a safer way of doing it. Failing to follow it is certainly courting death. Below is an incident arising from failure to follow the proper coupling/uncoupling procedures to the latter that I found on the forum.
Mr B:
In my first week driving an artic. I connected the emergency line without applying the hand brake first. While i was stood behind the cab the truck rolled forward. Luckily there were two brand new cars there to prevent me from going too far!
I think I must be missing something here 
why not just put the trailer brake on before you couple that works when the trailers on the ramps,plate or with king pin in 
.
bring back taps on airlines that sort it LOl… 
Whoever thought up this extremely dangerous way of coupling up to a trailer should be banned from driving artics as coupling up to a trailer with the air lines connected as “moving_on” says is INMHO still the most dangerous way to couple up to a trailer as you have no way of knowing if the trailer is connected up securely as you are pulling a trailer with the brakes off so how do you know that the kingpin is locked in the secure position?
I certainly don,t think any instructors at driving schools train their trainees this way or do they?
Is this system known as “Split Coupling” because if it is no wonder one poster some time ago was threatened by a supervisor at (I think) “Somerfields” with being barred from site for doing this and quite rightly so INMHO!
I remember an instance at a RDC sometime ago where a driver coupled up in this way and the trailer rolled forward and the fridge crushed him against the back of the cab luckily (for him) he was only pinned against the cab and not killed as he didn,t have any serious injuries but he could have paid with his life!