I may be a bit slow on the uptake but I’ve just noticed that artics don’t seem to be fitted with red and yellow airlines any more. They are all black.
Why did this change come about?
Over time they usually turn black when caked with 5th wheel grease anyway. So they probably thought ‘what’s the point making red and yellow ones anymore?’ 
Harry Monk:
I may be a bit slow on the uptake but I’ve just noticed that artics don’t seem to be fitted with red and yellow airlines any more. They are all black.Why did this change come about?
Probably the result of an EU directive 
Some prat behind a desk will be able to give a halfwit answer to that Harry, takes me back to when I was a fulltime fireman, and all the fire extinguishers in the UK were different colours, so you knew exactly which was water, CO2, dry powder, halogenated hydrocarbons etc etc, then all of a sudden some nob decided to make them ALL red, but with tiny coloured labels on them to distinguish them …
Lunacy !! 
(By the way, I have just been allocated a 63 plate scania, and that still has red and yellow lines.)
You can still buy them in red and yellow, but maybe the cost of production of black ones are cheaper 
?
If you fit black ones you don’t need so many spares back in the repair shop, it doesn’t make that much difference as the couplings are different, mind you if you were using palm couplings that might make it interesting. What is more difficult is the green electrical suzzie is now often black, or yellow, or white. 
zzarbean:
If you fit black ones you don’t need so many spares back in the repair shop, it doesn’t make that much difference as the couplings are different, mind you if you were using palm couplings that might make it interesting. What is more difficult is the green electrical suzzie is now often black, or yellow, or white.
With the electrics, that’s uk trailer makers not conforming. If you pick up a foreign trailer the socket colours on the trailer are the same as the plugs on the unit, as in black and white, uk trailers are green and black! They could very easily put a white one on instead of green, well this applies to new euro trailers and new Denison trailer and my magnum.
We have black Bessie leads now and we all carry a spare set in the side locker should we break one and they take all of 60 seconds to change so saves time and a call out fee. There’s a bit here about them in case someone’s not heard of them…aideautomotive.com/bessie-ai … nt-system/
It could in part be due to the phased out blue line,
only two different fittings now so no mix ups.
Just a thought no actual facts to support it.
We have both- but buy in the curly hoses (black) and compression fittings for the ends separately.
The plastic sleeve on the compression olive come in red, yellow and black so you only need to stock 1 lot of hose and you can make up any lead.
driving around brussels ring road today i notice that nearly all the euro lorrys id seen had all black susies and just the yeloo or red plastic on the top where as the few uk lorrys i saw had the yellow and red
The brand new X reg Renault magnum I was driving back then came with 2 black air lines
My red line is black and my yellow line is red.
Don’t ask.
bald bloke:
We have black Bessie leads now and we all carry a spare set in the side locker should we break one and they take all of 60 seconds to change so saves time and a call out fee. There’s a bit here about them in case someone’s not heard of them…aideautomotive.com/bessie-ai … nt-system/
a drivers idea from BIBBYS! 
he has made a fortune!
Fatboy slimslow:
bald bloke:
We have black Bessie leads now and we all carry a spare set in the side locker should we break one and they take all of 60 seconds to change so saves time and a call out fee. There’s a bit here about them in case someone’s not heard of them…aideautomotive.com/bessie-ai … nt-system/a drivers idea from BIBBYS!
yeah, but the driver really needs to get his facts right too
in the article in T&D a while ago, he claimed that it was illegal for a driver to change an air line
Harry Monk:
I may be a bit slow on the uptake but I’ve just noticed that artics don’t seem to be fitted with red and yellow airlines any more. They are all black.Why did this change come about?
if you are that bothered about it, go to your nearest parts factor and buy some red and yellow lines and swap them yourself 
since when did the red airline on a unit fit into the yellow airline adapter on a trailer?
im pretty sure a blind person could attach all 5 lines without issue
bubsy06:
since when did the red airline on a unit fit into the yellow airline adapter on a trailer?
im pretty sure a blind person could attach all 5 lines without issue
Aye,and looking at the amount of earth pins pushed in on our trailer leccy sockets I’m sure we have that blind person