limeyphil:
i don’t use the trailer brake for a very good reason.
i’ve always done a lot of dock work, and you can’t get down the side of the trailers to apply, or release the button, and the tug drivers don’t give a {zb}, they’d just drag the tread off the tyres.
but that makes me an idiot for some reason.
And me too apparently 
4whatitsworth:
bubsy06:
4whatitsworth:
bubsy06:
Do trailers actually roll on flat surfaces with the legs down and no unit attached?I don’t think so’ but can you find a flat surface in Wales
No, but I can confirm that they dont roll on the side of mountains with no unit attached on the trailer brake off
Someone’s got to say it
Think of the children
They were in school at the time
bubsy06:
Do trailers actually roll on flat surfaces with the legs down and no unit attached?
Some legs have round wheels .They might roll with faulty brakes.
4whatitsworth:
Usually it’s next to the shunt button easy to pull the wrong one on a dark wet night
You might be in the [zb] then
No problem there, you pull the park brake button to set it but you push the shunt button to release them.
I guess you don’t set the trailer brake very often 
bubsy06:
Do trailers actually roll on flat surfaces with the legs down and no unit attached?
That’s not really the point, it’s when someone comes to pick it up again and puts the red air line on without checking the park brake
that problems occur.
To me, there’s no argument, if the trailer brake is set, it can’t move at all, ruling out all the “what ifs”.
But then I use a short unit with fridges so I can’t couple up and then put the lines on.
Regards,
Nick
No never. In the UK I either always stayed coupled to my own trailer doing Euro or I’d do ferry trailers / dock work. Here in north America there is no such thing any way, you just have the trailer brake button in the cab to charge the trailer brakes, or not. I’m not one of the clean vis vest brigade goose stepping around the yard in my shiney work boots every morning with a clip board doing my pre trip inspection to the letter of the law being a good little H&S deciple.
robinhood_1984:
Here in north America there is no such thing any way, you just have the trailer brake button in the cab to charge the trailer brakes, or not.
How does that work and do trailers have hand/park brakes or do you chock them?
Regards,
Nick.
ncooper:
robinhood_1984:
Here in north America there is no such thing any way, you just have the trailer brake button in the cab to charge the trailer brakes, or not.How does that work and do trailers have hand/park brakes or do you chock them?
Regards,
Nick.
Instead of having a handbrake on the dash we have two buttons. A yellow button which is the parking brake for the unit only and a red button which charges the air in the trailer when pushed in, or when pulled out releases the air and the brakes come on on the trailer. No push button on the trailer, no chocks, no problem. When you come to drop a trailer, you put it where you want it, pull the yellow button on the dash to apply the brakes on the unit, pull the red button on the dash to stop putting air in to the trailer, the second you do that the trailer brakes come on because there’s no air keeping the brakes off, you uncouple and drive off.
Thanks, it seems just as good a way.
Regards,
Nick.
I mentioned somewhere about the handbrake warnings in the cab, if these were made compulsory throughout the EU then the trailer brake problem would not be such a problem.
In my early days as a shunter we had to drop the legs about 2 inches off the ground and never use a handbrake, the 40’ trailers were dropped about 3 inches apart against the loading bays, it was a good training ground for reversing skills by mirror alone. It also taught you to duck or wear a hat when uncoupling 
ncooper:
Thanks, it seems just as good a way.Regards,
Nick.
It seems to be a similar thing to the UK except there its all on one system with the handbrake on the dash and valves on the airlines that automatically charge air in to the trailer when they are connected rather than having to manually push a button on the dash. I’ve never pulled a trailer in the UK or Europe where the brakes didnt automatically come on when the airlines were taken off unless they were seriously out of adjustment, but that can just as easily happen here in north America as well.
robinhood_1984:
. I’m not one of the clean vis vest brigade goose stepping around the yard in my shiney work boots every morning with a clip board doing my pre trip inspection to the letter of the law being a good little H&S deciple.lol, and theres plenty of them this side of the pond
philberg182:
robinhood_1984:
. I’m not one of the clean vis vest brigade goose stepping around the yard in my shiney work boots every morning with a clip board doing my pre trip inspection to the letter of the law being a good little H&S deciple.lol, and theres plenty of them this side of the pond
Too true! If there’s one thing I cant stand about the UK its institutionalised drivers who can’t think for themselves outside the box or their company drivers hand book.
Considering the US is supposed to be where all this liability and compensation culture began, it strikes me as odd that everything is so “yee haw” here and you can go months or even years without ever been asked to put on a vis best or safety boots etc. Its great though, I love being left alone to get on with my job.
I drive a rigid all week,but do an agency shift on a couple of sundays a month,driving an artic for a supermarket.I passed my class 1 in 96 but rarely used it,now when i come to couple/uncouple artics I always go through a routine.Check the trailer brake is on,get under the fifth wheel,give it a double tug forward.Then 1,2,3,4 and 5. Put dog clip in,put number plate on,wind up legs,connect susies and then(usually after my third look in the cab to check if the unit handbrake is still on!) put off trailer brake.Every time.
I feel that if you do the same thing every time you shouldn’t get caught out .
once you have seen someone killed by a runaway trailer
you always apply the brake
only a fool would not
fools only repy with the excuses
Skippy70:
I drive a rigid all week,but do an agency shift on a couple of sundays a month,driving an artic for a supermarket.I passed my class 1 in 96 but rarely used it,now when i come to couple/uncouple artics I always go through a routine.Check the trailer brake is on,get under the fifth wheel,give it a double tug forward.Then 1,2,3,4 and 5. Put dog clip in,put number plate on,wind up legs,connect susies and then(usually after my third look in the cab to check if the unit handbrake is still on!) put off trailer brake.Every time.
I feel that if you do the same thing every time you shouldn’t get caught out .
It’s the other way round with me, I change trailers up to 15 times a day in the summer months, taking each one out on the road.
Even though I have been driving artics for 37years or so, I still stick to the same routine, except every trailer change is a split.
Despite this, I still cocked up about half a dozen times in 8 months, usually when someone came to speak to me half way through or at the end of a day when I was tired or both.
There’s honest for you
Regards,
Nick
bubsy06:
Do trailers actually roll on flat surfaces with the legs down and no unit attached?
That’s not really the point, it’s when someone comes to pick it up again and puts the red air line on without checking the park brake
that problems occur.
To me, there’s no argument, if the trailer brake is set, it can’t move at all, ruling out all the “what ifs”.
But then I use a short unit with fridges so I can’t couple up and then put the lines on.
Regards,
Nick
[/quote]
Well its the muppet who forgets to put the parking brake on fault then isnt it
Two pages on brakes. How many of you have driven a liquid tanker onto a weighbridge? 
Wheel Nut:
Two pages on brakes. How many of you have driven a liquid tanker onto a weighbridge?
I have i doidn’t use the brakes then either
4whatitsworth:
Wheel Nut:
Two pages on brakes. How many of you have driven a liquid tanker onto a weighbridge?I have i doidn’t use the brakes then either
Dam it i thought that post might have made it 3 pages
to be honest…think about it…todays modern trailers all have spring brakes…you drop the red line and the trailer brakes are on!!
its only the really old stock with the ratchet handbrakes that didnt get put on and the trailer would loose its air then could roll away.
the only real issue is if the trailer park brake is not applied and the driver is stupid enough to NOT apply the park brake on the unit before conecting the suzies…then you get a problem/injury/damage/death.
i got assessed on hooking up a trailer last week…was asked to hook up to a trailer on a dock…i backed under it…lifted it on the air…backed in …and was stopped by the assessor wanting to know why i didnt get out and check the park brake was on before i coupled?
my reply…its up against a concrete wall…wheel chocks in place…where is it going to go?
was told i should check anyway to make a habit of checking.
