xamtex:
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.
Yes but your blatent use of common sense flies in the face of the clean vis-vest and shiney boots brigade. I half expect to return to the UK one year to find all truck drivers laid off at home because going to work and driving a truck has finally being made illegal due to safety reasons and 15 million of the vis-vest bunch standing in line from Felixtowe docks to Birmingham playing pass the parcel with goods from containers.
Lovlyperson:
Trailer brakes automatically when red line is disconnected
Exactly. If people chose to split couple thats their own choice and as far as I’m concerned they can use the manual park button themselves as they are the ones chosing to release the brakes on the trailer by connecting the airlines before having coupled up properly.
Hiya…before the fancy push button parking brake come about we had a ratchet handbrake,
these did’nt get any maintanance done infact there was’nt much you could do…they would pull on ok
and release but the cable would’nt unwinde from the ratchet drum… with the spring brakes locking
the trailer wheels when you uncoupled the red line this was the norm for a brake… the ratchet release
was a nightmare even before we had rearmudguards yet alone these sidebars as the ratchet was under the
chassis infront of the axel…there was a odd trailer with the handbrake on the back bumper but they was as bad
so i think some younger drivers who drove with there dads picked up this idea of not using the handbrake.
when we droped trailers in dover there must have been several hundred trailers that shipped out un
accumpanied (no unit) so the dock shunter would have gone mad if he had to get out to release the handbrake
on all these trailers.as the trailers was parked no more then 3inches apart at the most.
i never used a trailer brake for normal parking …nowadays with all this H&S i think i may have to change my ways.
thinking on i do a job now and then at a refinery this means changing maybe 30 or so flat trailers a day and i always
use the handbrake on that job they are the push button jobbies.
John
I always use the trailer brake when coupling/uncoupling trailers and also when loading and unloading (drive a low-loader). This helps stop the trailer rocking back and forth so much, saving wear on the kingpin/fifth wheel.
BriSCAF1:
I always use the trailer brake when coupling/uncoupling trailers and also when loading and unloading (drive a low-loader). This helps stop the trailer rocking back and forth so much, saving wear on the kingpin/fifth wheel.
What unit do u drive and how old is your trailer??
I assume when (fully coupled) the parking brake is applied on your unit it only locks your units wheels and not the trailer. It’s strange because I have had some trailers where when the parking brake is on in the unit the trailer brakes are locked on as well, where as some others including my unit at the moment it only locks the unit brakes on and not any of the trailers Ive pulled so far.
At a previous job I had a stralis pulling TIP trailers and it used to lock the trailer on when the park brake was applied in the unit but now my scania pulling relatively new trailers only locks the unit.
BriSCAF1:
I always use the trailer brake when coupling/uncoupling trailers and also when loading and unloading (drive a low-loader). This helps stop the trailer rocking back and forth so much, saving wear on the kingpin/fifth wheel.
What unit do u drive and how old is your trailer??
I assume when (fully coupled) the parking brake is applied on your unit it only locks your units wheels and not the trailer. It’s strange because I have had some trailers where when the parking brake is on in the unit the trailer brakes are locked on as well, where as some others including my unit at the moment it only locks the unit brakes on and not any of the trailers Ive pulled so far.
At a previous job I had a stralis pulling TIP trailers and it used to lock the trailer on when the park brake was applied in the unit but now my scania pulling relatively new trailers only locks the unit.
How do you know? It’s not something I’ve ever tested, and wouldn’t know how to test without jacking a wheel up on the trailer or something I guess?
3300John:
Hiya…before the fancy push button parking brake come about we had a ratchet handbrake,
these did’nt get any maintanance done infact there was’nt much you could do…they would pull on ok
and release but the cable would’nt unwinde from the ratchet drum… with the spring brakes locking
the trailer wheels when you uncoupled the red line this was the norm for a brake…
Roadways still had some of these when I was there a few years ago and I wouldn’t be suprised if they still have, they used them on drop n swap jobs, pain in the arse climbing under to recover the cable from round the bolt.
