Frozen Brakes.

no drain valves on the tanks? to avoid that problem

nice idea though, and cheap too.

 

Well, there's been quite a few times over the years I have thought about lighting a small campfire under both the truck and trailers. Well actually a big campfire, with some birch, spruce, poplar and maybe some diesel to get er burning real good. I just could never quite come up with a way to explain it to my insurance company. Silly aside, I'm guessing this actually worked for you without burning off air lines, or the rubber seals out of valves which are usually on the air tanks. Was your problem actually ice in the tanks themselves (rare, it's more often a frozen valve). I have always managed to get frozen valves going with a combination of alcohol (in the air lines, not the blood), hot water if available, and time. And as a last resort a small propane torch played carefully back and forth, but you have to be careful or you'll burn up seals or gaskets. If you had so much water in the tanks themselves that there was a pile of ice in them, somebody's not doing much draining.

 

Usually I find it's shoes froze to the drums, gotta get under there and break'em free.

 

or replacing the cartridges in the dryer.

 

This is what my boss taught me.

NEVER set the trailer brakes, unless you have to.

If the truck will be shut down for an extended period of time, or the trailer is being dropped, ride the brakes for a bit just before, so that they warm up. But if that does not work, I just tap on them to break them loose and use brake line deicer on the stubborn ones.

 

I had last winter when I had to pick up trailer was from frozen in the yard. Helped brake antifreeze liquid put to the airline and hit with hammer trailer brake shoes. I would recommend to service your dryer till you have more problems.

 

Had my air dryer rebuilt this last summer.

 

using fire can be dangerous, better option would be to reset brakes pump brakes release, then take a hammer and smack drums, before doing this, I would pull the tractor forward just a bit, to put some tension on the wheels

 

Not sure why frozen brakes would warrant a fire under the air tank.

Release trailer brakes, beat on the shoes with a hammer. If that doesn't work try beating the drums. I've even seen a few whacks on the rim work but it's not very wise if you value rim integrity.

If the ambient temp is below freezing a heat gun will melt the ice but it will just pool and re-freeze

Ice in the tank is fine until it works it's way to a valve which is unlikely. Ice in a valve is the result of moisture already in the lines and valves and then it freezes.