Hi all,
Well I broketh my truck today and this evening, got a Ryder Rental. Its a Columbia...maybe a few years old. over 400k. Danged smokers...grrrrrr.

Anywho...it has some buttons and stuff on there, which I have no idea what they do...need some help. The driver who brought it up pointed out the.....automatic chain whirly bobs underneath the front drive axle...never seen or heard of that before. One of the following gizmos might control it...not sure. Not that I need chains at this moment.

*Trailer brake pull lever. The tractor has a pull knob but has a black lever that says trailer brake. I've seen them before in the driver license manuals but I can't remember what they do...are they just a manual brake?
*There is a flip button switch (think jet fighter missle things...have to flip up a red switch cover and the switch is under that)...says 'onspot'
*Instead of having a trailer hold...it has a suspension air with the knob being able to be in the lower or auto position. Is this an air ride or something? My regular truck doesnt have this switch, but automatically lifts up the trailer when I get underneath it.
*not sure how to describe this...but I have on the dash a flip switch. Its not labeled and is just a regular metal flip switch. There is a light that turns red when you flip it, although i have no idea what it does.

Thanks,
Ryan

__________________
associate production coordinating directorial associate managing deparmental divisional office supervisor of the international network amalgamation distributors corporation management organizational association of men who drive trucks.

Trailer brake lever -- Trailer brakes

Onspot is the control switch for the "chain" thingys LOL. Its an auto chain feature. How effect those are...I have no #### clue.

Air suspension -- leave it in auto.

The red light with switch...could be anything. Some are hooked up, some aren't. If you can't think of, or know of a use for it...leave it alone Many are "option" switches that have a light attached for attention

You didn't mention whether this metal switch was the "simple" toggle, or an actual "switch" The differance, the "switch" would most likely move left to right, and be your power divider.

__________________
.
I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

Well, as dumb as this may sound since I've never had a trailer brake lever before...what is the point of having a trailer brake lever?

That's what I figured it was for...just for fun, i flipped the switch yesterday out of curiosity, but nothing happened.

I got to thinkin yesterday night and it did occur to me that my regular truck automatically lifts it up, although I can't manually lower it. It seems like you can with this one, for whatever reason. I remember being at a tire shop a couple of weeks back and an Interstate truck was entering the stall next to me but they had a 14 foot tall trailer and ended up hitting the flashing of the garage door...driver did something to lower it so they could get in the stall a bit further. Must be that switch.

Toggle, yeah! lol...danged low vocabulary. But yes, it is a metal toggle switch, doesn't look like a factory deal. Sits in the middle of the controls dash. It flips to the left and right.

Im trying to remember about the power divider. The controls dash has three black switches that are lined up vertically. On my truck they are the trailer hold, fifth wheel slide, and power divider. This truck has the suspension air on the top and one of the bottom two is for sure a fifth wheel release. Will check the third one out today.

Either way, lol...its a junker. When I hooked up the trailer to move it around back to where I normally park for the night, I could hear air coming out of the trailer supply knob; then when i lifted the hood earlier on to take a peek under it I heard some more air hissing from the front of the engine area, couldn't figure out where it was coming from...will look today and see what the air pressure is holding at or if it has a leak somewhere.

I've never had to use a backup tractor before so Im thinking of all the things to get, lol...flashlight, hammer, logs...etc. Then it occured to me that I'll need the permit book? Not sure how that works exactly...argh. Plus I dont' have the prepass in this thing so Ill have to stop at 4 scales / POE's until I get the truck back. Although, the Permit book has me confused...not sure how that works...I don't think my permit book would work as its for my truck and not this rental...and I don't think this rental has a permit book. Lovely, lol.

breakin the law, breakin the law.

__________________
associate production coordinating directorial associate managing deparmental divisional office supervisor of the international network amalgamation distributors corporation management organizational association of men who drive trucks.

that suspension switch, that should be left in auto,

its real handy for dumping the the tractor bags so you can get under a low trailer without having to ram it or worse... crank it up by hand when its loaded...

__________________
Though your argument is very clever, I don't think it will lead to the results you desire. gandhi

I understand how having "complete" control of your truck can be confusing from time to time.

But that trailer brake comes in really handy

They're also the reason half the trailers in your pool have brakes out of adjustment....if you have O/O's in your fleet.

O/O's don't get hostile...you know exactly what I'm talking about. So don't go there.

__________________
.
I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

I had to laugh at that one. I remember my Dad telling if it ain't your trailer then use them brakes!!

I started experimenting and thats the conclusion I came up with as well. Is there a reason why the system exists? Like a secondary or system or what?

__________________
associate production coordinating directorial associate managing deparmental divisional office supervisor of the international network amalgamation distributors corporation management organizational association of men who drive trucks.

You can use it to make sure your fifth wheel is secure after you've inspected it. To make sure your trailer brakes are working without skidding. Just be sure you don't tie something to it to hold it down. This is a big DON'T DO. With a truck and trailer the use comes in more. You can get out of places you thought you'd be stuck forever. It's called walking the trailer. You back the truck then pull down on the bar and apply some power. The front part of the trailer will hop over a few feet so you can now clear whatever was holding you there. Forget about using that on a semi, it can't be done. Plus it's better to have a 4 axle trailer than just 2. Also coming down a hill covered in snow and ice with a couple or even three boxes on you can apply maybe 3 to 5 pounds of air that will keep the set straight. So there's uses.

Technology has come a long way in the past few (10-20) years. Allowing the elimination of many items you don't see much anymore. The elimination of the hand trolley isn't complete, yet. And personally I hope it never is, I'll explain that part later..

Primarily, it served to allow control of the trailer brakes independant of the tractor. Prior to the developement of a "working" equalization valve. The valve has been around for years, but it didn't allways perform as advertised. Advanced ABS braking technology is one of the primary reasons for the "elimination" of the trolley. In the past, ABS was hope and pray technology for big trucks. Often...it didn't perform at all. Or when it did, it would lock a single (or multiple) brake drum(s) down and it might stay that way.

Why having that lever is a good thing

Heavy Cross winds and light loads. The last thing you want to do, is stab the tractor brakes when you see daylight under a trailer tire. But, applying the trailer brake by itself, tends to pull the trailer down as the tractor continues to maintain power. Once it's down, then you can slow the tractor down It will be slowing down anyway while the trailer brake is applied.

One of the leading causes of a jack knife is caused by the weight of the trailer continuing to push the tractor, while under braking conditions. That's considered driver error, now and in the past. You had a bit more control in the past.

Steep mountian grades are much easier IMO when you have independant control. You can actually save a set of halfway "cool" brakes for later...if your not too heavy. If I have to choose between which brakes catch on fire...it's gonna be the trailer, first.

Sudden emergency stops...are much smoother if the majority of stopping power is applied to the trailer....first. It's never fun...it's never good. It's just smoother and sometimes quicker, especially if you also have ABS. And yes it's true, the majority of your stopping power comes from the front. But it can only handle so much, before additional assistance is needed somewhere else.

Even though the lever is present on your truck, the equalization valve is still there. You can "override" it by simply pulling the lever. Length of override determined by you. And it's still not 100% as the ABS system will try to maintain some control, to prevent wheel lock.

Thats not everything. But it gives you an idea.

__________________
.
I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

yeah... or you just wear the heck out of the companies trailer brakes at every stop sign in america while somehow managing to have a million miles on your owner operator truck still equipped with the original factory brake pads which are still 7/16ths thick after nine years in service...

__________________
Though your argument is very clever, I don't think it will lead to the results you desire. gandhi