That trailer brake handle, how does it work?

Me and you are talking about two different things. Trailers have had brakes for decades, but not spring parking brakes. And they are not standard, you have to spec a Johnny bar equipped truck nowadays. My 2010 freightliner nor my 1997 had one.

 

I didn't mean for it to sound like I thought you were doing it. My apologies.
Still though, to have seen many sets of axles pulled out by the use of the hand brake...and be absolutely sure of the cause... isn't something that a lot of drivers can claim.

 

Yes it does only your using your hand to apply pressure instead of your foot.

 

I used my service line for my air line for airing up tires in the rail yards. With a tarp strap holding the bar all the way down and step up the motor, it seemed to get the most pressure for faster fills.

 

Now that there sounds interesting. I think I need to have a try.

 

on my winch tractor I have 2 spikes on the right side of my steering column. one for just the trailer, and one for just the truck.

the trailer one is handy for not only tug test etc, but when you are empty meeting another truck on a narrow lease road in the winter. my lowbed is ten wide, I gently spike it to briefly lock the wheels which takes my trailer to the low side giving the truck I'm meeting another foot or two of room to meet.

the one for the tractor alone is used when winching on a load in slippery conditions. you have to keep tension on the winchline to keep it properly spooling on the drum which means you have to apply brakes as you're winching yourself back toward the load. using the foot brake can lock the trailer tires, making it slide sideways and spoiling your alignment as you're trying to keep the load centered in between your deck pins. using the tractor spike only applies the brakes on the drives, keeping everything straight.

 

Don't let anything hit that handle while driving. Today I had just pulled out on the hwy doing about 40 when all of a sudden my GPS came crashing down off the dash. The next I knew I was slowing down extremely fast, full throttle and nothing happened. I dived for the shoulder only to come to a stop with the whole trailer still on the road. Took about 5 seconds to realize the GPS had knocked the trailer hand brake down into full lock!

 

I tried a fitting off the air tank, ( drained the tank too fast) and the emergency line, but the service line worked the best. BTW, I had a 50 ft. hose and glad hand long before it became a "kit" at the truckstops. When I'd pick up rail cans in the middle of the night, many had low tires, and I thought, where can I find an air compressor at 3 am,,,duh, there's one 3 feet away from me on the motor,,,