To the fedex driver that was in the median on I-10

While this may be true with the veggy farm sets, we are talking about Fed Ex. I have pulled FE sets, in all parts of the country...they are spring breaks...I don't think Fed Ex will have multitudes of types of trailers that will travel all around the country. These need air to release the breaks and keep them open for travel. It is best not to assume something or to change the parameters of a discussion to make your limited experience with the topic meet your statement to be true.

 

Most of those trailers out there that are being used in the fields predate the mandate of spring brakes on trailers.

You will not see any trailer that a company like FedEx will have that will not have spring brakes.

BAM!!!! There it is, there.

Well said!

 

Thank you very much BW900....my W900 was white but I won't hold that against you!

 

I figured he meant blocking off the service brake line. Would work with the air supply hooked up like that.

 

For the record, I was not talking about Fed-Ex. I know Fed-Ex trailers have spring brakes. I was talking about doubles and the tendency for the rear trailer to lock up first. That was my point. You completely missed that. Hurray for your reading comprehension skills. I wrote of the common practice of releasing the brakes on the rear trailer to illustrate my point. I never accused the Fed-Ex driver of doing that. By the way, if he was to do it, he'd shut of the service air rather than the emergency air. same effect. Again, not saing he did that. You said he didn't check his brakes because his rear trailer locked up first. I said the rear trailer tends to lock up first even when all brakes are properly adjusted. Read carefully.

 

The topic of the thread was the Fed Ex issue...get with the discusssion at hand.

Not all doubles "tend to lock up" when the brakes are adjusted properly, and applied correctly. If a driver is paying attention to the environmental conditions, understanding that speed is not the thing for icy conditions, the need for panic braking would be minimal (especially in this scenario we were discussing), thereby negating the "locking up" of the trailer brakes.


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Typical, when your discussion topic meets disagreement, or facts are proven WRONG, then defensive, sarcastic, personal attacks begin.

NOT common practice for OTR doubles and triples with spring brakes...but you failed to mention this fact that you were injecting a completely different scenario from the topic at hand! Plus you didn't say releasing the brakes, you said pinching off the air supply to the brakes on the second trailer...BIG DIFFERENCE! Releasing the brakes is what I said.."open the brakes of the rear trailer".

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Yep, same effect....no air, no release of brakes...no rolling wheels at all!

I said he obviously didn't check his brakes since his trailing pup locked up while all others were rolling...what about the con-gear, or dolly, it too tends to lock up along with the rear axle(s). Did you miss that point?

Evidently you should be the one to read carefully, particularly the title of the thread...FED EX WAS THE TOPIC, not your antiquated hopper trailers without spring brakes...OTR rigs have spring brakes by rule and regulation, your equipment is grandfathered around the established rules and safety regulations.

 

Shut off the blue line and leave the red alone and the brakes will release but will not engage when you hit the pedal. I wouldn't do it unless I was towing another truck, though. I'll take all the extra axles (and brakes) I can get.

 

Go back to page 1. The topic of this thread was the FedEx driver in the median. The posted video is of a completely different accident. The topic has since changed and broadend. In my original post, I am refering to the first video. As I have stated, I will not defend the driver as I was not there and do not know all the details . I will not jump to conclusions based on a video that does not show every detail. I can't say for certain that he checked his brakes nor can you say he didn't. Also I said the rear trailer ,in a set of doubles, has a tendency to lock up first. I did not say it will always lock up first. That was my point. Also, you are wrong. If you charge the trailer with emergency (red) air, the brakes will release. You do not have to supply service (blue) air. You will then have a moving trailer with no brakes. I do not recomend it but some guys do it. Some trailers do not have spring brakes and do not need any air to move provided the tanks are drained. Most converter dollys don't have spring brakes. Many drivers will disable the brakes on a dolly when they are not towing a trailer wth it to keep from locking its brakes up. This, however, was not the point of my first post. My first post was adressed to your assertion that the driver did not check his brakes because his back trailer locked up first. I'm simply stating that its not that simple. I honestly can't tell from the video if he locked it up at all. You don't have to lock it up to jacknife it.

 

Hauled freight for a co and we would pickup FDX xtras at Christmas in Harrisburg. They are time sensitive and if its snowing they say, " Are the roads closed? NO? Get your ### rolling." The mail has to be ontime.

 

I see how well that's working for them.