No trolley brake?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by gekko1323, Apr 16, 2022.

  1. gekko1323

    gekko1323 Road Train Member

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    I just bought a nice Columbia and noticed it didn't have a trolley brake. Why would that be? Will it change the driving dynamic much? In the past, I have only used it to do a tug test, check the trailer brakes, or to straighten the trailer when I was about to jackknife (slow speed on ice folks, before you all jump down my throat!). But I would like some input if there are other things I should keep in mind. Thanks.
     
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  3. JC1971

    JC1971 Road Train Member

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    Because the geniuses at the megacarriers quit ordering the trucks without them. It seems some drivers were hanging stuff on the handles and dragging the brakes and causing some brake fires I believe. I guess you won't find out you don't have any trailer brakes until you go down a mountain with a heavy load.
     
  4. Hulld

    Hulld Road Train Member

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    What’s year is it?
    Does it have individual gauges?
    Or does it have the unitized gauge package?
    My Columbia has a trailer brake.
     
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  5. gekko1323

    gekko1323 Road Train Member

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    2009. I don't know if it's the unitized package. I'll check when I get back to the yard. I haven't been able to spend much time with it. Too busy with everything else.
     
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  6. Lazer

    Lazer Road Train Member

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    When I worked at Sun Coast Resources, they had some PacLease units that did not have trolly brakes. Nowadays that is an option.
     
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  7. gekko1323

    gekko1323 Road Train Member

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    I don't understand why someone would not want one. They can be useful. I remember being just south of Tonopah, NV when a winter blast came in out of nowhere. The road iced over immediately and vehicles were spinning out, going off the road, getting stuck, etc. My truck started to jackknife at about 30 mph and the trolley brake is what got me out of it.
     
  8. baha

    baha Road Train Member

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    Look under the plastic steering coll. Cover to see if you have the brake valve under it if not just go to a truck junk yard and buy the whole assembly and replace air lines and bolt it up or pay a shop to put it on?
     
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  9. Hulld

    Hulld Road Train Member

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    Mine is a 2007 and has the individual gauge upgrade.
    It may be part of the upgraded dash package?
    I believe like others have said you should be able to add the option fairly easily if you want it.
     
    77fib77 and gekko1323 Thank this.
  10. Lazer

    Lazer Road Train Member

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    The kicker was SCR wanted to pull a pup trailer with the truck that didn’t have the trolley brake. It wasn’t bad if the truck was a manual, with a strong jake, but then they went to auto-shifts, used one two days, that was enough of that tomfoolery.
     
    gekko1323 Thanks this.
  11. JSanborn103

    JSanborn103 Medium Load Member

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    Frightliner will do anything to cut corners
     
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