Trolley Brake???

DO NOT USE THE TROLLEY BRAKE IN A JACK-KNIFE SITUATION! When you lose traction, the wheel that lost traction will want to lead. It has less friction and grab so it will want to come around and lead your truck. If you pull the trolley you are less likely to get your truck back under control.
Also, trucks today are designed to brake in order I believe, so using the trolley disrupts the order and is more dangerous.
Good uses are to prevent roll-back on steep grade starts, checking brakes during pretrip and sliding tandems.

 

Hi girlsdrivetoo, (cool handle) Good point, for best results, the truck should pull the trailer, not tother way 'round. Also, applying the trailer brakes on snow covered surfaces causes snow to build up in front of the tires, creating a wedge, preventing them from turning.

 

I always use to see my dad use it when going around curvy roads with a slight grades. He would never pull it all the way down, just slightly.

I use mines on occasion, just when I'm rolling to a stop & too lazy to use my other foot to put on brakes. Outside of sliding tandems, not much use for it...

 

It's great for flat spoting trailer tires

 

one thing not mentioned here during pretrip, using it also lets you check the service side of trl brakes, so if you have a bad chamber or air line you'll find it versus waiting for dot on roadside to find it. very surprised how many drivers only release trl brakes walk around but never check the service side. i hear it all the time drivers pull out hit the brakes and have a air leak. they didn't know about

 

Interesting. Never heard some of those tips. I think a lot of guys who own the truck but not the trailer stop using that instead of their truck brakes.

 

They're good for doing a tug test as well.

Just don't do what I saw another driver do recently. Did his walk around, got back in the cab, went to do his tug test and bolted forward with his hair on fire. 5th wheel wasn't coupled correctly....lost his lines, the trailer nosed dived into the asphalt and you know the rest.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4152366]Hi girlsdrivetoo, (cool handle) Good point, for best results, the truck should pull the trailer, not tother way 'round. Also, applying the trailer brakes on snow covered surfaces causes snow to build up in front of the tires, creating a wedge, preventing them from turning.[/QUOTE]


Can you both expand on this a little further? That's different from what I've always been taught. I know it more from pulling Jeeps behind my pickup than in a big truck, but the theory should be the same.

When the trailer starts to get out of shape, more with a side to side thing but also when it starts to go sideways, I've always gone with giving the trailer some brakes and stepping on the gas and it pulls the trailer back in line. This is before it jackknifes, and right when it first starts to go a little bit sideways. Think I've only ever done it once on a big truck, but I've done it several times with my pickup.

What am I missing here?

edit: Upon giving it more thought, I've used it more than once and it's always brought the trailer back in line with the truck.

 

Ya, your right. Same principle with pulling a camping trailer with electric brakes. When they start to wobble you hit the brake handle for the trailer only.