do you supply air to your trailer before pre-triping it?

I once had a sea freight chassis that was wired with the turn signals backward, left turn on the tractor was right turn on the trailer, right turn on the tractor was left turn on the trailer, how would you know if you used the four ways?

 

That's just messed up!

 

since i pull doubles, part of my pretrip includes charging the airlines, emergency AND service. if i don't have airflow at the rear of my back trailer, it means there's a valve not open or something not hooked up right somewhere and requires further investigation. i've seen brake fires (not mine) because somebody didn't have the service valve open at the rear of the front trailer.

 

I used to teach turnpike doubles, I always wanted our drivers to supply air to both lines and check for air flow at the rear of the second trailer, I also told them to always check the pintle hook and air valves anytime they turned their back on the truck.
What drivers do after they've been trained left much to be desired, it seems most drivers wanted to "shortcut" the hook up and pretrip process.

 

I ran triples and I never took any short cuts. I even ran my old brakes which you could do back then. I carried a shop creeper with me and would get under the truck and start from the front and work back. My pre-trips took at least 30 minutes or more. Just remember to take whatever means you can so no one can drive off when your under the truck. I always took the key with me.

Here's a tips for the pigtails that are getting old. You can split the pins but if you can't you can spray WD-40 in both the male and female parts of the connector and it will help to make contact by the cleaning away some of the oxidation.

 

I always check both the 4-ways AND the L/R signals..

I used to always leave the trailer aired.. but I decided that - at least in good weather - I felt safer by locking the trailer brakes and tugging. Then, with strain still on the kingpin, I'd pull the tractor brakes. Not yet had the opportunity to deal with snow and ice and fun weather.

Never stopped me from checking the 5th wheel release when I come back from wherever, y'never know what might happen when you aren't looking.

 

yes of course you need to, u can't check brake adjustment without, cant check for air leaks, airbag conditionsm, etc.... u can release the trailer an leave the tractor brake on to check the trailer