Hand Valve Brake

You forget.. the laws of physics does not apply to truckers

 

When you blow a steer you use the trailer brake very lightly, but you do not use the tractor brake.

 

In all my years of trucking, that’s the only thing I’ve ever seen it used for.

For checking your coupling, just check it before you push the red button in.

 

You might want to use it for starting off at vertical roads facing the sky off a stop sign.

Apply it, (Trolley) Release service brake, add clutch and power while releasing trolley, you got a few heartbeats before you start falling backwards off there. Get it moving by then. Do not whatever you do come out of that gear until you finish that kind of turning. Or it will undo everything you worked for.

 

I used it to make sure the trailer service brakes worked, in addition to the brake lights working.

 

Several years ago a guy I know was coming down I-77 a few miles from the NC line. He was using the trailer brakes just like you are describing. Worked great until that worn out brake took that last hit. Something caught in the wheel after the brake shattered and that whole side of the tandem locked down. Almost flipped the trailer. To the day he retired he said he would never ever trust somebody elses brakes like that again.

 

DM Bowman instituted a program to check all of the freuhauf flatbed inner drums on the trailers when we pulled in yard each day at frederick. It was almost like 2 weeks worth of trailer checking back there. Way beyond what I considered normal pretrip.

Let's say 8 of 10 trailers I had on roughly failed the drum inspections and were brought round to have new drums put on at least one. Some all 4. Others two or three.

It's safe to say trolleys were abused by many drivers in that time period. I know I used a little bit on ice just so on either Babcock Ridge east of Fishertown rt56 on ice or Allentown 78 3 mile westbound on ice off summit to keep her stretched just a touch. But that's like a seriously light touch on those valves back then probably not even a pound at times.

 

Only to be used to wake up the guy tailgating you.

 

I only use it to make sure the pins are fully engaged on my tandems after I slide them forward. Other than that, it never gets used.

 

It’s called a trolley brake. If you jackknife in wet weather, you can use that to straighten out the whole truck. You can also use it to start out at a light on very steep inclines if you want. I use it sometimes if I’m at a light for a while