2 of 4 Trailer breaks out of adjustment - Take Load ?

A tad difficult this way isn't it?

 

If anyone was to adjust there own brake's, you can find a poor man's creeper(cardboard boxes) just about anywhere.

 

Take the load, and drive to the closest repair shop.

 

Lets get real here folks!

1st. Morning PTI or the pre trip inspection.
Hook to the trailer then air up. The advice to back up and apply brakes is a good one BUT go both ways. Go forward a foot and apply at least 30 pounds of air pressure. Do this several times then go in reverse and do it several times. Not using the trolly handle as you want to get all 5 brake sets to adjust. You can feel them go in to adujustment. . Set the tractor brakes and go back and visually look at the gap between the pad and drum. They should look the same and until you can eyeball them then you need to do a manual check on the adjusters. Doing this type of adjustment you will be doing 3 tests in one! The braking test, the low air warning horn AND the emergency brake activation! You know the one where the brakes come on at what air pressure?____ pounds.

Some drivers are about to get into arguement stage here and say that you will be wearing out the brakes doing this but you aren't as you will not be going fast enough to create heat which is what starts the wear on the pads.

There is a "washer set" you can get at trailer shops and at some truck stops. These washers fit on the rod and before you start the adjustment routine slide the washers down to the air chamber and then go and apply the brakes and then go back and measure the gaps.

There is also a manual tool that you can buy that fits onto the SA and just move the adjuster and measure the gap. The last time I saw them on the counter was at the Iowa 80.

There is also a fold up creeper that Snapon used to sell but I think they discontinued it but I know there was one out there as I had bought mine but someone liked it better than I did and I hope they are getting many miles of service out of it. If you are an L/P or O/O this is a needed piece of equipment you should have on the truck.

If it's not your trailer DO NOT manually adjust their trailer brakes unless you have them instruct you on how it should be done! Remember every different make of SA's are done differently.

Also, DOT will NOT let you leave the station if you adjusted those brakes yourself! Unless you have your mechanics certification you'll still have to pay his cousin to come out and charge you stupid money to do the job!

If you are an O/O or L/P that uses the trolly handle to stop you really need to do this every day as those tractor brakes you are trying to save needs to be adjusted also!

Another tip: If you do a lot of city driving you are putting a lot of wear on the brakes and once or twice a day it's a good idea to do this adjustment as you come up to a stop.

As long as I'm on breaks and stopping winter is almost here and frozen brakes will be happening so I'll do as I usually do and make this short post into my next book!

Parking lots will not get plowed in the parking slots! It's been wet on the road and your brakes and drums will be wet and when pulling into a parking slot setting your brakes while wet will almost guarantee that you will be crawling under the trailer to beat the frozen ones loose!

Try this:
As you pull into the truck stop put your foot on the brake pedal while still feeding fuel fuel to keep going and apply just enough pressure to heat the ALL the brakes up to cook the water off the drums. Then when you find your spot in the lot back in and then pull forwards about a foot or two and do your brake adjustment then back up and do it again and do this several times so that you can pack the snow and ice down and melt it with your hot tires and do your adjustment also. This will also cool part of the tire that's going to be on the snow pack so that they won't melt into the ice and make it hard to climb out of when you are ready to leave.

NOW? What should you have on the truck in winter?
Kitty liter?
Bleach?
Sand?
Salt?
I carry one of those tubes of sand. Sand won't melt when wet like kitty litter does and I hate litter taking up space in the side box. The sand I strap to the cat walk behind the tractor. Also litter turns to clay and is a PITA sweeping out of the truck and makes a mess! Sand and litter costs about the same.

Bleach is a joke drivers tell rookies to use! Bleach is SOAP and when wet you'll look stupid sliding on it in ice! Yes, it used to be used on drag strips to heat the tires up but it's useless on a trucks tires! Besides hot tires will keep on melting a ditch into the is that you were trying to get out of! Remember Bleach is a joke like calling the US Marshall's service! Not going to work no matter how much you try!

What I do when pulling into a snow packed spot is to do my pull up and back up several times then pull up and set the brakes and get out and pull a bucket of sand and spread it where my drives will set and then more in front of the drives so that I have a good griping surface in the morning when I want to leave.

Yes, it sounds like a lot of work but for a few minutes of preventative sanding I'll not be using my shovel (flat nosed works better than a pointed D handle short shovel) that is always in the truck during winter to dig my arse out! I want to go not waste time trying to get unstuck or beating brakes loose!

Salt? Don't waste the money! It takes time for the salt to do it's job. Yes it will work like sand and litter but why waste the money to melt the ice for the truck stop? Yes, if you want to melt the stuff under the steps so you're not dragging snow into the cab then by all means get it but that's a job my shovel can do. I'll leave the salt for the driveway at home!

I have also used my sand on get off ramps several times so I could get up the stupid thing! And at shippers and receivers!

I use a small painters bucket to fill from that tube of sand. When winter is gone and there is sand left it goes into my flower beds or lawn in spots that are more clay than a good sandy soil here in Missouri!

Be safe. This might be a rough winter this year!

 

rteam did y'all lay under all 4 trailers and take measurements? That's going above and beyond the call of duty right there.

After I hooked to co. trailer and yanked trolley brake to test and decided they were insufficient I would have got out some cardboard, and tightened them up myself unless it was a short run anticipating light traffic and drop trailer on other end. Then I'd just leave problem for the next driver.

I certainly wouldn't measure or hook to every freakin trailer there.



Meanwhile back at the ranch...

October was my last payment on my new 2007 Fontaine! Yippeeeeeee, I'm debt free!

 

So ... a Fed DOT, State DOT, County/Parish Deputy, City/Town/Village Cop can check a drivers brakes, to see if they are dot legal,

but, a driver can't check/adjust their brakes ?

Okie dokie ...

 

Vehicle Inspections and truck maintenance can help you control costs and keep drivers safe on the road. A properly executed vehicle inspection can help your drivers:

• Discover unsafe conditions before they cause accidents or crashes
• Find mechanical problems before they lead to costly breakdowns
• Avoid being placed out of service during a roadside DOT inspection, or being subject to infractions and fines

Understanding critical information about performing a vehicle inspection, filling out a vehicle inspection report, and the consequences of a roadside DOT inspection, helps protect your equipment, your drivers, and your organization's reputation.
And, not only do vehicle inspections make good sense - they are required. Drivers also need to know what to check on the vehicle and how to spot defects, who to call when there is a problem, and how and when to submit documentation.
A regimen of a complete pre-trip at the beginning of the day, walk-around inspection every time the vehicle is parked, and a post-trip at the end of the day is the best practice. That, coupled with a competent maintenance department, can keep your vehicles on the road, in good shape, and help keep your CSA BASIC scores low.

Who is qualified to work on brakes?

A "brake inspector" is defined as an employee of a motor carrier responsible for ensuring that inspections, maintenance, repairs, or service to brakes meet applicable safety standards. Even though the regulations do not apply to those not employed by the carrier, the carrier is responsible for assigning only qualified people to inspect, maintain, repair, and service brakes.
The qualification requirements can be met in such ways as completing an officially approved apprenticeship or training program, or through relevant training and/or experience totaling at least one year.
CDL drivers who are licensed to operate commercial vehicles equipped with air brakes are only qualified to inspect air brakes ' they are not qualified to perform brake adjustments or other brake-related tasks without having the training or experience required of a brake inspector.

http://www.jjkeller.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/content____bi-inspections-maintenance-faqs___

 

A diver adjust brakes legally under several veils,

1) Previous experience or training. A carrier can appoint one as an adjuster only, without being qualified for any other tasks. Under 396.25 the carrier does not even need to maintain any evidence of his qualifications.
2) He can adjust brakes under the direction or supervision of a qualified adjuster. This can be done by, phone, radio etc.

 

How dumb are some of you people?! Puncture tires for public safety? How about you get off your lazy rear end, throw down some cardboard and adjust your brakes? I wanna know how often some of you drivers crawl under your tractors and adjust your own brakes or even know if they're out of adjustment! It's not freakin rocket science adjusting brakes you know, its part of your job to make sure your truck moves down the road SAFELY!

P.S.
If reading my post makes you decide to check your tractors brakes and adjust them, it wouldn't kill you to take a grease gun (you know that fancy thing that looks like a caulking gun you use on your bathtub) and put some grease into those dried up grease zerks.

 

The Title " Driver" does not necessarily include qualifications to be a "mechanic" either. Some drivers do adjust the brakes and others don't. The licenced operator/carrier should have a policy relating to who is qualified to perform brake adjustments. Class A exam (Combination with air-brake) here is what the Louisiana CDL manual states.

CDL Drivers Manual

5.3.2 – During Step 5 Walkaround Inspection ​

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Check Slack Adjusters on S-cam Brakes. Park on level ground and chock the wheels to prevent the vehicle from moving. Turn off the parking brakes so you can move the slack adjusters. Use gloves and pull hard on each slack adjuster that you can reach. If a slack adjuster moves more than about one inch where the push rod attaches to it, it probably needs adjustment. Adjust it or have it adjusted. Vehicles with too much brake slack can be very hard to stop. Out-of-adjustment brakes are the most common problem found in roadside inspections. Be safe. Check the slack adjusters.
All vehicles built since 1991 have automatic slack adjustors. Even though automatic slack adjustors adjust themselves during full brake applications, they must be checked.
Automatic adjusters should not have to be manually adjusted except when performing maintenance on the brakes and during installation of the slack adjusters. In a vehicle equipped with automatic adjusters, when the pushrod stroke exceeds the legal brake adjustment limit, it is an indication that a mechanical problem exists in the adjuster itself, a problem with the related foundation brake components, or that the adjuster was improperly installed.
The manual adjustment of an automatic adjuster to bring a brake pushrod stroke within legal limits is generally masking a mechanical problem and is not fixing it. Further, routine adjustment of most automatic adjusters will likely result in premature wear of the adjuster itself. It is recommended that when brakes equipped with automatic adjusters are found to be out of adjustment, the driver take the vehicle to a repair facility as soon as possible to have the problem corrected.
The manual adjustment of an automatic adjuster should only be used as a temporary measure to correct the adjustment in an emergency situation as it is likely the brake will soon be back out of adjustment since this procedure usually does not fix the underlying adjustment problem.
(Note: Automatic slack adjusters are made by different manufacturers and do not all operate the same. Therefore, the specific manufacturer’s Service Manual should be consulted prior to troubleshooting a brake adjustment problem.)

Be Safe Not Sorry!
[/FONT][/FONT]