Do you keep the air going to the trailer while being loaded?

Before pulling a van I always left my trailer charged so I could watch my gauges.

 

that would mean your trailer brakes aren't on, so, no.

 

Flatbed, livestock, pneumatic, hopper, everything except a van, the only thing I set the trailer brakes was if I was dropping it.

 

With brakes applied your gauge will not be accurate due to axle creep.
Plus there is not enough air in the tanks to fill the suspension.
Unless you are backed into a dock brakes are not needed for loading a flat because almost all forces are side or vertical not forward/back.

 

didn't notice it was in the flatbed section. ooops.

 

Depends on what youre loading.

1 or 2 peices of heavy stuff, no, set brakes (realistically, need to dump air from bags, not brakes but my current trailer drops air when brakes are set though)

Most everything else, no, leave it aired up, if backed to a dock and loading a lot of pallets its not a bad idea to drop air from trailer so as not to screw with the rubber bumpers bouncing up and down as much though

 

On flatbed i never set the brakes while loading... When loading to full gross weight you want to keep an eye on the air scale so you can tell then when to stop... If have brakes set you will have to wait a couple minutes for the system to come to pressure and level out.

 

FWIW, i’ve only had sheetrock, bricks, and lumber live loaded and unloaded and never set the trailer brakes.

no particular reason, but if i had to choose one, it helps with moving the strap rollers (not sure what they’re called) around the front axle of the trailer.

these newer fancy metro trailers are nice though

 

Strap rollers are called winches.