I need help with trailer brake.I put pictures in it

maybe not, but i'll bet they stayed at a Hamptons Inn a time or two.....

 

Sometimes getting more brake power from the trailer then the tractor is a good thing. Like has been said. It’s a tool that was given to us generations ago for many reasons that have been erased from memory and training over the years. Easier to scare someone with bs reasons and tell them don’t touch it.
Think about it. They just put this big ol handle on the dash or steering column that graduates air pressure and is connected to an application gauge on properly speced trucks to check the the brakes or test the king pin latch? They coulda just put a toggle switch or button for that.
Traditionally always been called a Johnson bar in the south after the Johnson bar in a locomotive.

 

Exactly. Telling someone to never use it is just as stupid as only using it to stop. It serves a purpose.

 

I think they were more relative back before automatic slacks and possibly even abs. If you picked up a trailer with brakes out of adjustment it could be handy. The problem then became the brakes on the old junky trailer locking up, and sticking for a few seconds. If there was a light coating of fresh snow, the trailer wound start sliding sideways. I learned that one the hard way. I developed a bad habit of using it when I was leased to a Mega. All the O/O’s did it. I learned it from the old timers. Thought they were smart. That was 20 yrs ago. Plenty still do it. Most notably the container haulers. All those long skid marks you see on the road, that’s why. They haven’t mastered the art yet. Lol. I cringe when I think of myself relying solely on them. I’d never do that today, with mine or someone else’s trailer. It just seems too dangerous. It’s also tough on the fifth wheel jaws.Today I only use it at a stop on a hill, or to slide my axles. Those are the only practical uses I have for it.Go ahead, call me stupid. Im guilty. Live and Learn.

 

Before ABS brakes became mandatory some guys would crank down on the Johnson bar with an empty wagon coming to a stoplight..it would make the tandems hop and scare the #### outta the 4 wheelers next to it.

 

Its not for breaking down hill. It is used when starting on an up hill grade, and for a tugtest.

 

How does it work going up hill?

 

Prevents roll back

 

If you have a manuel transmission & your stopped you use it to apply air pressure to the trailer brakes while your ease'n out the clutch with your left foot and appling enough fuel to get rolling smoothly with your right foot while relasing the Johnson bar ( or trolley valve as some call it ) with your right hand
I know that seems Complicate to some of the more simple minded tards .( not referring to you for asking )

 

You mean the ones that say" there's three pedals and I only got 2 feet!!"