I50

Let me make this clearer to you. You do not need brake adjusting tools. WHEN you do your pretrip inspection on the trailer you just picked up, you back up the trailer and apply the trailer brakes separately. This is the ONLY way those automatic brake adjusters work. They do absolutely NOTHING while you are driving down the road. Yes, you may meet some DOT official that doesn't know how automatic brake adjusters work. And, yes, you may have to tell them how they work. But first ask them how they work. See if they really know. If you do look back and see the trailer brakes hadn't adjusted properly, you are doing far more than 99+% of the other truckers are doing. Most truckers don't bother to do any pretrip inspections on the trailer they pick up. The fact that when I pick up and back up my trailer and brake that I hear on average about a dozen clicks of adjustment tells me almost no truck drivers are doing their pretrip inspections. If they were, I would occasionally hear one or two clicks and I would occasionally have to put air in a tire, not all of them most of the time.

 

WOW! You are more ignorant than your average trucker! The experience I describe was with Werner but months would pass by between times I would see ANY other trucker actually doing a pretrip inspection and they were usually rookies, not seasoned old veterans! Well, you can go down the road with your magic adjusting brakes like most of the other truckers and have your trailer jackknife on you with ease or you can become more professional and do your pretrip inspection and drive a lot more safely. But I will stand against any ignorant truckers who will find any excuse not to do their pretrip inspection. The fact that I would at least perform a pretrip inspection and catch all these problems speaks volumes about the unprofessional behavior of most truckers. And by the way, a wooden bat is not a tire pressure gauge. Hell, I hardly see anyone kicking the tires either! Go ahead million miler and keep fixing your tickets to maintain your perfect diving record!

 

To be honest, which I am, I hardly ever crawl under the trailer to see if those brakes are adjusted properly. I have to make a living also. The fact that I helped those automatic adjusting brakes do their job is usually enough. And I have absolutely NEVER seen ANYONE except a DOT official checking those brakes either. And they always pass me. (except for overweight tickets in my earlier years.) It takes time to do the job that all the lazy truckers should have done previously. Find out how those automatic adjusting brakes REALLY work. Don't just believe everything the majority says.