Is there any practical use for a trolley break?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Bazerk Wizz Bang!, May 2, 2011.

  1. Bazerk Wizz Bang!

    Bazerk Wizz Bang! Medium Load Member

    I am pulling a dry van/reefer (depends) the new truck I was recently assigned to has a trolly break, I cant think of a single practical use for it except to check break lights during my two daily inspections. I have pulled reefer for quite some time without a trolley break, logged thousands of miles on snow, ice, rain, desert heat ets. I cannot think of a single reason a trolley break would help and not hurt any situation. When empty the trailer will almost always lock up during hard breaking ( auto slack adjusters on trailer).

    Ice, snow, water or dry my inexperienced thoughts on them is they are stupid. In slick I want all 18 tires to hit the same. Every car, pickup ets. made in last 20+ years is made for breaks to hit harder on front tires because they do most of breaking, despite the old myth it is still best for that setup on slick surfaces. The last thing I would want is to cause my trailer tandems to hit harder than my tractor tires.

    Please some one with experience using a trolley break tell me what I am missing. If my thoughts were right tractors would never have been equipped with them, so I am defiantly missing something, just dont know what. Outside of O/O or L/O using trolley break to save tractor breaks, which is a stupid trade off I think trading safety to extend tractor breaks from maby 3 years to maby 4 years is absurd.
     
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  3. Elendil

    Elendil Heavy Load Member

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    We only use it for testing the trailer service brakes during the pre-trip.
     
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  4. 25(2)+2

    25(2)+2 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Sliding your tandems, if you don't have the air operated pin pulls. Checking to see if your trailer brakes are actually working. Working the slack adjusters on a trailer you have just hooked to. Hooking to a trailer without spring brakes(either too old or defective). Breaking a frozen trailer brake loose by applying and releasing the brakes.

    Some large companies ordered tractors without them to prevent drivers from locking the trailer brakes and jack knifing the rig.

    I never use it except in the situations mentioned above in the first paragraph
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2011
  5. LandShark

    LandShark Road Train Member

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    I like to use them on steep down grades so If things dont go good I have cool tractor breaks to assist...
     
  6. Prairie Boy

    Prairie Boy Road Train Member

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    When making a sharp turn on ice or packed snow, apply the trailer brake and the trailer swings out and makes the turn easier. :biggrin_25520:
     
  7. chunkinpunkin

    chunkinpunkin Light Load Member

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    #### dude, if ya dont like it, just dont use it. as the poster above mentioned it can be used to check trailer brakes are working. just hitting the foot pedal wont tell you that, and if something has been thrown up and cut or crimped the air line they can release and not work. also when sliding tandems, if they are stuck you can move forward or backward, get rolling and then apply the brakes on trailer without pulling the red valve.

    and how about this one , say you have to stop on a uphill at a traffic light and to positively make sure you dont roll back when light turns green, use the hand valve(trolley as you call it) to hold you steady until you ease out on clutch to get moving.

    lots of uses for it, after millions instead of thousand of miles you will find this out.

    and by the way, if you are one having to pay for the brakes you might feel differently.

    however brakes can be saved other ways, by not flying up to stop signs etc, and even the judicious use of jake brakes, not just for going downhill
     
  8. Tazz

    Tazz Road Train Member

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    Simple answer yes they serve a purpose.
     
  9. Pmracing

    Pmracing Road Train Member

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    I am assuming Trolley Brake is the hand lever that works the trailer brakes...?

    I think it is there just to see how many names people can come up with for it.

    In Illinois it is sometimes called the Johnson Bar... not to be confused with a male tool often used on porno movies.

    Mikeeee
     
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  10. jlkklj777

    jlkklj777 20 Year Truckload Veteran

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    Good answers for the most part;

    1. Sliding trailer tandem
    2. Checking brake lights (hang some weighted keys or bungee cord on the lever to activate the brake lights before your pretrip)
    3. Preventing a roll back while stopped on a hill (very helpful for new drivers).
    4. Testing trailer brakes to determine which brakes are rolling and which ones lock (get vehicle moving turn slightly left or right while watching trailer wheels then depress trolley brake. Bad or misadjusted brakes will continue to roll while the others may lock up).
     
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  11. WitchingHour

    WitchingHour Road Train Member

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    The road construction outfit I worked for had a couple RGN lowboys which could be expanded and collapsed. Kind of peculiar, as you have to use the Johnson bar to lock the trailer axles when sliding it in or out - it required air pressure for the locking pins to be able to be released, so you couldn't cut off the emergency air.

    A lot of dump truck owners who were prone to dumping asphalt into pavers or shuttle buggies would rig their Johnson bar to work the brakes of the power unit. This way, they could apply the hand brake to keep from separating from the paver/shuttle buggle, and use the clutch and accelerator to work their PTO controls to raise the bed. I've seen a couple roll-off trucks modified in this manner, as well.
     
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