Passed a scale.

Speaking of scales. Had a funny experience today. Scale was open and about 6 trucks were lined up on the curve just before the scales. Based on what their trucks looked like I bet they were ####### bricks. I was like "Meh, my truck's good, see ya!"

 

This happens some times, specially with older trailers or trailers that have serious slider issues. Does not mean brakes are "out of adjustment". The springs can only do so much and most trailers with air actuated pins, lock the pins back in with trailer brake air activated, so you're forced to rely on spring brakes.

Next time this happens find a flatbedder and ask him if you can you can borrow one of his 4x4's and place it at the appropriate side of the trailer tires. If they are really stuck, you may need to use 2 4x4's, one on each axle set. Butt them firmly against the tires, then gently try and pull/push as needed. This additional resistance is usually enough to get the wheels to hold and break the slide bind.

Also, if possible move to a lot with significant angle and point the tractor/trailer downhill then try your slide, this helps to shift some of the weight towards the front and off the trailer, reducing some of the bind caused by sheer weight. A few thousand pounds can sometimes make the difference of wether it will slide or not. This works best when you need to move the trailer set back

 

Wrong. Pull into a scale house and tell the nice DOT man that you want a level 1. See what he tells you about those brakes.

 

Did you bother trying the trailer service brake hand valve or no?

 

You're definitely in the runnings for employee of the month, keep it up greenhorn!

The scale was the least of your worries.

 

I assume he had air actuated pins. With these you must have the red button pulled for the actuator to work (pull the pins out). As soon as you supply air, it pushes the pins back in.

But now that I see how old the trailer is, I guess air actuated pins are not what we're dealing with.