Trash Panda

Well-Known Member
I have heard of a driver who had a trailer where someone had "backed out" the brakes because they were seized so they could still pull the load . Now let's not talk about how stupid this is but rather how could he tell it was backed out ? I assume during the pretrip you would see a space between the drum and the pad? I never got under a trailer and adjusted the brakes . Never thought as a driver I should be making adjustments like that . Have you guys ever found the need to?
Ive never found the need to, but did have to have it done once at my former company. Driver i met to drop and hook trailers with at the truck stop didn’t hear the air leaking on the supply side of the brake chamber. Had to have the chamber ‘caged’ in order to get it back. I wasnt the one who did it though. Lovely 3 hr wait for roadside for a 10 min job. I was pretty pissed over it that night. Wasnt the only thing i caught over the course of that run.

One time the tandem pins didn't align with the holes in front and the back two got wedged in the rail (not in the hole) easy fix with a hammer but still shook my head over it. Senior driver ran part time hours after he retired.

Always do a good pretrip.
 

Mack37

Well-Known Member
You just supply the trailer with air and grab a 7/16 wrench or socket if I remember correctly and look for the little nut sticking out of the slack adjustor. Crank away.

If you’ve only driven for UPS then I can see you never doing it but truck drivers used to have to adjust their own brakes all the time .
 

Trash Panda

Well-Known Member
He might be talking about dragging the trailer to loosen up stuck brakes. I’ve done that a bunch to trailers. Especially in the winter time when a trailer may have been sitting for a while.

Sometimes if the brakes get wet, and the trailer sits for a while, rust or ice can lock the drums to the pads. The idea is that if you drag the wheels, you can usually bust the pads loose from the drums.
Its not just a winter thing, I've literally watched a few drivers drag the back box off a door so they didn't have to get back out of the truck to raise the gear and hook the lines up to finish the walk around and seal the box.

With the amount of flat spots i see in trailer tires it’s no surprise this is a thing. One would assume end of progression pay would be enough for drivers to give a damn about the equipment but for whatever reason, beef they have with the company trumps taking care of the equipment.
 

retiredTxfeeder

cap'n crunch
Talked to a current team driver. He told me that starting last week, in his case at least, they put a limit of $225.00 on his fuel card, which equates to about 77 gallons of diesel. It cannot be reloaded. When he called dispatch, they said he should be fueling up at UPS facilities whenever possible instead of buying fuel on the road. So, you want a driver who gets paid .90 a mile to drive out of the way to save a few cents/gallon? Like a lot of things this company does, it makes perfect sense to me...............................not. Is this happening elsewhere?
 

Indecisi0n

Well-Known Member
Its not just a winter thing, I've literally watched a few drivers drag the back box off a door so they didn't have to get back out of the truck to raise the gear and hook the lines up to finish the walk around and seal the box.

With the amount of flat spots i see in trailer tires it’s no surprise this is a thing. One would assume end of progression pay would be enough for drivers to give a damn about the equipment but for whatever reason, beef they have with the company trumps taking care of the equipment.
But then you have to climb into the cab one extra time . Ain't nobody got time for that !!
 

Johney

Well-Known Member
Its not just a winter thing, I've literally watched a few drivers drag the back box off a door so they didn't have to get back out of the truck to raise the gear and hook the lines up to finish the walk around and seal the box.
Next time you see this thank the a-hole for all the hard to crank landing gear.
 

barnyard

KTM rider
You just supply the trailer with air and grab a 7/16 wrench or socket if I remember correctly and look for the little nut sticking out of the slack adjustor. Crank away.

If you’ve only driven for UPS then I can see you never doing it but truck drivers used to have to adjust their own brakes all the time .

When I took my CDL test, there were questions about how to tell if the slack adjusters were set properly.
 
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