The boss has given me an airline lock to put on a trailer I have to leave somewhere next week, is it possible to move the trailer with the airline lock fitted? or should I tell him to get me a pin lock to go on it.
Might seem a daft question but I have never tried to move a trailer without the airlines fitted.
Yes its possible to move it a short distance at low speed by pushing in the shunt button.
Tow it away? No, because get any speed up & the shunt button should pop out again applying the brakes.
if you push the shunt button and you can move it but you be driving about without brakes on the trailer.
air line lock - deactivate shunt button - trailer wont go anywhere.
driveroneuk beat to the shunt button answer 
merc0447:
driveroneuk beat to the shunt button answer
But all the suspension movement when driving will eventually drain the tanks, popping the spring brakes on 
I would go with a pin lock. We had a trailer pinched from an outbase a while back. The thieves manually wound the brakes off the trailer to take it away. A pin lock would guard against that possibility.
definatley a pin lock, airline locks are easily got around as lucy says they eitherwind the brakes off at the chambers or just cut the pipe for the shunt button and bend the pipe over and there away
better get a pin lock that will cover the bolts then. easy enough to unblot the pin and swap
Steve-o:
better get a pin lock that will cover the bolts then. easy enough to unblot the pin and swap
Yes you could just unbolt the pin, that would stop any casual thief
Wheel Nut:
Steve-o:
better get a pin lock that will cover the bolts then. easy enough to unblot the pin and swapYes you could just unbolt the pin, that would stop any casual thief
how many casual thiefs have a unit kicking around and can drive one ? 
Lycanthrope:
Wheel Nut:
Steve-o:
better get a pin lock that will cover the bolts then. easy enough to unblot the pin and swapYes you could just unbolt the pin, that would stop any casual thief
how many casual thiefs have a unit kicking around and can drive one ?
The not so casual one’s who will see trailer, then go and nick a unit and drive away with nicked unit and nicked trailer, pin lock a must.
years ago I was told to drop a trailer outside a wharehouse at stallingborough. this was usual practice during the week, but this time was saturday dinner time. it was’nt there monday morning, no one had thought to drag it inside the gate’s before they cleared off that evening. i got hell of a rolocking, so did the wharehouse foreman, and that trailer was empty, so it was the trailer and not a load that they had. after that all trailers were dropped in the yard regardless of what day it was, 
outside a whorehouse at stallingborough 
Thing is, how many trailers have spring brakes over there? None of mine did- well one did but that was an old import. If you drain all the air from the tanks then the brakes will release anyway, although you will have no suspension or brakes at all.
best to get a decent pinlock and be done with it. Beware the cheapest ones as you can smash them off if you hit them hard enough. The airline locks are good though. It may well become a viable solution for RDCs if they were to fit these on trailers on the bays instead of drivers handing in their keys.
bobthedog:
Thing is, how many trailers have spring brakes over there? None of mine did- well one did but that was an old import. If you drain all the air from the tanks then the brakes will release anyway, although you will have no suspension or brakes at all.best to get a decent pinlock and be done with it. Beware the cheapest ones as you can smash them off if you hit them hard enough. The airline locks are good though. It may well become a viable solution for RDCs if they were to fit these on trailers on the bays instead of drivers handing in their keys.
most places i go to, they do make the driver fit an air line lock, and also hand in the keys, and also make them sit in a scabby waiting room
so, it is hardly an alternative, it’s an addition 
Didn’t realise that. There is a place in Texas we load insulation from where they put the lock on the red line so you can idle your truck and kip in AC comfort. Mind you, it takes about 6 hours to load. Surely, as an operator, you can maybe start to apply pressure to the RDCs to start viewing things with reality though?
bobthedog:
Thing is, how many trailers have spring brakes over there? None of mine did- well one did but that was an old import. If you drain all the air from the tanks then the brakes will release anyway, although you will have no suspension or brakes at all.best to get a decent pinlock and be done with it. Beware the cheapest ones as you can smash them off if you hit them hard enough. The airline locks are good though. It may well become a viable solution for RDCs if they were to fit these on trailers on the bays instead of drivers handing in their keys.
You need air to take the brake off, not put it on. If you’re shunting and the trailer runs out of air, the brakes come on and don’t come off till there is suitable air pressure. Draining all the air will not realese the brakes
Only on twin chamber spring brakes. On single action chambers you need air to do both, but once the air is depleted in the tanks the brakes release unless they have the spring tension. If they had spring brakes there would be no need of parking brakes. As I said, none of mine had them except for the beavertail flat, which had twin chamber spring brakes. If they aren’t spring brakes then you can release them. I know some have the automatic application but that is different again. When I left that was neither required or that commonplcae. It may have changed by now. It seems much has… 
bobthedog:
Only on twin chamber spring brakes. On single action chambers you need air to do both, but once the air is depleted in the tanks the brakes release unless they have the spring tension. If they had spring brakes there would be no need of parking brakes. As I said, none of mine had them except for the beavertail flat, which had twin chamber spring brakes. If they aren’t spring brakes then you can release them. I know some have the automatic application but that is different again. When I left that was neither required or that commonplcae. It may have changed by now. It seems much has…
Before them new fangled shunting buttons, it was common practice to scramble under the chassis to drain the air tanks with a tap, eventually the manufacturers put a little bit of wire cable with a key ring pull 
There are still a lot of older trailers on the roads, especially tankers.
I have shifted more trailers with a fork lift truck, & an old pallet than I ever have with a dedicated shunter
Was also the way we could get ourselves out of trouble if we ripped the red line off, too. I have had to do that more than once…
Santa:
outside a whorehouse at stallingborough
Now that may well have been a far more enjoyable option, actually inside would be the favourite