I’m hoping to take on a couple of drivers this Summer, and I definitely won’t be looking for the type who would rather land me with a £350 bill for a Renault call-out which took two hours to arrive rather than spending ten minutes with a pen-knife, some hot water and maybe a drop of Fairy Liquid to carry out a totally safe repair which restores the red airline to “as-new” condition.
Harry Monk:
I’m hoping to take on a couple of drivers this Summer, and I definitely won’t be looking for the type who would rather land me with a £350 bill for a Renault call-out which took two hours to arrive rather than spending ten minutes with a pen-knife, some hot water and maybe a drop of Fairy Liquid to carry out a totally safe repair which restores the red airline to “as-new” condition.
You’re talking about giving newbies a start? 
Harry Monk:
I’m hoping to take on a couple of drivers this Summer, and I definitely won’t be looking for the type who would rather land me with a £350 bill for a Renault call-out which took two hours to arrive rather than spending ten minutes with a pen-knife, some hot water and maybe a drop of Fairy Liquid to carry out a totally safe repair which restores the red airline to “as-new” condition.
Why not keep a full set of spare suzies in the side lockers (like I’m supplied with) along with a couple of adjustables, then there’s no MacGyver antics on a miserable night.
DrivingMissDaisy:
Harry Monk:
I’m hoping to take on a couple of drivers this Summer, and I definitely won’t be looking for the type who would rather land me with a £350 bill for a Renault call-out which took two hours to arrive rather than spending ten minutes with a pen-knife, some hot water and maybe a drop of Fairy Liquid to carry out a totally safe repair which restores the red airline to “as-new” condition.You’re talking about giving newbies a start?
Yes, I absolutely would, taking on newly qualified drivers would be the cornerstone of any recruitment policy and I would stand the insurance risk myself.
In this type of event I’d be looking for drivers who could climb up on the catwalk as I talked them through what to do on the phone. It’s not a “bodge” to repair a red airline, it isn’t “dangerous” in any way shape or form. In return for somebody being able to do a simple repair like this, I’d pay them a decent wage. And let’s face it, if I had to pay Renault £350 for something a driver could do himself in 10 minutes, where would that money come from?
Not the diesel supplier, or the finance company, or the insurance company, they won’t budge on price. There’s only one place it could come from, and that’s the driver’s wage.
There are drivers and there are screwdrivers. 
Send me a pm harry when your ready to put another truck on the road, i reckon you would be a top boss, you tell it how it is straight down the line and dont suffer numptys 
scania sam:
Send me a pm harry when your ready to put another truck on the road, i reckon you would be a top boss, you tell it how it is straight down the line and dont suffer numptys
I will let you know if I need a driver, I’m hoping to put another truck on the road around April/May.
I wouldn’t expect anybody to be a fitter, but I would need somebody who is reasonably practical with their hands and could carry out a very simple repair taking instructions over the phone. I would never expect that driver to carry on with the journey unless he was 100% satisfied that his repair was safe.
I’m hoping to be taking on some European exhibition work this year and to be perfectly honest if somebody couldn’t even repair a red airline then they would be hopelessly out of their depth, on the skills level it’s about on a par with wiring a plug.
What we used to do to get you home compared with what’s acceptable now are two very different things, i once broke down on the roundabout where the north circular meets the A13, i had a Sed Ak 501 with selector problems on the fuller box, by the time the police arrived i had the top off the gearbox! he asked where the driver was, i told him i AM the bloody driver! Unfortunately the mainshaft was lying diagonally in the box so i knew it was a tow in job, while waiting for recovery a school bus broke down in the outside lane, leaving only on lane open. as there was nothing i could do for the truck i went and had a look at the coach, his blow off valve on the compressor had come loose so i tightened it up and sent him on his way!!!
I’m no fitter but things like changing airlines bulbs and other bits should be able to be done by a driver although as I’ve said before if you worked for a blue chip firm. You would lrobdly be sacked for even touching it.
As some one else said if I it was my truck I’d certainly throw a set of airlines in the cab.
kr79:
As some one else said if I it was my truck I’d certainly throw a set of airlines in the cab.
I carry one spare airline, as I see it, it doesn’t matter if it’s the wrong colour.
I suppose I’m lucky, in every job I’ve had, I’ve been encouraged to sort problems for myself - it started with my dad getting me to help him fix cars, and I’ve always enjoyed playing with tools ( 
), so never had a problem fixing things. So far, since I’ve been driving, I’ve changed air tanks on a trailer, fixed electrical problems, cured a water leak - to be honest, I’d hate to work for a company where I wasn’t allowed to at least try to mend things myself!
Today, I had a trailer which developed a fault on the lights - no matter what you put on - rear lights, stoplights, fog, reverse - all the lights came on in the cluster - the only ones which were unaffected were the indicators. I had a quite enjoyable hour traipsing all over the wiring trying to sort the problem - didn’t find the fault, but was encouraged by the boss to have a go anyway. The only way you’re ever going to learn how to operate something properly is to know how it works in the first place - so I might ask daft questions from time to time, but I’ll only need to ask once.
Gary
K5Project:
Dunno, but when your been recovered in an artic and they put the underlift under your tractor unit and pull the whole lot do you think they have brakes on your unit or the trailer no?
You’re talking out your arse mate.
Own Account Driver:
I think people are getting mixed up with shunt valve operation and winding off chambers which will mean the trailer’s brakes will not apply in any circumstances -
Careful there amigo. Winding off the brake chamber doesn’t stop the brake from working.
When you’re parked up, there’s no air in the chamber. The brake is held on by a mahoosve spring inside the chamber.
When you let the park brake off, air pressure is allowed into one half of the chamber, this pushes on a diaphragm which in turn forces the mahoosive spring back, releasing the brake. This air is supplied from the red suzie. Hence when you lose air pressure the brakes lock on.
BUT… there’s also another half of the chamber, with a second diaphragm. When you apply the footbrake, the pressure is forced into the other side of the chamber, acting on the other diaphragm. This pushes the brake on.
When you wind a chamber off, you’re winding the mahoosive spring back to prevent it from locking the brake. When wound back the spring is ineffective and the park brake doesn’t work. But the footbrake still works. Winding the spring back doesn’t affect the operation of the footbrake.
scaniason:
Today, I had a trailer which developed a fault on the lights - no matter what you put on - rear lights, stoplights, fog, reverse - all the lights came on in the cluster - the only ones which were unaffected were the indicators. I had a quite enjoyable hour traipsing all over the wiring trying to sort the problem - didn’t find the fault, but was encouraged by the boss to have a go anyway. The only way you’re ever going to learn how to operate something properly is to know how it works in the first place - so I might ask daft questions from time to time, but I’ll only need to ask once.
Gary
So in that cluster, each separate light needs a fed (positive) and an earth.
All the lights have separate feeds in order to control them.
But they all have the same common earth…
cieranc:
scaniason:
Today, I had a trailer which developed a fault on the lights - no matter what you put on - rear lights, stoplights, fog, reverse - all the lights came on in the cluster - the only ones which were unaffected were the indicators. I had a quite enjoyable hour traipsing all over the wiring trying to sort the problem - didn’t find the fault, but was encouraged by the boss to have a go anyway. The only way you’re ever going to learn how to operate something properly is to know how it works in the first place - so I might ask daft questions from time to time, but I’ll only need to ask once.
GarySo in that cluster, each separate light needs a fed (positive) and an earth.
All the lights have separate feeds in order to control them.
But they all have the same common earth…
Earth fault was my first thought - but I checked both junction boxes, front and back, both light clusters (both were playing up), and what I could get to on the sockets at the front. Checked the earth points in each cluster with a flying lead as well. At this point I gave up (it was an LKW trailer), reported it in, and left them to it. I suspect it was either some cable damage somewhere along the trailer run, or in the sealed sockets (possibly water ingress, but that doesn’t explain why the indicators were unaffected). If it had been one of our trailers, I would have carried on and cured the fault, but for a ferry trailer, there’s a limit as to how much I can do - probably did too much in LKW’s eyes anyway!
Gary
cliffystephens:
dont we need olives/ big spanners / stanley knife to do this still not getting the just push it back in …
olives at least id have thought. someone explain how red line will hold without olive. if you do why ave olives at all then
cieranc:
scaniason:
Today, I had a trailer which developed a fault on the lights - no matter what you put on - rear lights, stoplights, fog, reverse - all the lights came on in the cluster - the only ones which were unaffected were the indicators. I had a quite enjoyable hour traipsing all over the wiring trying to sort the problem - didn’t find the fault, but was encouraged by the boss to have a go anyway. The only way you’re ever going to learn how to operate something properly is to know how it works in the first place - so I might ask daft questions from time to time, but I’ll only need to ask once.
GarySo in that cluster, each separate light needs a fed (positive) and an earth.
All the lights have separate feeds in order to control them.
But they all have the same common earth…
+1
Ford cars used to suffer with it badly, and anything French. When the earth brakes down, they just try earthing anywhere and you get flashing red lights when you indicate and all lights illuminate when you brake etc… Depends where the earth is gone as to which bulbs illuminate, but usually a very easy fix if you’ve got tools with you.
I passed a truck the other day driving along with its reverse lights on, this is another problem I had years ago and took it into a garage (it was draining the battery, reverse lights stayed on even with engine off, but went off if you disconnected the trailer) they cut a wire (pin 9 IIRC??) in 1 of the electrical suzi’s and that was it cured, everything worked as normal, but it was basically feeding back down that line causing the lights to be on. The info is on the internet, so again, with tools and a mobile internet connection it’s fixable.
I won’t try and fix anything to do with brakes on the road, I will get it shifted to the side of the road if poss by any means necessary, but I won’t try and fix them and drive back. Even if I’ve done the job right and something else goes wrong, I’m not a competent person and the ■■■■ storm that could come down would be horedous.
Is it not in bosses interest to maybe put drivers thru a BASIC repair course, suzie’s / common electrical faults, and give them a basic tool kit to do the job?
Ok maybe you want want them touching the units (warranty/ covered under R&M) But basic faults with trailers would be cheaper in my opinion than calling out a fitter ?
My place works this way if I can do the repair do it but if its going to void waranty leave it !
all the hot air talked on here … you will never do this miracle fix with a bottle of fairy and a prayer to god you gotta have a new line or olives and it can be sky blue pink if you like…
cliffystephens:
all the hot air talked on here … you will never do this miracle fix with a bottle of fairy and a prayer to god you gotta have a new line or olives and it can be sky blue pink if you like…
Well, that will be news to everyone who has ever done it then.
Harry Monk:
cliffystephens:
all the hot air talked on here … you will never do this miracle fix with a bottle of fairy and a prayer to god you gotta have a new line or olives and it can be sky blue pink if you like…Well, that will be news to everyone who has ever done it then.
I’ve gotta admit I was a bit miffed when I took my broken line into the workshop they just chucked it in the bin and gave me a new spare, it certainly looked repairable and not much different to fixings used on CNC machines (which I’m quite familiar with), or even compression fittings used in plumbing.
well 40years of lorries later i need somebody to tell me how to do this “fix” please harry…