Safety Question

So I posted most of this only training diary but thought it might be worth it to post this here so more newbies might see it. I've tried to condense the story down a bit.

I did my pre trip in the morning at about 3am everything was good to go. I headed out and drove a couple hours to our drop off. One of the things I was surprised about was how ruff some of the freeways are!! That morning I hit a good one that made me catch air in the seat and I was only doing 50, it was raining hard and still dark out. So not long after that bump I get off the freeway and I am making the turn onto the street where the yard is and there is a loud bang and the truck immediately feels weird!! My trainer is up immediately and I have already put my hazard lights on when I realize we are loosing air pressure. It's dark out and my trainer yelled at me to stop when he was getting up so we have ended up stopped in the middle of the road. I hop out to see what had happened, some how our air line came loose and when I turned they got caught under the tires and ripped them out of the truck. My trainer said the mechanism they have to hold the airlines up has a flaw that when you hit big bumps it can unhook and leave them dangling!!!! He said it had happened just the other day while I was sleeping!!! So we had a 43000lbs load so we couldn't drag the trailer out of the road. Set out our triangles and called breakdown, we were there for about an hour before a mechanic got there, he caged the trailer brakes and we eased on into our destination.

Now I'm new but the fact that the airlines can come loose from hitting a bump scared the sh** out of me!! I mean if those airlines had gotten torn out on the freeway that could have been a major accident!!! I mean there are a lot of bumps out there!!!

I saw Susan had posted a safety quiz about a steer tires blowing. So what would the seasoned drivers say about having your airlines ripped out while traveling on a freeway in the dark with it raining hard?? What is the proper response?? Especially with a 43000lbs load??

Uhm.. in my honest opinion that isn't something you should just ignore and needs to be fixed properly. No matter the bump your air lines shouldn't detach..

As for your question your question about losing air on the highway? Hazards on first thing, and work your way safely to the shoulder. No jerky movements just smooth and controlled.

I'm not aware of this "design defect" your trainer spoke of. After driving on literally every interstate in the country, I've never lost an airline in any imaginable way. Never had one detach, chafe, crimp, separate, nor fall off.

Something was wrong with the mechanicals of that trailer prior to any road conditions were encountered.

I'm not aware of this "design defect" your trainer spoke of. After driving on literally every interstate in the country, I've never lost an airline in any imaginable way. Never had one detach, chafe, crimp, separate, nor fall off.

Something was wrong with the mechanicals of that trailer prior to any road conditions were encountered.

I'm guessing it's the spring that attaches to the rear of the cab. That's the only mechanism the can have that flaw but the trainer never addressed it, even after it happening once already. I'm not as seasoned a traveler as you, but I've never heard of such a flaw. Definitely driver error on the part of the trainer.

Viking, planning on making sure this can't happen on our truck. The brakes locked up so fast and I was only going slowly around a corner, on the highway at say 60 wouldn't your trailer skid pretty quickly especially with rain?? Wouldn't the trailer jacknife?? How do you correct that with no way to release the brakes??

Packrat, I thought it sounded weird but that's what he said. The airlines came off the truck not the trailer. Like the mechanism that holds the springs that hold them off the cat walk came off. Like I said we will be making sure this isn't possible on our truck.

That's part of a proper pre trip inspection. If the springs, attachment hardware, clips, or brackets are not sound, solid, and in good mechanically working condition, it should be noted and repaired before the unit moves. You found this out the hard way.

The major defect was your trainer. I'm happy you made it off his truck in one piece. Don't be that guy!

This was a good lesson for you to remember, and should serve as a great teaching experience for others that read of your experience.

Amber's trainer explains:

My trainer said the mechanism they have to hold the airlines up has a flaw that when you hit big bumps it can unhook and leave them dangling!!!! He said it had happened just the other day while I was sleeping!!!

First of all, having a "known" flaw would mean that many years ago designers knew about a real problem but they were too lazy to fix it. That would not be the case. Glad hand connections are pretty sturdy if you close them right. How do you tell that? If both parts line up in a straight line - very easy to do in a pre-trip or when you connect them. PackRat explains that very well.

Those long air line support springs "never" come apart. They are a pain to put together or take apart even when you want to. Incidentally the "front" end of the air lines, actually are part of your pre-trip, and are pipe-threaded ends that are permanently screwed into the truck air line system. That leaves the glad hands as the first guess as the weak point in the hookup.

One last thing about jackknife: jackknifes happen when the tractor/cab wants to stop or turn but the trailer wants to keep going straight. The trailer actually pushes the tractor out of the way. If the trailer brakes back in the tandems actuate without front braking, they will just drag the whole truck to a straight line stop.

The design flaw is indeed not having the springs attached in the proper place to hold them up above.

Prime used to have the coiled lines, FL were attached to the pole on the upper rear of the cab. No issues. The International does not have that bar. The new lines are not coiled but all 3 lines wrappe into one, and if the suspension springs are not placed properly, the lines can be too tight, which cracked the electrical line input box... or too loose which can catch the lines in tires or frame bolts.

Prime issued a fleet wide "recall" to make sure everyone's lines were mounted properly. I prefer the coils.

The trainer should have shopped it and taken care of it.

I've run several trucks with both types of lines, and various spring and attachments.

Never had one pop off under any condition.

I've run several trucks with both types of lines, and various spring and attachments.

Never had one pop off under any condition.

It isn't a matter of popping off for no reason. It is a matter of "when the truck first came in, the springs /lines were not properly placed, therefore they can either rub holes through the lines or rip out during turns, backing."

My guess is it is a fairly new truck and the lines weren't properly placed. Once they are attached properly, the issue is removed.