Hey Lisa...when you say you like the idea, do you mean being able to share your scores of the High Road Training Program with everyone? I could easily allow people to voluntarily share their scores and see where they stand compared with others.
The reason they cover air brakes and their operation is so you know the proper way to use brakes, the potential problems that can arise, their symptoms, and the proper inspection procedures.
Hydraulic brakes, which are found in four-wheelers and smaller trucks, really have no maintenance that needs to be done or things to look out for other than making sure the pads don't need to be changed. There's no way to really adjust them and it's a closed system - nothing can get into it. They either work 100% or they don't, and there's really no concern over them overheating. Now there are of course exceptions to every rule and under very extreme or rare circumstances you could run into problems, but generally speaking hydraulic brakes need almost no attention. They just work.
Air brakes are a whole different story. I'll give you a few examples, not so much for learning purposes but for demonstration purposes so you can understand why they go into such detail.
First of all, air brakes are an "open system" you could say....meaning stuff can get into the system when you unhook and hook up the air lines going to the trailer. You can get ice in the system or any type of dirt or debris which can cause the brakes to lock up or fail to apply, depending on which system you're talking about.
With air brakes you actually have two separate systems. One system releases the brakes and the other system applies the brakes. You actually need air pressure to release the brakes from a locked position, where with hydraulic brakes they're unlocked by default. So a loss of air to the emergency or service systems will yield different hazards and symptoms and you have to be aware of this.
Air brakes also need to be adjusted in ways hydraulic brakes do not. Nowadays they have automatic adjustment on most trucks and trailers but those mechanisms can run into problems and fail to work. If air brakes are out of adjustment you can overheat the brakes causing brake failure or wind up with certain axles not doing the proper amount of work.
Speaking of failure - that's the major difference between air brakes and hydraulic brakes - air brakes can fail and/or catch on fire when they get too hot. Hydraulic brakes almost never approach temperature anywhere near this point. You have to know their proper operation and recognize symptoms of failure to prevent catastrophic failures.
These are just a few of the differences and I've generalized quite a bit. But suffice it to say you really have to understand how air brakes work to understand how to inspect them, how to use them properly, and how to recognize potential safety issues before a catastrophic failure. You have to "manage your brake use" properly with air brakes. With hydraulic brakes that's not a concern under normal driving conditions.
Believe me....truck drivers run into plenty of brake issues out there. You will from time to time find your brakes frozen, out of adjustment, not applying the proper pressure to all drums, needing new shoes, leaking air, overheating, and all kinds of other issues during the course of duty. And many times you will drive by a big heap of debris that used to be a truck before it lost its brakes and crashed into the mountain side or went off a cliff.
Once you learn how the system works and you get some experience with it I promise you you'll understand exactly why it's so important to understand air brakes inside and out.
Was the guy who went off the cliff not paying attention to the warning signs or does that just happen
That was enough for me to quit whining and start syudying
Was the guy who went off the cliff not paying attention to the warning signs or does that just happen
Nobody that has gone off a cliff should have gone off a cliff. Avoiding safety issues involving your brakes is pretty straight forward once you know how the brake systems work, how to inspect them, and of course how to use them properly.
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brett made a comment to someone about their scores. personally, i like the idea so you can see my soft spots(airbrakes)and it is incentive. i am taking swift home tests daily and sometimes go back and forth. no complaints but both tests on airbrakes seem excessive or am i just thinking to hard. this is meant for everyones advice. i am impressed that brett takes such personal interest. i compared it to starcar as learning to tie your shoes online and then taking a multiple choice test.