Got A Lvl 1 Inspection Today, Went Pretty Okay!

Pulled into a California weigh station this morning, was told to go to bay 2 on the loud speaker 😵 the guy did the entire thing, checked logs, license, paperwork, lights, rolled underneath the truck. I had 3 out of 4 trailer brakes out of adjustment.

I went into the office, was told I was just given a warning about it and needed to have it fixed before I could leave. Thankfully a road side mechanic crew was already on scene since they were pulling in sooo many people. Guy told me $135 to fix it. I called dispatch and got a 135 Tchek sent over, within 10 minutes it was fixed. Overall the entire ordeal ate 45 minutes of time, but could of been allot worse 😮‍💨

The one guy next to me in the office was told his cdl showed cancelled, and was way over on logs, with faulty equipment. Guy was from Louisiana and told he cannot drive his truck since his license is no good. I do wonder how that guy is doing right now. Doing my 34 about 20 miles away from my drop off in San Bernardino. I stopped at the TA in Ontario and they wanted $35 a night to park, just can’t do it, won’t accept ultra one credits either.

I know I SHOULD be doing a complete pretrip, putting wheel chocks down, releasing brakes and testing the slack. But do you guys really do this when you get a new trailer? Is there a simpler way of checking to make sure they are good? I know I should be doing more, but honestly my real world pre trip is checking connections, lights, leans, leaks, tire condition, and just giving a once over looking for anything out of the ordinary leaking under the trailer without actually crawling under.

I am petrified of getting under a car with Jack stands, I’ll be terrified of getting under a semi trailer even with chocks. Is this just a fear I have to get over? Any tips? I just want to have a clean cdl for as long as I can as I want this to be my career for good now. Any pointers on staying legal?

Honestly this is bad, I know all the pretrip steps, but I honestly don’t know how to check my brakes adjustment, other tha. Release brakes, chock wheels and get under trailer, I need to do more research.

Beautiful state California is though,

Heard from multiple people on the CB that the blitz is this week. Taking it with a grain of salt but 🤷‍♂️

Harvest, we were told by the company to back up the trailer and apply the brakes. Do this several times. They are self adjusting brakes.

Hopefully this is accurate advice. Can anybody confirm this?

Harvest, we were told by the company to back up the trailer and apply the brakes. Do this several times. They are self adjusting brakes.

Hopefully this is accurate advice. Can anybody confirm this?

How do you mean? Like release both brakes, back up a few feet and apply the brake pedal? Seems like it could possibly vary by trailer?

Yeah, I’m hoping some of the more mechanically gifted members will comment on this. I don’t know if this method applies to all makes of trailers. What I did is just to find a place with lots of room, reverse for 10 or 20 feet and then apply firm pressure on the service brake until coming to a complete stop.

If I get a DOT inspection tomorrow or the next day, I’ll probably find out if it worked or not.

It's "supposed" to work on modern trailers with self adjusting brakes, not all are the same. But it does work the same way in your auto's. Harvest, going under to check and adjust your brakes, is probably NOT in your duties lol. Every PM done, they adjust the brakes, and "should" be very good until the next PM (truck)

Trailers, most brake rods have zip ties, on the shaft marking the adjustment and travel point. (Visual Inspection)As long as the zip tie is where it should be, all's good....That's why trucks and trailers have had "auto adjusting" slack adjusters, for like forever ! BUT they do jam up from sludge, dirt, etc sometimes.

Who knows, the DOT guy coulda' just "told ya" they were out of adjustment, but actually weren't?? Did you ask the mechanic who adjusted em up? FYI, (IF you happen adjust em, you bottom out the adjusting nut then back off 1/4-1/2 a turn)

Harvest, we were told by the company to back up the trailer and apply the brakes. Do this several times. They are self adjusting brakes.

Hopefully this is accurate advice. Can anybody confirm this?

I’m curious, what was the procedure the officer used to determine the brakes were out of adjustment? Steve Reno brought up a good point in his response and if you remember that step by step, can you post it?

How do you mean? Like release both brakes, back up a few feet and apply the brake pedal? Seems like it could possibly vary by trailer?

Ugh, quoted the wrong part lol. Anyway, Harvest? Do you remember the procedure the officer used to determine the brakes were out of adjustment? Steve Reno brings up a point in his response that’s very interesting if the officer didn’t perform the procedure correctly.

This is out of our online portal and training area. Different companies may have different procedures

Ugh, quoted the wrong part lol. Anyway, Harvest? Do you remember the procedure the officer used to determine the brakes were out of adjustment? Steve Reno brings up a point in his response that’s very interesting if the officer didn’t perform the procedure correctly.

Not sure, had me stay in the truck and told me to hold the brake pedal down and he rolled underneith my trailer on one of those creeper things.