I Have A Problem

Aug 27, 2022 at 05:12 PM CST
Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.	Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member. I have a truck with disc brakes. I have two trailers, one with disc, and one with drum. The drum brake trailer is a 2005 tank, and only has ABS on the rear axle. I bought the tank while waiting on the new truck, and therefore didn’t have a history of pulling it before the new truck came in. Immediately after purchasing the trailer, I spent a boatload of money re-furbishing it. New air bags, new shocks, every air line from the glad hands back. New air valves, and ABS, new brake chambers, brakes, drums, slack adjusters, s-cams, bushings, wheel seals, tires, EVERYTHING. Nothing has fixed the problem. It is so bad, I smoked through a set of new tires on the front left in a month and a half. The repair shop can hook to the tank with their yard truck, and the trailer works flawlessly. They also hooked it to one of their road trucks with drum brakes, and it works perfect. I hooked to one of their brand new tanks with drum brakes, and all four lock up but pulse due to the anti-lock system. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I’ve googled it but didn’t come up with anything that hasn’t been replaced. One possible solution is for all of you in charge of hopper rates to bring them up so they are comparable to tank rates, that way I can stay hooked to the hopper and, problem solved. 😊

Replied on Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 02:53 PM CST
Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.	Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member. well i had a similar problem with a grain trailer. I had a new peterbilt with disc breaks and less then a year old grain trailer with drum breaks and it was a 3 axle grain trailer. And after the second set of breaks i start looking for problems then started breaking the pins on the slack adj more than once and thought it was a driver issues had it at dealer ship couldnt find anything wrong with it. So keep running it and by this time its little over year half old it had 4 sets of breaks and 2 sets of tires. Well i was on the phone with my peterbilt salesman and dont remember how it come up but told him about my trailer and he told me you cant have disc breaks on truck without being on trailer said that you will smoke though drum breaks and have all kinds of issues which i did. Now i know a guys that have disc breaks and drums on trailer and not having any issues. I dont know if it has something to do with suspension on trailers i know there is different ones out there. I finally got rid of both truck and trailer and went back to drums and way better for me. If you have a truck with drums try that see if it makes a difference.

Replied on Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 02:53 PM CST

Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.

well i had a similar problem with a grain trailer. I had a new peterbilt with disc breaks and less then a year old grain trailer with drum breaks and it was a 3 axle grain trailer. And after the second set of breaks i start looking for problems then started breaking the pins on the slack adj more than once and thought it was a driver issues had it at dealer ship couldnt find anything wrong with it. So keep running it and by this time its little over year half old it had 4 sets of breaks and 2 sets of tires. Well i was on the phone with my peterbilt salesman and dont remember how it come up but told him about my trailer and he told me you cant have disc breaks on truck without being on trailer said that you will smoke though drum breaks and have all kinds of issues which i did. Now i know a guys that have disc breaks and drums on trailer and not having any issues. I dont know if it has something to do with suspension on trailers i know there is different ones out there. I finally got rid of both truck and trailer and went back to drums and way better for me. If you have a truck with drums try that see if it makes a difference.

Replied on Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 03:03 PM CST
Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.	Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member. You're not going to fix it. It's the difference in technologies. One pulses (grabs/releases) different from the other, and they energize (grab) differrent. Kinda like the difference between the old flip phones and new smart phones. I have 2 customers with the same problem in their fleets (van and pnuematic) and they try to keep those trailers with like trucks or on lower speed lanes. You can try to set the slacks right at the edge of legal (3/4 of a turn) but with auto slacks you're down there messing with it all the time, plus any legal implications. Newer drum trailers with newer tech don't have these problems, differrence in technology (ECU's). Not what you want to hear, sorry, but we've fought this losing battle.

Replied on Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 03:03 PM CST

Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.

You're not going to fix it. It's the difference in technologies. One pulses (grabs/releases) different from the other, and they energize (grab) differrent. Kinda like the difference between the old flip phones and new smart phones. I have 2 customers with the same problem in their fleets (van and pnuematic) and they try to keep those trailers with like trucks or on lower speed lanes. You can try to set the slacks right at the edge of legal (3/4 of a turn) but with auto slacks you're down there messing with it all the time, plus any legal implications. Newer drum trailers with newer tech don't have these problems, differrence in technology (ECU's). Not what you want to hear, sorry, but we've fought this losing battle.

Replied on Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 07:59 PM CST
Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.	Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member. Quote: "well i had a similar problem with a grain trailer. I had a new peterbilt with disc breaks and less then a year old grain trailer with drum breaks and it was a 3 axle grain trailer. And after the second set of breaks i start looking for problems then started breaking the pins on the slack adj more than once and thought it was a driver issues had it at dealer ship couldnt find anything wrong with it. So keep running it and by this time its little over year half old it had 4 sets of breaks and 2 sets of tires. Well i was on the phone with my peterbilt salesman and dont remember how it come up but told him about my trailer and he told me you cant have disc breaks on truck without being on trailer said that you will smoke though drum breaks and have all kinds of issues which i did. Now i know a guys that have disc breaks and drums on trailer and not having any issues. I dont know if it has something to do with suspension on trailers i know there is different ones out there. I finally got rid of both truck and trailer and went back to drums and way better for me. If you have a truck with drums try that see if it makes a difference. " Hmm. I see the logic in this but I haven't had that experience. I have disc on the tractor (all around) and drum on the trailer. 2009 tractor and 2016 trailer. I've been running them together since early 2017 and haven't had any trouble. I'm easy on brakes and have only replaced shoes 2-3 times since the trailer was new. I have checked the heat from time to time. If I remember right, more heat at the drums. I'm not a big fan of the discs. Cheap to maintain,expensive to repair. I bought the truck used and a little excited about the discs. Not so excited later.

Replied on Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 07:59 PM CST

Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.

Quote: "well i had a similar problem with a grain trailer. I had a new peterbilt with disc breaks and less then a year old grain trailer with drum breaks and it was a 3 axle grain trailer. And after the second set of breaks i start looking for problems then started breaking the pins on the slack adj more than once and thought it was a driver issues had it at dealer ship couldnt find anything wrong with it. So keep running it and by this time its little over year half old it had 4 sets of breaks and 2 sets of tires. Well i was on the phone with my peterbilt salesman and dont remember how it come up but told him about my trailer and he told me you cant have disc breaks on truck without being on trailer said that you will smoke though drum breaks and have all kinds of issues which i did. Now i know a guys that have disc breaks and drums on trailer and not having any issues. I dont know if it has something to do with suspension on trailers i know there is different ones out there. I finally got rid of both truck and trailer and went back to drums and way better for me. If you have a truck with drums try that see if it makes a difference. "

Hmm. I see the logic in this but I haven't had that experience. I have disc on the tractor (all around) and drum on the trailer. 2009 tractor and 2016 trailer. I've been running them together since early 2017 and haven't had any trouble. I'm easy on brakes and have only replaced shoes 2-3 times since the trailer was new. I have checked the heat from time to time. If I remember right, more heat at the drums. I'm not a big fan of the discs. Cheap to maintain,expensive to repair. I bought the truck used and a little excited about the discs. Not so excited later.

Replied on Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 09:50 AM CST
Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.	Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member. I talked to Bendix this morning, they advised to put an air guage between the truck and trailer, and at every brake chamber. Then, do a 20 psi brake application to see if the pressure is 20 throughout the system. Also, they said to check the weight on each set of tires to make sure the weight is evenly distributed. My shop is not gonna like me today. They also said the "crack pressure" whatever that is, is different between disc and drum brakes. The trailer air valve crack pressure may have to be changed due to the disc on the truck. I did hook up to a brand new tank with drum brakes Saturday when at the shop. both axles up and pulsed when the abs kicked in.

Replied on Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 09:50 AM CST

Posted by a private BulkLoads.com member.

I talked to Bendix this morning, they advised to put an air guage between the truck and trailer, and at every brake chamber. Then, do a 20 psi brake application to see if the pressure is 20 throughout the system. Also, they said to check the weight on each set of tires to make sure the weight is evenly distributed. My shop is not gonna like me today.

They also said the "crack pressure" whatever that is, is different between disc and drum brakes. The trailer air valve crack pressure may have to be changed due to the disc on the truck.

I did hook up to a brand new tank with drum brakes Saturday when at the shop. both axles up and pulsed when the abs kicked in.