bleeding air breaks

bigdisplay wrote:

moisheh wrote:
Note that the replies about taking an air brake course are all from my fellow Canadians. In all 10 Provinces you are required to pass an air brake course. One poster wondered why? Your answer is in the original post ! NO person should be allowed to drive an air brake vehicle without passing the test. In Canada you are not allowed to adjust the slacks unless you are certified. I have a CDL and an air brake endorsement and am certified to adjust the slacks. BUT if the slack adjusters are functioning properly they should not need adjusting. Auto adjusting slacks have been on most vehicles for about 20 or more years. I would ask all of our American friends if they know what "performing a 6 pack" means? If you cannot answer that question you should not be driving an air brake vehicle! There are also some simple tests that one should understand and perform. I might add that most jurisdictions do not allow you to adjust air brakes on a MH ( or any other low slung vehicle) at a weigh scale. Far to dangerous to get under the vehicle without supports. A complete guide to air brakes is published free on line by most Provinces. They are all similar.

air brake manual

that manual and that test/course is for commercial trucks and trailers
WAY WAY too complicated for just a Class A MH.The governments need to bring out a MH only condensed form and course dedicated to just MH
No one needs to know about trailer connections and break away valves etc etc

Having scanned the manual, I must agree. The applicability to the average RVer is questionable. While it is true there is some good information there, much of it is of little or no use to a motorhome driver.
It is also interesting that while the manual is geared to increasing safety, it does not apply to farmers driving trucks up to Class 5!

The brake slack adjuster adjustment instructions in Section 8 were very interesting. I discovered that part of my memory was erroneous! That is good to know, in case I ever have to get under a semi again to adjust the brakes!

I did not, however, see anything in the manual that covered the OP's question about bleeding air brake lines.

moisheh wrote:
Note that the replies about taking an air brake course are all from my fellow Canadians. In all 10 Provinces you are required to pass an air brake course. One poster wondered why? Your answer is in the original post ! NO person should be allowed to drive an air brake vehicle without passing the test. In Canada you are not allowed to adjust the slacks unless you are certified. I have a CDL and an air brake endorsement and am certified to adjust the slacks. BUT if the slack adjusters are functioning properly they should not need adjusting. Auto adjusting slacks have been on most vehicles for about 20 or more years. I would ask all of our American friends if they know what "performing a 6 pack" means? If you cannot answer that question you should not be driving an air brake vehicle! There are also some simple tests that one should understand and perform. I might add that most jurisdictions do not allow you to adjust air brakes on a MH ( or any other low slung vehicle) at a weigh scale. Far to dangerous to get under the vehicle without supports. A complete guide to air brakes is published free on line by most Provinces. They are all similar.

air brake manual

that manual and that test/course is for commercial trucks and trailers
WAY WAY too complicated for just a Class A MH.The governments need to bring out a MH only condensed form and course dedicated to just MH
No one needs to know about trailer connections and break away valves etc etc

gfs: Your sarcasms ignores the point of this discussion. There is a reason why truckers have to have air brake knowledge. That same reasoning applies to RV'rs as well. Canada,like any US state, accepts your DL as equal to one issued in Canada. We are not California!!!!! Can you answer the question I posted without using Google? BTW: Mountain driving is one of the reasons why RV'rs should have air brake knowledge. Even if you do not do a test one should read portions of the manual I posted. Or go online for more Info!


Moisheh

As air brake certified diesel mechanic. I believe that if your rigs does have full airbrakes you will have self adjusting slack adjuster if you just try to tighten them you can do damage which will cause them not to work correctly.Self adjusting brakes became mandatory in the late 90s on trucks im sure rv were also affected.if your not sure please have mechanic look at brakes its not worth trying to save a few dollars if your safety is at stake

moisheh wrote:
Note that the replies about taking an air brake course are all from my fellow Canadians. In all 10 Provinces you are required to pass an air brake course. One poster wondered why? Your answer is in the original post ! NO person should be allowed to drive an air brake vehicle without passing the test. In Canada you are not allowed to adjust the slacks unless you are certified. I have a CDL and an air brake endorsement and am certified to adjust the slacks. BUT if the slack adjusters are functioning properly they should not need adjusting. Auto adjusting slacks have been on most vehicles for about 20 or more years. I would ask all of our American friends if they know what "performing a 6 pack" means? If you cannot answer that question you should not be driving an air brake vehicle! There are also some simple tests that one should understand and perform. I might add that most jurisdictions do not allow you to adjust air brakes on a MH ( or any other low slung vehicle) at a weigh scale. Far to dangerous to get under the vehicle without supports. A complete guide to air brakes is published free on line by most Provinces. They are all similar.

air brake manual

Is there any movement in Canada to apply some kind of test at the border to prevent ignorant Americans from driving their air-brake equipped coaches in Canada? Seems to me that it would be logical to do so, in the interest of safety.

By the way, I'm glad they didn't have such a test last year. Visiting Alberta and BC, driving the Crows Nest Highway, was the highlight of my vacation.

Note that the replies about taking an air brake course are all from my fellow Canadians. In all 10 Provinces you are required to pass an air brake course. One poster wondered why? Your answer is in the original post ! NO person should be allowed to drive an air brake vehicle without passing the test. In Canada you are not allowed to adjust the slacks unless you are certified. I have a CDL and an air brake endorsement and am certified to adjust the slacks. BUT if the slack adjusters are functioning properly they should not need adjusting. Auto adjusting slacks have been on most vehicles for about 20 or more years. I would ask all of our American friends if they know what "performing a 6 pack" means? If you cannot answer that question you should not be driving an air brake vehicle! There are also some simple tests that one should understand and perform. I might add that most jurisdictions do not allow you to adjust air brakes on a MH ( or any other low slung vehicle) at a weigh scale. Far to dangerous to get under the vehicle without supports. A complete guide to air brakes is published free on line by most Provinces. They are all similar.

air brake manual

My best advice, take an air brake coarse. It will give you the knowledge to understand and drive as well as maintain you rv.
Some advice on here is good and some of it is pure wrong.

JaxDad wrote:

Funny, after 2 pages of comments I don't see anywhere the OP said his rig has AIR brakes, there's not even a description of their rig in their profile.

I'm pretty sure there were lots of Bounders built with juice brakes, some of which might need bleeding, but more lkely new master or wheel cylinders.

The title of the thread is " bleeding air breaks", but, the OP got so many derisive remarks and then the thread went to who has what rights to adjust what when they are where, that, I suspect, the OP has moved on elsewhere, to get his question answered... He was a relatively new member, and I, if I were him, would have moved on, based on the responses in this thread.

Sorry about the rant; sometimes I'm just astounded at the reactions that some people give...we aren't all Rhodes Scholars, nor are our typing skills and spell checkers all top-notch and evidently "giving someone a break (not brake)" has died along the side of the road somewhere.

onecolbs wrote:
I have a 2001 bounder with 51000 miles. Should i have the break lines bled? And where do I find where the lines bleed from? thanks. Just trying to learn.

VintageRacer wrote:
They are brakes, not breaks. You don't bleed air brakes. You do drain the moisture from the wet tank. Lord have mercy...

Funny, after 2 pages of comments I don't see anywhere the OP said his rig has AIR brakes, there's not even a description of their rig in their profile.

I'm pretty sure there were lots of Bounders built with juice brakes, some of which might need bleeding, but more lkely new master or wheel cylinders.

bluwtr49 wrote:

mowermech wrote:
Thank you. Now we know that in Ontario we can't adjust our own air brake slack adjusters. IF that rule applies to owner-operated, non-commercial vehicles, and IF that rule also applies to non-residents who may not have to have such a certification.
That may seem like a silly question, but here in the United States quite often the rules for commercial vehicles do not apply to the operators of Recreational Vehicles.
In fact, some states do not require an air brake endorsement on the driver license of the operator of an air brake equipped motorhome.

I've heard of an air brake endorsement. Wonder why that would be necessary.

After having taken the required training (two day course) to get the air brake endorsement I fee it is worthwhile. It is a totally different braking system from normal hydraulic based systems. Among many things it allows you to correctly identify and measure travel on the adjusters, bleeding tanks, air dryers/compressors etc.
Blindly driving a rig with air brakes and not knowing what to check or maintain could have negative consequences.

I also had to upgrade my drivers license as my MH exceeds 26000lbs. That included a written and road test. I also agree with that a being able to drive a car does not automatically mean you know who to drive a heavy vehicle.

While both were a PITA, I'm glad I know about my braking system and also know I am legal to drive it anywhere.

And we all know different jurisdictions have different requirements, with many not requiring air brake endorsements and many allowing you to drive a big air brake equipped rig with an ordinary license.

Thankfully we all only have to worry about the requirements where we are licensed/registered to be legal in all jurisdictions.

To the OP, sorry for hi-jacking the thread, but my personal recommendation is that if an air brake course/training is offered in your area,take it.

Chris