airing up tires
 

I know that this is going to be a "duh" question. My company gives us a air hose to air up our tires when on the road. How do I do this with the glad hands on the trailer ?

you have to disconnect your airline from the truck to hook up the airline to fill the tires.

Re: airing up tires
 

take your blue hose off the trailer, hook your air hose to the glad hand on your blue hose. push your tractor supply valve in, ( make sure your trailer brake is on, this will supply air to your air hose. Our mechanic put a quick connect plug on the air tank and one on the hose, this way, you can just plug the hose into the tank and and you dont have to fool with the glad hands, it makes it a lot easier.

Re: airing up tires
 

Actually, you should use the red one.

That way when you push in the red knob you have air to your hose,AND the emergency brakes are still applied on the trailer while you're doing your inflation.

Re: airing up tires
 

Right, plus there's no pressure on the blue hose unless the brakes are applied. You'd have to yank the trailer brake lever, or have someone step on the brake pedal. Many company trucks don't have a Johnson bar anymore, so that would leave a helper and the pedal, which would also put huge amounts of pressure on the tractor brakes, in order to supply enough air to the trailer service line to inflate the tire at any reasonable rate.

Hooking to the red line just makes sense. That's what I do.

First, pull the trailer valve and dump the pressure. Next, hook up the glad hands, then push the red valve back in to supply air to the chuck. Some hissing at this connection seems inevitable, but if it's hissing a lot, try for a better seat on the seals. I find it's quite difficult to get a tight connection when neither glad hand is anchored to something solid, so I often have to jam them against my leg to try to coax that last bit of turn. Especially getting them apart afterwards.

Good luck to the OP. The little blue hose can really save your ass, and save your schedule too.

Re: airing up tires
 

Re: airing up tires
 

Dont forget you have summer air and winter air make sure you use the right air for the season. :wink:

You can get an extra 100 ft/lbs of torque if you use Harley air instead! :wink: