Winter Truck Air System Maintenance: How to Stop Moisture Freezing Your Brakes Cold weather exposes every weakness in a truck’s air brake system. From tired air dryer cartridges to moisture sitting in trailer reservoirs, winter is when small problems can quickly become frozen air lines, dragging brakes and costly roadside delays. Winter has a habit…
How to Manually Release Truck Brakes or cage brakes Words and Illustrations by Howard Shanks In certain emergency situations, for instance, when an air brake system failure has happened and you need to move your truck to a safe position you may need to manually release the brakes to enable the vehicle to be moved.…
Elphinstone Engineering Teases New Forestry Transport Innovation Elphinstone Engineering is preparing to unveil a new specialised forestry transport solution designed to improve payload efficiency, productivity, and operational performance for Australian timber haulage operators. Deep inside the workshops at Elphinstone Engineering, sparks are flying as fabrication teams assemble what could become the next significant step forward…
Since the birth of road transport, trucking operators have strived to reduce fuel usage and increase payloads. Over the past decade, the industry’s push towards alloy wheels because they’re far lighter than steel wheels has seen many truck manufacturers make alloy rims a standard fitment on various models. For instance, almost half a tonne (476kg)…
How ride height effects truck shockers Words and photography by Howard Shanks (diagrams supplied by Powerdown) As the title suggests, changing the ride height of your truck’s air suspension can have shocking results on the life of your shockers. Suspensions like many components on a heavy vehicle are precision pieces of equipment that play a…
In this technical tip article, we’ll look at when to check the locking mechanism adjustment of a Jost fifth wheel and, importantly, how to perform the adjustment to return the fifth wheel to the manufacturer’s recommended specification. As a rough rule of thumb, the perfect time to check the adjustment of the fifth wheel is…
With the rapid increase in heavy vehicle running costs, the following tips on how to match your tyres will undoubtedly see you extract a few extra thousand kilometres out of your tyres. But ultimately, it will make all the difference to your bottom line. Furthermore, it might even save you costly downtime from changing a…
How to Couple and Uncouple a Fifth Wheel on a prime mover is a skill that should be mastered before a driver get’s their heavy combination licence. Yet there are an increasing number of photos posted on social media of trailers being dropped. We sent our resident trainer-assessor, Howard Shanks, to find out why is…
Dirty Diesel, Rising Regens: The Real Consequences How Australia’s Fuel Shift Is Affecting Engines, Emissions and AdBlue Australia’s temporary move to higher sulphur diesel may keep freight moving, but inside modern common-rail engines the effects are real. From rising regeneration cycles and subtle emissions changes to increased AdBlue consumption and long-term wear, the shift is…
How to Inspect a Ballrace Turntable | Safety & Compliance Guide Learn how to inspect a ballrace turntable, what to check daily, warning signs to watch for, and what should happen during scheduled heavy vehicle services. Don’t Ignore the Turntable – Why Ballrace Care Matters In heavy transport, many parts that quietly perform day after…