1. I don't think the orfice in a Bic pen is going to flow enough air to overcome your spring brakes. I don't think it will flow enough air to give you an adequate application of your service brakes.

2. To take an airline that has a hole in it & is leaking, and cut that air line completely in half is to make the situation worse, not better.

3. Why not take the tape that you're going to wrap around the pen and wrap it around the air line? First a strip or two lenthgwise over the leak, then wrap the snot out of it around the circumferance of the hose. This should allow you to get off the road, at least.

I think this Bic pen idea is a myth, and a potentially dangerous one.

 

I believe I have some old air lines sitting at home, as well as an air compressor. I will see if I can put something together to prove this.

But as anyone who has ever put tape around a leaking air line knows, air is still going to leak out. If you don't think the diameter of a bic pen will allow enough air to flow, how on earth can you think that an air line that is shedding its air pressure will allow enough pressure to build to release the brake?

 

Makes sense to me Rev.

Great tip!

 

have any of you macgyver's ever used shrink wrap, duct tape, and a couple hose clamps?

make a patch out of shrink wrap by folding a small piece into a square and duct tape that over the leak. of course that's not going to hold, i'm not done yet.

lay out a length of shrink wrap @1'. fold it upon itself until it's @2"wide, then twist it up so it forms something that looks like a twisted strand of spaghetti. tightly wrap this around the air line starting 4" off to the side of the leak. by tightly i mean tight as in pull on it and tight as in get each wrap as close to the last one as possible without overlapping.

then cover this with duck tape. remember to pick the duck tape up off the ground while trying not to hit your head, cause no one will find you until it's too late. then try to remember exactly where the leak was underneath all that and position a clamp on each side where you think the leak was, butting each one up against the other. curse that you don't get paid to do this and it'd better work because dammit, it's cold and dark under here.

it held for 45 minutes which was enough to get me back to the yard

 

Actually....there is an argument to be made NOT to use alcohol! The argument is based on data plates on the trailer or tanker.... There are some nowadays that have warnings on them that alcohol put into the airlines will cause damage to the brake system. I've pulled a few trailers like that. :smokin: Just had to throw that in....so newer people might actually look for the warnings before dumping anything in airlines....

In the event of a ruptured air line...depending on circumstances....two things will happen: First is the call to advise my company that I have a mechanical problem that may affect the pickup or delivery, followed by a call to the company that handles our road service calls.

Beyond that....and depending on the where and when.... If I need to clear the road, as in get off the road entirely into a safe haven where I don't have to worry about some moron driving into me or under me.... I will get my wrenches and cage the brakes so that the truck can move, and move it to where I can get safe haven. If it is a hazardous load, and I am really concerned, I will call the State Highway Patrol or whatever and ask for coverage to prevent an accident.

Lets face it....things happen, and in the event of a driveshaft failure, or engine failure that prevents you from moving at all....you can do little to prevent a moron from driving up under you. Your only hope at that point is to get a LEO out there with disco's flashing or a road service truck with his ambers on to get the attention of the morons....and hopefully the idiots will realize they need to not plow into a stationary object.

 

You're kidding, right? Who carries shrink wrap in their toolbox? It must have taken you longer to patch that, than it did to get off the road!

NOTHING works better to cover/patch a hole than a piece of rubber bungee cord! Cut it to size, and put a hose clamp around it. If it's a small hole, a single clamp will do. If it's a gash, maybe two or three. 10 minute repar, tops! No cutting airlines. No bic pens. No "fittings." A simple rubber bandaid will work everytime!

Duct tape, gorilla tape, plastic nor chewing gum will resist the air pressure the way a piece of rubber clamped down will.

And rubber bungee cords are more frequent in T/S parking lots than lizards are! :lol2:

 

Thankfully, the only time that I have had an "airline failure" was back in 97' in Indy at a receiver....in their unloading area when I was doing a 180 turn to back into their dock. It was one cold as in arctic day, the airlines were literally brittle and my emergency line "shattered".....

The only possible repair was a new airline.

Which leads me to this point: If you are driving an older truck, it would be rather smart of you to look at the airlines closely. If they looked dull or bleached out, it probably means that the plastic is dried out and has lost some of its elasticity, and is approaching brittleness and extreme cold will enhance that brittleness. Extremely sharp turns or tight 180's or even 90's to set up for docking will stretch them out and can overstress them....

Might be a good idea to carry a spare set of airlines, wrenches, and teflon tape.... If you're no good with wrenches or don't know what the teflon tape is for....let road service do it.:block:

 

You need a pair of gladhands, some 3/8" rubber air line & the pen parts.

There's a relationship between pressure and volume at work here too. I don't think the tiny hole in a Bic pen will flow enough air to release 4 spring brakes.

But I have been wrong before.

And don't have a problem admitting it.

I wish I was a wealthy O/O & could spend a bunch of my abundant free time on things like this.

 

Well, I ain't no engineer, and I'm not in favor of this remedy, but....

If I'm not mistaken, it is not VOLUME of air that holds back the spring brakes, nor VOLUME of air that applies the service brakes. It is air PRESSURE.

And, unless I'm mistaken, the pressure of air OR a liquid, is increased by narrowing the diameter of the "line" it is forced through. I know when the water line to my house was replaced with one of larger diameter, my water pressure dropped.

The air compressors of trucks produces MORE pressure than the lines will hold and therefore the excess is released by the overflow valve. Using a smaller bore within the line "should" only INCREASE the pressure of the air, holding back the spring brakes just fine, and applying the service brakes just fine. The increased "excess" will just be expressed more often by the release valve on the generator tank.

Of course, I COULD be wrong.... cuz I ain't no enguneer! I'm just a truck driver.

Now.... IF I was to employ Windy's procedure.... I wouldn't tape the ends of the pen cylinder with duct tape (which is porous and will pass air) to fit the inside diameter of the hose on either end. I would slit the ends of the hoses, and overlap them (if necessary, or cut a "V") and just clamp them down real tight to the outside diameter/surface of the pen!

Snip, snip (to remove the damaged part of the hose,) slit, slit (the ends of the hose, insert the pen shunt, and clamp it down tight on both ends. DONE in less than ten minutes! Back on the road, and heading for line 5 time while the shop repairs it to specs! :thumbsup:

But, what do I know? :smokin:

 

GH said:

Actually, the maximum pressure in the air system is controlled by the "air pressure governor", which "unloads" the air compessor when roughly 120 psi is reached, and then the governor allows the compressor to begin compressing again when system pressure drops to about 105 psi or so.

The relief valve on the air dryer or wet tank is usually set to blow off at 150 psi, so if you're hearing the relief valve blow off, you've got a defective air pressure governor which is allowing system pressure to get too high.