Break slack

[buswarrior]

Skidding tag axle tires will usually be found to be too lightly loaded.

Check the real air pressure output of the regulator that feeds the tag axle air bags.

When the scale house is empty, many jurisdictions will leave the scales turned on. Roll thru there, stop each axle on the scale, write down the numbers displayed on the board, IIRC, you want those tags over 3000 lbs, depending on coach loading, more for more.

And, as always, check: did some idiot previous owner put a bigger brake chamber/longer slack adjuster on there?

Those tags didn't slide for the mainline fleets, unless something was wrong. Through maintenance, you can too! The duals blast them with crap, first clevis pins on the coach to seize, first brake chambers to fail with dirt blown into them, dirt dirt dirt, grease the slack and cam like a religion...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[chessie4905]

Also many truck stops have Cat scales that can weigh each axle and maybe each wheel position. Or you could stop at a dot inspection site and have them do the weighing....umm, uhhh, maybe not...

[Melbo]

I am kind of late to this party BUT when I got my bus about 14 years ago I took it to a national chain big truck / bus service center and had the brakes adjusted.  My tags locked up and the steers would pull when I braked.  I took it in for an alignment to a local shop.  They asked who adjusted the brakes and I told them.  They laughed and said they were not adjusted properly but they would be better now and they were.  About a year later I took it back to the local shop for king pins and a brake adjustment and asked a bunch of questions about properly adjusting the brakes.  They said the best thing to do was auto adjusters BUT the proper way to adjust them was ---- and gave me specific instructions.  My steers and tags are adjusted the same and my drives are adjusted differently.  I do it my self every year and I have never had any pull from the steers and never locked up the tags since then.  So I'm guessing that not every brake adjustment on every bus is always the same.  I check all the stuff they showed me every time I get under the bus to lube and adjust thing.

Just my way

Melbo