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[TITLE & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
the very fundamentals of air brake
systems. And the very basic information
that you should come out of an air brake
course with. One of the things that I've
always struggled with in terms of air
brakes is trying to explain to students
that there are two power sources in an
air brake system. An air brake system
works exactly the same as the brakes on
your car or light truck. The brakes on
your car or light truck are hydraulic
brakes. So in other words, it's hydraulic
pressure--fluid--that activates the brakes.
There's also a parking brake, and there's
also an emergency brake on your vehicle.
Now braking systems, air brake systems
and hydraulic systems are named after
their power source. The power source that
applies the service brakes. The service
brakes are the foot pedal that you use to apply
the brakes going up and down the road.
And I've always struggled with that
because in an air brake systems they
confuse students because they have
something on air brake systems that are
called spring brakes. And it leads
students, I believe, to think that there
is a different braking apparatus on the
air brake system. And if you agree with
what I'm saying here--that you believe
that spring brakes are something else
other than air brakes on an air brake
system leave a comment down in the
comment section there and let me know
that yes I was confused by those being called
air brakes and spring brakes. Because
what I'm going to try and do in this
video is to unravel that mystery for you
and explain the very fundamentals of
what you need to know in an air brake
system when you leave an air brake
course to earn your CDL license or truck
or bus license. So stick around, we'll be right
back with that information.
[INTRODUCTION & MUSIC]
hi there are drivers welcome back Rick
with smart drive test talking to you
about the very basic information that
you need to know when you come out of an
air brake course alright when we drive
our passenger vehicle there are three
break types on your vehicle you have a
service brake which is the foot pedal
when you go up and down the road you
apply the foot pedal and the vehicle
comes to a nice gentle stop most of the
time ninety-nine point nine percent of
the time all systems are divided into
two independent subsystems so it's
unlikely that braking systems regardless
whether it's a hydraulic braking system
or an air brake system are going to fail
so service brakes is the foot pedal the
next break that you have on your vehicle
is the parking brake and I know here in
North America eighty-five percent of us
drive automatic transmissions and
eighty-five percent of people who drive
automatic transmissions ninety percent
of those people never use the parking
brake but there is a parking brake on
your vehicle and I would strongly
suggest that you apply it before you put
the vehicle into park because it's hard
on your transmission when you don't
apply the parking brake now if the
service brakes fail the foot pedal fails
and you don't have brakes going up and
down the road you can pull the parking
brake on using the power from your body
and the lever is attached to a cable to
the brakes on the back and bring the
vehicle to a stop now you're using the
parking brake as an emergency brake so
the three systems on your passenger
vehicle our service brakes the foot
pedal the parking brake switch the
energy comes out of you as you pull up
on the ratchet mechanism or push the
ratchet pedal down on the floor and if
the service brakes fail you can use the
parking brake to bring the vehicle to a
stop and thus the parking brakes become
the emergency brake now they're called
hydraulic brakes because that's the
power source for the service brakes air
brakes work exactly the same and what
confuses students on air brake systems
is that we have something on air brake
systems that has been referred to for
almost 40 years now called spring breaks
spring breaks only serves to confuse
students and if this is confused you
then leave a comment down in the comment
section and tell me that I'm on the
right track because as I said I'm
writing a book called a manual called
air brake simplified which is trying to
simplify the system and explain air
brakes to you better all that spring
breaks are is another power source on an
air brake system on an air brake system
we have service brakes which is the foot
pedal and it applies the brakes on the
vehicle using air pressure that's
they're called air brakes like hydraulic
brakes are called hydraulic brakes on
your car or like truck because they're
powered by hydraulic pressure we also
have parking brakes on large commercial
vehicles and these do in fact have to be
applied every time you leave the
driver's seat there's no doubt about
that apply the parking brakes there's
two buttons on the dash if you get if
you're in a tractor-trailer unit there
will be two buttons there's a red one
and a yellow one the yellow one is the
parking brake control valve the red
eight-sided button is the trailer air
supply valve and those are on/off
switches they apply the parking brakes
on off now the difference between a big
truck a commercial vehicle that is
equipped with air brakes or an RV unit
for that fact is that the parking brakes
are powered by large powerful Springs
these large powerful springs are another
power source that apply the parking
brakes and their best used for parking
now what happens is you're going up and
down the road and lose the service
brakes on an air brake equipped vehicle
the air drains down the air drains down
because what happens is when you push
the buttons in on the dash to release
the parking brakes air pressure
compresses those large powerful Springs
if you lose air pressure in the system
those Springs are no longer able to be
caged or compressed and because you
don't have enough air pressure to
compress them they come on the challenge
with all of these manuals is either
referred to these as spring breaks and
students come into the class and you try
and explain this to them and they're all
thinking are there is there another
break on the truck the commercial
vehicle or the vehicle fitted with air
brakes no there isn't it's simply one
air brake chamber
that converts air pressure into
mechanical force and that applies the
service brakes the foot pedal and you've
got another one on the back of it with
this large powerful spring in it that's
held off in the release picture with air
pressure when you evacuate the air
pressure from that spring brake chamber
that large powerful spring comes on and
applies the same breaks it's the same as
what's on your car or light truck you're
not using different brakes you're just
using a different power source which is
coming out of you via a cable back to
the brakes and pulling the brakes on on
a big truck the emergency and parking
brakes are powered by these large
powerful Springs and held off by air
pressure both systems a hydraulic system
and an air brake system have service
brakes the foot pedal when you go up and
down the road they have parking brakes
that apply the brakes indefinitely on
your car light truck it's just a cable
with a ratchet mechanism like a bolt
click click click click click you click
it up it locks the brakes in to place
indefinitely on a large commercial
vehicle when you evacuate the air from
the system the large powerful springs
come on and apply the brakes the scene
breaks that the air brakes work going up
and down the road if you lose air
pressure in a large commercial vehicle a
large vehicle i'll say because rvs and
buses are also fitted with air brakes in
this day and age because they're
reliable if you lose the air pressure
those large powerful Springs will come
on and apply the same brakes as all the
other bridge so all the breaks the
service brakes the parking brakes from
the emergency brakes all use the same
foundation brake system whether it's a
drum brake or a disc brake so that is
one of the things that I think leads to
confusion when students take air brake
courses is that instruct your state of
all there's air brakes in the spring
break so students are thinking well
there's two different kinds of brakes on
the vehicle and no there's not there's
one break there's two power sources as I
said again just to reiterate service
brakes the brake pedal parking brakes
and emergency brake parking brakes and
emergency brakes are one in the same
thing they're just used for different
purposes and when they're used for
different purposes they're called
different things when you park the
vehicle are called parking brakes when
you need to bring the via
to a stop because the brakes failed
they're called emergency brakes and
hopefully that clears up some of the
confusion that you might have taking a
CDL air brake course and if you've had
that confusion and now you understand
service brakes parking brakes emergency
brakes off the seam on hydraulic as on
air brakes leave a comment down in the
comment section there that'll really
help me out in terms of finishing up the
air brake manual question for my smart
drivers have you been confused in an air
brake course by how the service brakes
parking brakes and emergency brakes work
on an air brake system and comment down
in the comment section they're all that
helps out the new drivers working
towards getting their CDL license I'm
Rick with smart drive test thanks very
much for watching if you like what you
see here share subscribe to leave a
comment down in the comment section as
well hit that thumbs up button check out
all the videos here on the channel if
you're working towards the license or
starting your career as a truck or bus
driver lots of great information here as
well head or website awesome information
over there and tremendous online courses
that you can purchase we're bringing out
air brakes simplified the manual for CDL
drivers in May 2017 so look for that
it's going to be an e-book it'll be
completely interactive and it'll have a
hundred multiple-choice questions that
you will be asked on a CDL license
thanks again for watching good luck on
your road test and remember pick the
best answer not necessarily the right
answer have a great day lineup