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Assisting Brake-Watch at the City Deep ACSA-MAG testing facility was Wolfgang Lehmann, a trailer specialist originally trained in Germany and who now has more than 25 years' experience working for renowned trailer manufacturer Henred Fruehauf and Kearney's Truck and Trailer. FleetWatch asked him for a personal account of the state of the trailers tested on the day. 
 

Wolfgang Lehmann at work...

... and at rest. ‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing here."

Between 09H00 and 15H00, fifteen trailers were inspected for faulty brakes and general condition. The first unit inspected, a trailer registered in Kwa-Zulu Natal, was so bad that the Metro Police issued the driver a R1 600 fine -too little in my book. The trailer was a moving killer and the operator and the driver should have been locked-up.

This rig was a typical example of an operator who tries to make as much money as possible, with as little maintenance as possible. Apart from a lack of plating, there was no load sensing, all the brakes were set incorrectly and the general condition of the trailer was extremely poor. My guess is that when an accident occurs and somebody gets injured or killed, the operator simply gets a good lawyer.

Only two out of 15 trailers (13.3%) were in a respectable condition and I only hope that this is not the general trend on South African roads. I think certain operators have a 'couldn't care less' attitude to truck maintenance and road safety but I must concede that there are also many good operators out there as exemplified by a 14 year-old Anderson Transport interlink combination which was checked and couldn't be faulted.
 

 
Generally, there was a definitive lack of plating on most trailers and it was always the Load Sensing Data Plate that was missing - and this despite the fact that Load Sensing Valves were fitted. Operators don't seem to understand how important this plate is for the workshop because it tells the mechanic all the relevant data about brake boosters, slack adjuster setting, as well as the lever setting on the Load Sensing Valve (LSV). 
 

 
But then again most operators and mechanics don't understand the function of a LSV! It was really frightening to see that on some trailers, the lever arm was actually fastened to the LSV body with cable-ties. That the rubber grommets break and perish I can understand - but even then it will cost only a few cents to get them fixed.

Setting of the brakes seems to be another problem with certain operators. They do not understand the relationship between the slack adjuster connection holes and the booster push rods. They do not understand why there are 2, 3 or even 4 holes in the slack adjuster arm and from where the dim. 127mm or 152mm are measured.

When I spoke to Jack Webster (who was also there) about it, he said that many operators are incapable of setting a basic foundation brake correctly. What are they going to do with the ABS and EBS brakes?

Another noticeable point was the braking systems on trailers that operate from Zambia and arrive in Johannesburg with Copper bundles. There was one combination just on 18 months old with manual slack adjusters fitted to the axles. How are they permitted to travel on South African roads when for two years now, all South African truck trailers have to have Automatic Slack Adjusters fitted? Is it because manual slack adjusters are cheaper than automatic slack adjusters, or is it simply a case of "this trailer is registered in Lusaka - we do not need automatic slack adjusters - bugger South Africa"?
 

 
After 4 hours of truck checking, I realised that 90% of all trailers older than four years had brake problems and actually no operator/driver seems to be worried about it. But that was not all. We found a lot of trailers where both suzies were either red or yellow in colour and on some trailers some bright spark had modified the ends on the red and yellow suzies and both ends were either male or female!

There were hardly any identification tags (Service or Emergency) on the trailers and we found one trailer where the male coupling at the end had black masking tape wrapped around to prevent leakage. And talking about leakage: Why don't the drivers drain the air reservoir on the truck and trailer? I suppose they either don't know that they should do this or they don't want to get their hands dirty.

All in all, it was an eye-opener. I always knew that the trailer was the donkey of the transport industry but I never would have thought how badly it's being treated!