How to perform a Class A CDL Pre-Trip inspection. Demonstrated by a state licensed CDL examiner.

[Music] okay we're going to talk about how to do a pre-trip inspection on a Class A rated vehicle today free trip is one of the most important things that a driver has to do on a daily basis in order to make sure that the vehicle is safe to get out on the road not only are you require to actually do the preacher you're required for documenting that you did it and you are required for the results of it meaning that if you go out on the road with a vehicle that's unsafe and you shouldn't have you can get a ticket for it you can be fined for it so you got to be careful you got to know what you're doing we're going to show you here not only how to do the pre-trip but we're also going to demonstrate the specifics in passing the CDL test in order to get your class a license the first thing you have to do is demonstrate a proper and thorough a pre-trip the difference between demonstrating it for the tests that actually doing one in real life during the test remember the examiner is not in testing the truck they're testing you do you know what you're doing so in the in order to be expedient and make things happen quicker they don't necessarily require you to do the whole truck they want to see if you understand the parts so on most trucks there's going to be redundant parts on one side of the vehicle you got tires on the other side of the vehicle you got tires and you got brake chambers and ramps and they're all the same so most of what you're going to be checking is down the driver's side of the truck the truck for the test but for an actual free trip obviously you need to check both sides in order to make sure the vehicles safe during your pre-trip exam on the test the only time you're going to be on the passenger side of the vehicle is when you're checking something that you need to that side of the vehicle you won't find it on the driver side if it's something that's redundant that you'll find on both sides of the vehicle and there are exactly the same you check it from the driver's side so we're going to go ahead and get started one of the things that what you to understand is that this is our pre trip here this is how we teach it at the classes this is the forms that we use the for the purposes of the exam they break the vehicle down into three sections remember I said they don't want it they don't want to check the whole truck necessarily they want to make sure that you know what you're doing so they're going to break it down into three sections and for the examiner it's called a form a a form B or a form C you're not going to know which one they're going to give you when you get there so you have to know the whole truck but if you get a form eight like this is our form a a form a will be from the front of the truck it'll be both sides of the engine compartment in the coupling a form B which would be on the next page would be from the driver's side of the truck the rear of the truck and coupling and a form C would be coupling and the trailer so you always end up doing coupling and in the other part that everybody ends up doing is going to be an endcap you're in town as where you check all your gauges and you do your brake check now the one thing to keep in mind during the rest of the exam for your yard skills and your road skills you don't want to accumulate points accumulating points is a bad thing the accumulating points means that you've you've done something wrong and you've been assigned a point for it and that too many points failure for your pre-trip and accumulation of points is what you want the more things you name the more things you do properly the more points you accumulate and then you'll end up passing the one thing that will fail you though immediately on your pre-trip that you can't get anything wrong on is your brake check we're going to go through that thoroughly so you understand that when you do your brake check your brake check has to be a hundred percent alright so what we're going to do is we're going to go ahead and get started we're going to start with a form a flow right through it like is if you get the whole truck because that you could get that as well sometimes randomly in the computer you could just end up getting you could end up pulling the whole truck and you got to know how to do the whole thing so we're starting at the front of the truck now with each new section we're going to do what's called a general over every time you go to a new section you do a general overview now general overview is just that it's an opportunity to just do a cursory look at the vehicle and an area you're inspecting to notice if you see anything damaged so are my general overview or the front of my vehicle I don't see anything damage don't see anything hanging off I don't see any my mirror brackets cracked or broken you're going to get into some of the more specific stuff so you're going to look at the top of the ball my lights my marker lights crack damage you're loose they're clean and of the proper color all my lenses on the front end for my headlights they're not cracked they're not damaged in any way they're not fogged out they're clean and of the proper color I would take a look okay like I said during my general overview I'd look at the front of the vehicle and see if it's leaning to one side or another if it was leaning to one side or another that might indicate some kind of suspension damage that it's a something's wrong with the suspension and it's and it's allowing the vehicle to tilt to one side or the other or any other thing I would do is I look underneath the vehicle and I would want to make sure that I don't notice in puddles dripping out from underneath the engine some kind of oil leak or radiator leak it would indicate some kind of fluid a line or a hose or a radiator that's been damaged and it's leaking fluid out on the floor so with that being said I don't see any fluids underneath I'm ready to proceed to the engine compartment we're going to start with the passenger side of the engine compartment because there's less things on the passenger side to check I like to do one side get it out of the way and then move to the next one so that way we're not bouncing around back and forth and forgetting things so I'm going to start with opening up the when you open up hood be careful how you open it make sure you use your footrest if you have one as your chill to put forward control so you don't break the hood and then we're going to move around to the passenger side of our engine compartment so we're on the passenger side of our engine compartment now keep in mind every motor is a little bit different every engine every engine compartment this is a Freightliner Columbia 120 it's got a Mercedes motor in it you might be driving a Peterbilt with a Cummings motor in it you could be driving a Kenworth with a Cummings motor in it you everything's gonna be a little bit different so what I want you to be able to do is learn how to identify the parts that you need to check so it doesn't matter what vehicle you're on you know how to find it there's certain ways to track certain things down so if I look at this engine compartment remember what I said on every new section we're going to start with a general overview so a general overview of the passenger side of my engine compartment I don't see anything crack damage or loose I don't see any any hoses that are hanging loose none of my hoses have any abrasions bumps or cuts in them they're not leaking any fluids so I don't see anything damaged so we're going to start with some of the more specific things now on this side of the engine compartment there's really only two things I need to check on this motor on this side what we've got here is the first thing I'm going to check is my water pump my water pump is right here now how do I know it's a water pump well you've got to look for the things that would give you that clue I know what a water pump does a water pump pumps water through the engine and that water comes from the radiator so the radiator being right here what I do is I look for the hoses that come out of the radiator so I've got a hose right here that comes out of the radiator and goes into the top of the water pump right there and then I got a hose over here which comes out of the bottom of the radiator and you can see it right there it clamps to the water pump right there so I know that's my water pump so what I would do is identify that this is my water pump it's not correct it's not damaged or loose it's not leaking any fluids and it's properly bolted to the motor you do have to identify that it is a belt driven water pump there's the belt right there you would have to identify that the belt is not damaged it's not frayed it's not cut has no abrasions bumps or cuts and it has no more than 3/4 of an inch of play on it when the when you push on it to make sure that it's properly type which this one is now if you take a look here the only other thing that we check from this side would be my radiator my radiator is not correct damaged or loose it has no it's it's properly bolted and secured in the frame it has no leaks I can see that it's not leaking the core is not leaking out onto the ground and the radiator is in good condition so everything else on this side of the engine compartment my frame my my brake chambers my tires that there's exactly the same thing on the other side of the engine compartment we'll check it over there so here we are on the driver side of our engine compartment again like with every new section we're going to start with a general overview the general overview of the driver side of my engine compartment I don't see anything crack damaged or loose and I'll see any of my hoses that have any abrasions or cuts in them I'm not leaking any fluids on the ground everything abeer appears to be in good condition on my general overview now I like to use a system that helps me remember things so I work in an order that keeps things in my night I allow what I see on the truck to remind me of what I need to have what I need to check so I like to try and keep it simple work my way from the back of the motor to the front and from the inside of the motor out so if I start at the back firewall here and start looking at things I need to check I know I need to check this this is my overflow reservoir for my radiator system it's not cracked or broken it's not leaking any fluids in any way and you do want to mention that all the hoses that lead to and from it have no abrasions bumps or cuts and that it's not lis they're not leaking any fluid also you want to mention that the cap is properly secured this is my windshield washer fluid reservoir it's not cracked or damaged in any way it's not leaking any fluids caps properly secured so I'm going to work my way again from the back ooh when I start with the motor here I'm going to look at some key components here the first part I'm going to identify here this is my my air compressor pump for my air brake system it's not cracked damaged broken or loose it's properly bolted to the motor the hoses that lead to and from it or properly fitted and they're not leaking in any way the next thing I'm going to look at is what is my power steering pump which is right it's not uncommon to find your power-steering puffs being driven off the exact same gear that drives the air pump you do have to mention that your air pump is not belt driven either in this case if it was belt driven it would be mounted up near the front of the motor with a belt around that this one is gear driven the rete how I know this is my power steering pump is because I've got this is my power steering gearbox here and this is my power steering fluid reservoir well then look at the hoses that lead out of it and I follow the hoses all the way back and I see that with hydraulic lines and hydraulic fittings they go into the power steering pump right there so I know that's my power steering pump you identify that your power steering pump is not cracked damaged broken in any way it's not leaking any fluids and it's it's properly bolted to the motor and all the hoses that lead to and from it have no abrasions bumps or cuts and they're not leaking any fluid okay the next thing I would identify is going to be this is my oil fill cap right here my oil fill cap is properly secured and this is my oil level dipstick the dipstick you don't have to actually pull it out and check it for the pre-trip exam you do have to obviously pull it out and check it when you do a real pre trip all you would identify is this is my dipstick I would check the oil level by pulling it out wiping it clean reinserting it pulling it back out again checking and make sure that the oil is above the AB line you would have to tell the examiner that the next thing you're going to check is your alternator this is my alternator my alternator is not cracked damaged it's properly bolted and secured and you identify that the alternator is belt driven it does have a belt on it the belt is not frayed or damaged in any way and it has no more than 3/4 of an inch of play when you pull on it make sure it's in good condition so as I start working my way out the first thing I'm going to hit is my frame ok this is my frame rail you can see it running there my frame is not cracked damaged or broken it's also you do want to mention that it's free from any illegal welds ok so as I'm working my way out remember I'm going to as I work my way out through the system next thing I'm going to hit is what's bolted to it my shock tower here is my shock my shock upper mount and my lower mount down there are not cracked damaged release or broken the shock itself is not correct damaged or loose and because the shock does have hydraulic fluid in it you you have to mention that the shock is not leaking any fluids then I'm going to go to the front here of my leaf spring hangers these are my leaf spring hangers they're not correct damaged or loose properly bolted to the leaf spring both my front and rear hanger you can see the rear hanger all the way back there it's not crack damaged or loose they're in good condition my leaf spring itself is not cracked damaged or loose it's not bent or broken and in what you're going to do is you're going to look at well what's it bolted to the leaf spring it secures and allows for the suspension components to travel with the front axle the front steer axle this is the front steer axle my front steer axle is not cracked or damaged it's not bent or broken and it's free from any illegal welds and how it's bolted to the leaf spring is through these bolts through this lower air bag plate and these bolts here and these mounting plates on the bottom they're not cracked or damaged venner broken and the bolts are not loose looseness on these areas here would be indicated by shiny metal around them or metal shavings now this is an air-ride front suspension if this had a bump stop on it just a rubber bumps off at the top so that if it bumps up against the frame it doesn't hit metal the metal it would be you bolts that attached it and but in this case it's airbag so you do have to mention that the upper and the lower plates are not cracked damaged or loose they're properly secured to the frame and that the bag itself has no abrasions bumps or cuts and it's not leaking any air out of them okay so I'm going to work my way across as I'm coming out again I'm going to hit my power steering gearbox this is the gearbox that gives the ability as I steer the wheel to turn the to turn the wheels so I'm going to look at all my steering components so the first thing I'm gonna do is hit my drum my powers my my steering shaft it's not cracked damaged bent or broken and remember you do have to mention that it has no more than ten degrees of play when you move it like this it can't have more than ten degrees of slop in it that would indicate that your u joints are starting to wear down and they would need replacing so the next thing I'm going to look at is my u joints my u joints are not cracked or damaged in any way they're not showing you of unusual wear and they're properly lubricated my power steering gearbox is not correct damaged or broken it's not leaking any fluids and it is properly bolted to the frame you would mention the power steering reservoir the fluid reservoir is not crack damaged or broken in it because it holds fluids it's not leaking any fluids out of it and all the hoses that lead to and from it have no abrasions bumps or cuts and they're not leaking any fluid these are your this is your three-piece steering linkage that's all you have to call you don't have to know they independent the individual names your drag link and all that all you have to do is say my three-piece steering linkage is not cracked damaged or broken and it's properly secured with castle nuts you can see these castle nuts there's going to be one right here and there's going to be one right there those are castle nuts they call them castle nuts because they look like the top of a castle either properly secured with castle nuts and your cotter pins that hold them in place okay so as you steer as you turn the power steering gearbox move these pieces which turns this tire well down at the back here right in the back here but behind your front steer axle there's a tie rod you have to check that as well and you have to make sure that your tie rod is not cracked damaged or broken it's free from any illegal welds and what that does what that tie rod does is as you steer okay and you turn the gearbox it turns your front driver's side tire well that tie rod connects to the passenger side tire and it makes a passenger side tire turn the exact same amount that your front your front driver side tire does that's what connects them together that's why it's called a tie rod alright and now we're going to move into the brake components if you look here you'll see that we've got our brake lines that lead to our brake chamber this is our front brake chamber our brake lines have no abrasions bumps or cuts they're not leaking this little electrical line is my front wheel speed sensor for my ABS for my anti-lock braking system it has no abrasions bumps or cuts and it's in good condition this is my front brake chamber now if you look at this you'll notice this is a single chamber this is what would be called a service brake chamber because it doesn't have a spring on the back for emergency breaks you would say that my service my break chamber is not crack damaged or loose it's properly mounted and secured the plate is not crack damaged or loose there's the bolt right there that holds it this piece in here is called your push rod and this is a slack adjuster right here so what you would say is my push rod my break chamber my push rod in my slack adjuster are not crack damaged or loose and my break chamber is not leaking and you would have to check it by pulling on it and making sure that you have no more than one inch of slack on it when the breaks are released so you grab it like this and you pull on it okay now what you're checking there when you pull on that when you apply your brake air pressure builds up behind this chamber here and pushes that push rod out which rotates this cam out this this slack adjuster out which rotates that s camshaft which is down inside here which goes into the brake system and spreads apart the brakes with an S cam device that's inside the brakes so as you apply the brakes this pushes out and that rotates that s camshaft which rotates the S cam which applies the brakes what I'm going to do is I'm going to go poke in the truck real quick and I'm going to apply the brake and you're going to see how it operates so what's happening when you're checking it to make sure that it has no more than one inch of slack what you're doing what this device does is as your brake pads begin to wear when they start off they're about that thick and as they begin to wear they get thinner and thinner well if this didn't accommodate for that where the gap between the pad and the drum would get too big so what this does is every time you apply the brake if it senses that it has to travel too far because the brake pads are wearing it allows it to adjust properly so that when you apply the brakes again it has more travel to it so you have to check that travel and what you're really checking when you pull on that is making sure that the gap between the pads and the drum is sufficient any more than an inch is way too far if it has to travel that far all right what we're going to do now is we're going to reposition the camera and we're going to get a better look at the end the brakes and how they operate all right so we're taking we're inside the drum here we're looking at the because as we moved in from the slack adjuster the next thing you have to check is your brake pads here these are your brake pads your brake pads can't be correct damaged or loose they have to have at least one quarter inch of pad material which these have plenty on them and you want to make sure that they're free from any contaminants or grease between the drum and the pad that there's no oil leaking out from the axle or something like that and getting in between the pad and the drum and you want to make sure that the drum is dry the next thing you would check would be the drum itself it's not cracked or damaged in any way and then the inside of the wheel the inside of the wheel is not cracked or damaged it's free from any illegal welds you do have to notice that some people will try and fix a rim by welding it instead of replacing it that's improper so you have to make sure it's free from any illegal welds the next thing you would check as we're working our way out is the bead here to make sure that the tire is properly seated to the inside of the rim which it is then you would check the inside sidewall of the tire to make sure that it has no abrasions bumps or cuts it's free from any defects and then you would move your way out and we'll check the front of the tire the same way so let's go ahead and do that so now we're on the outside of the tire again you're going to do the same thing like you just checked the inside of the tire wall you're going to check the outside of the tire wall make sure that has no abrasions bumps or cuts it's free from any defects that it is properly seated to the rim itself okay you would also want to check the top of the tire if you come over here you can take a look and what's important to remember about this is you want to make sure that it has no abrasions bumps or cuts it's free from any defects or issues or problems but you also need to remember that because this is a front steer tire it has to have at least four thirty seconds of an inch tread depth on it the tread depth has to be at least four thirty Seconds of an inch deep you would check that with a tire gauge it's simply a little gauge you can put on top of the tire and press the plunger down in there and it'll tell you how deep the tread depth is you want to check it on several different areas of the tires in order to make sure that you don't have an area that's wearing excessively or giving you any issues so you want to make sure the top of the tire is smooth showing any signs of uneven wear at least for 30 seconds of an inch tread depth has no abrasions bumps or cuts nothing no screws or nails or anything stuck in it you do also have to mention that these tires because it's a front steer tire front steer tires have to be virgin radials they can't be recaps they can't be regroups or retreaded tyres they have to be matching virgin radial matching in size from both both front steer tires every vehicle now keep in mind a tractor and a trailer or two independent vehicles every vehicle has to have the same size tires on it so they have to be the same on each vehicle the trailer can have different sized tires then the tractor does and vice versa but on each vehicle they have to be the same but like I said these have to be virgin radials so let's move on to the outside of the rim as we move our way down the rim itself I would check the rim face it's not showing any signs of damage it's not cracked or damaged it's free from any illegal welds remember I said you have to make sure it's free from any illegal welds you would check your lug nut the lug nuts themselves are not cracked or damaged they're not loose looseness you could check by lusus would be indicated many times by rust streaks going down the face of the rim where water rusted out the stud behind and because it's loose that rusty waters allowed to run down the face of the rim and it would leave rust streaks down the face of the rim also sometimes you'll notice around the lug nut itself you'll see shiny metal where it's because it's loose its vibrating and it's wearing the aluminum into a shiny spot you would check your wheel seal my wheel seal is not crack damaged or loose it's not leaking any any fluids out of the front wheel axle and then the last thing I would check would be my valve stem right here my valve stem is not crack damaged it's not leaking any air out of it and this is where you check obviously your tire pressure you do have to mention that I would check my tire pressure now it has to be at least 100 psi and you would check that with a gauge so what we're going to do now is we're going to continue moving down the driver side of the vehicle so here we are on the driver side the truck again general overview the general overview of the side of my truck I don't see anything cracked or damaged or loose my marker lights are clean they're in the proper color so we're going to start with some of the more specific stuff from a check mine I'm here brackets here they're not cracked or damaged on yours are not cracked or damaged they're clean I'm going to check my door my windows not cracked or damaged the door itself opens properly I'm going to check the hinges on the inside of the door to check my weather stripping doesn't appear to have any abrasions bumps or cuts it's in good condition or closes properly I'm going to work my way down the side check my fuel tank my fuel tank straps that secure the fuel tank are not cracked or damaged the fuel tank itself is not cracked or damaged it's not leaking any any diesel fuel out of it you're going to need to check the cap by removing it because you've got to look inside here there's a safety seal on the inside here you want to make sure that it's not cracked or damaged it's not showing any abrasions bumps or cuts and that's a safety chain itself is present so you don't lose your cut check my steps they're not cracked or damaged properly bolted in place they're in good condition work my way down the side of the vehicle I'm going to come around to the to the back here of the vehicle and I'm going to check my the back of my truck the back of my truck has no intrusions into the cab nothing is cracked or damaged I don't see anything loosening the brackets any of my pharynx here not cracked or damaged I'm going to check on my lenses lights and reflectors there cleaning of the proper color now remember I said that we only go to the passenger side to do something that is not it located here if it's something unique on the passenger side and this is different for every vehicle on this vehicle this vehicle doesn't have exhaust stacks like you see on most semis this truck has what they call a weed burner because it's an exhaust that points down to the ground and it's on the passenger side so let's go over there and I'll show you how to check that so this is the exhaust this exhaust muffler here and the exhaust runs up along the frame rail there I'm going to check my exhaust my muffler it's not cracked or damaged it's properly bolted all the straps are in good condition the exhaust system itself is not crashed damaged it's not leaking for an exhaust system leak sweeping indicated around the clamps but black soot you can see black soot coming out from around the clamps in this case we don't have any issues everything is properly secured in this exhaust system is in good condition so we're going to move back over to the driver side of the vehicle so we're back here on the driver's side of our vehicle we're going to continue our check through we finished up on this part we did the back of the the truck we're going to finish we're going to continue with the hoses all my hoses have no abrasions bumps or cuts they're not cracked or damaged in any way they got sufficient clearance off the catwalk so I know that they're not going to rub against the catwalk that's a good opportunity to check my guess block it's not cracking damage none of them are loose they're in good condition I can check these air bags right here because they are part of the air system this is an air-ride cab the air bags have no abrasions bumps or cuts and they're not leaking in the air they're in good condition I'm going to check my frame rails my frame rails are not cracked or damaged in any way they're not showing any signs of illegal welds it's not damaged my drive shaft my drive shaft is not cracked or damaged it's in good condition the u-joints that are on the drive shaft they go to the differential are not cracked or damaged you're not showing any signs of uneven wear and they are properly greased I'm going to check my glide hands where they couple to the trailer this is how it supplies air to the trailer you would remove them and check the seals in the inside make sure that they have no abrasions bumps or cuts and that they're properly connected I would also check my electrical line make sure it's properly secured you would pull it look inside and make sure there's no debris stuck inside and that there's no none of the prongs are bent as well I would check the the front of my trailer to make sure there's no intrusions into the trailer that it's not damaged in any way I don't see anything cracked or damaged my marker lights at the top are clean they're not crack damaged in there of the proper color so if you want to come around the other side we'll start checking we'll start moving our way down the trailer and we'll check the coupling as well so we're going to move around side of our trailer here we're going to check this is called our side skirt our skirt is not cracked or damaged it's not broken we're going to get down we're going to get underneath and we're going to lift us under here we're gonna start with our coupling here now this is our 5th wheel assembly ok and this upper part here is this is the apron for the trailer ok this is the part that rides on the fifth wheel assembly so you're going to say my apron is not cracked or damaged in any way it's in good condition this is my fifth wheel my fifth wheel skid plate is not cracked or damaged it's not bent or broken it's properly secured to the platform here with this platform pin the platform pin is not cracked or damaged properly secured with a cotter pin this is the release handle for the fifth wheel that releases it so you can pull the trailer away the release handle is not cracked or damaged and it is in the locked position meaning it's pulled all the way back if it was sticking out here it would be in the released position but this is in the locked position the platform itself is not cracked or damaged it's not better broken and then you would identify that this particular fifth wheel is a non sliding fifth wheel this is bolted to the frame directly it doesn't slide and both my upper and my lower bolts are properly secured they're not cracked or damaged and it is properly bolted to the frame if this was a sliding fifth wheel the sliding fit you would indicate that it is a sliding fifth wheel that the pins are in the locked position in the carriage that it rides in and you would also need to check the the Hydra I mean the air piston that moves the the slide the fifth wheel release back and forth that the air piston itself is not cracked or damaged and that the hose leading to it has no abrasions bumps or cuts and it's not leaking in any way but because this is a non sliding fifth wheel you don't need to let's go we're going to move around to underneath the truck and continue the coupling from there so if you look up inside the fifth wheel there you can see the fifth wheel this shackle is locked around the shank of the kingpin and it's in the locked position I can see all the grease it's on my kingpin so I know my kingpin is not properties properly greased and that tells me that I'm properly coupled to to the fifth wheel now from you can see it from the side and from the back the other thing you want to make sure of that's very important that you don't have any gap any daylight between the apron and the fifth-wheel you want to make sure that that lets you know that the trailer is properly rested on the fifth-wheel and then you have an hi hook but if I can look back in there and see that it's locked in the lock position with the shackle around that shank then I know that it's actually coupled properly and there's no daylight between my fifth wheel and the trailer apron so what we're going to do now is I'm going to uncouple this tractor and trailer and pull it away so that I can give you a better view of some of the things that we're going to be checking at the back of the tractor right now alright so like I said we're going to uncouple here again I wanted to show you real quick before we do that again I've got no gap between that fifth wheel and that apron there so I know I'm properly coupled but what we're going to do now is I'm going to grab this release handle here and I'm going to pull it out and I'm going to lock it open now I've unlocked that shackle that went around the kingpin so I can pull away I've put my landing gear down right now so you can see that it's not going to drop the trailer I'm going to disconnect my Air Lines and my electrical line I'm going to go ahead and stow them real quick and then I'll pull the truck forward and we'll go to the back of the truck and show you the things at the back of the truck you need to know okay so we're at the back of the truck like I said I've uncoupled from the trailer so we get a better view of some of the parts we're going to be looking at here let's again let's take a look at a stake a look at this over here you would check this normally from underneath the tractor but like I said so you can see it better on the film here's what we did here's what we're going to be checking this is your torque arm for your rear differential you need to check that make sure it's not crack damaged or loose and it's properly secured with all the bolts in place you're going to check your rear axle your rear drive axle this is your differential it's not cracked damaged or loose it's not leaking any fluids out of it it's in good condition the rear drive shaft that goes from the front differential for insulin is enough tractor damaged the universal joints are in good shape they're not showing any signs of uneven wear they're properly greased so as I work my way over I'm going to hit my brake lines the brake lines that go to my rear brake chamber here have no abrasions bumps or cuts they're not leaking in any way there's my wheel speed sensor line to the rear axle it's not showing any abrasions bumps or cuts my rear brake chamber is not cracked damaged or loose the push rod the slack adjuster is not crack damaged or loose the mounting bracket for the brake chamber is not cracked damaged loosen the brake chamber is properly secured to the bracket as I work my way back to here this is an air-ride suspension so this isn't this doesn't have leaf springs this is an air-ride suspension my airbag both the upper and the lower plates that mount the airbag are not cracked damaged or loose the air lines that lead to the airbag have no abrasions bumps or cuts they're not leaking in the airbag has a no abrasions bumps or cuts and it's not leaking they come on around over here we'll take a look we'll work our way to the inside of the to the wheels so we start as we work our way out from the frame the frame itself is not cracked or damaged it's not broken it's free from any illegal welds the upper and the lower shock mount are not correct damaged or broken and the shock is not crack damaged broken or leaking any fluids it's properly bolted to the to the frame through the brackets it's kind of just same way you did it on the front end to the same same system now what's important to notice here these are not leaf springs okay this is a control arm because this is an airbag suspension not a leaf spring suspension so you want to check that come around on the side here and I'll show you where you start from again keeping it all in an order so you'll understand it this is your frame bracket for the control arm the frame bracket is not cracked damaged or broken it's properly secured to the frame and it's in good condition the eye bolt this is what's called an eye bolt that secures it to the frame bracket it's not correct damaged or broken it's properly secured the control arm is not cracked damaged or bro and it's in good condition if you take a look here you will see that the control arm is bolted to the rear differential hold it in place through these u joints here I mean these u-bolts these u-bolts are not cracked damaged or broken or loose looseness would be indicated by shiny metal or metal shavings okay so again we're going to do this is just like we did on the front tires okay we've worked our way to the inside of the of the wheel we've got my our brake pads here our brake pads are not cracked or damaged they have at least one quarter inch of pad on them the brake drums themselves are not cracked or damaged or broken the inside of my rim is not cracked damaged broken free from any illegal welds the tire is properly secured and mounted to the rim the inside of my tire sidewall is not has no abrasions bumps or cuts it's not showing any kind of damage I work my way across the top of the tire the tire has no uneven wear and has no abrasions bumps or cuts now because this is a rear tire either a trailer tire or a drive tire it only needs to thirty seconds of an inch tread depth not for like on the front this has more than two thirty seconds of an inch tread depth I work my way to the outside of my inner tire the sidewall has no abrasions bumps or cuts it's properly mounted to the rim on the inside here the rim itself the inside of the duals is not cracked or damaged it's free from any illegal welds I work my way to this tire bead for my outside tire is not crack the bead itself is not cracked damaged or broken and these tire is properly mounted to the bead on the sidewall the inner sidewall of my outer tire has no abrasions bumps or cuts it's free from any damage I've worked my way across the top of the tire again just like I did as a more than two thirty seconds of an inch tread depth no abrasions bumps or cuts nothing stuck in the tire work my way to the sidewall here no abrasions bumps or cuts in good condition properly mounted to the rim itself is not cracked or damaged it's free from any illegal welds these are my lug nuts my lug nuts are properly secured remember looseness would be indicated by shiny metal metal shavings my wheel seal is not leaking any oil into the inside of the rim here's my valve stem now remember on a drive tire like this where you've got tools you've got you've got to check both valve stems it can't be cracked damaged or loose and they don't want to be leaking and because again these are duals you got dual tires there's one other thing you have to check for here you do have to make sure that you have proper clearance between the duals and that there's no debris caught between the tires something you may have run over out on the road that got trapped between the tires and it's going to rub and cause friction now something about these tires because they are because they are rear tires either drive tires or trailer tires can be recaps or retreads these are three caps there's a couple ways you can tell you'll see a seam around the outside here also if you look here you'll see a seam right here if you look right there you can see that seam that runs across the tire there that's where the belting was glued in place it was stretched back across the tire after they shaved it down and they reglued tread back on that so but because this is a rear drive tire that's that's perfectly okay to do that now that we're I've been back here we would check our mud flat liner is not crack damaged or broken or loose my mud flaps in good condition it's got sufficient clearance off the ground and you would also check the back area here my lenses and my lights are clean and they're of the proper color we're going to go ahead and we're going to back back up underneath the trailer again so I can show you the other things you'd be checking for as you move your way down the trailer so we've coupled back up to this trailer so that we can take a look at the other things we'd be looking at one of the other things that you would be checking is to make sure that you have proper clearance between the back of your tractors frame and your landing gear so that when you turn you're not going crash the tractor frame into the landing gear that would lead us to our landing gear you check the landing gear make sure that it's not cracked or damaged all the lateral bracing is secured bolted in place it's not cracked or damaged check your landing gear handle make sure that your landing gear probably up and down which in this case it does restore your now I'm going to move along it on bottom end of my trailer here all my cross bracing is not cracked or damaged it's not loose it's in good condition I'm going to work my way down here to my airlines my airlines are not practic damaged or loose nothing is hanging from them all the fittings are not crack damaged or loose the lines themselves have no abrasions bumps or cuts and we want to make sure that they have sufficient clearance from the ground to make sure that they're in good condition and what we're going to do now is we're going to take a look at the back trailer tandem and show you what you need to check there so we're back underneath this tandem now here's the things we're going to be looking for the rear axle is not cracked or damaged it's not leaking any fluids out of it these are our brake chambers here you can see the brake chambers these are spring brake chambers number one because it's on a trailer made past 1975 it has to be spring brakes but also you can tell cuz it's got the dual lines leading to it one is for the service brake side when it's for the emergency brake side the hoses leading to the brake chambers have no abrasions bumps or cuts they're not leaking properly secured to the brake chamber this is my ABS line it's not cracked or damaged leading to the wheel speed sensor the brake chambers themselves are not crack damaged or loose the push rod and the slack adjuster is not cracked too damaged or loose you would check this like adjuster by pulling on it now you do have to mention you would have to say with the brakes released see if I pull on it right now it's rock solid well that's because the brakes are set the brake pads are pushing up against the inside of the drum and they're not going to move anywhere you have to check it with the brakes release to make sure that the adjustment is in good order as I work my way to the outside you're going to look you can see your shock towers here they're the same on either side the shock tower is not crack damaged or loose the upper and lower shock plates our mounts are not cracked Amager loose the shocks are not leaking any fluid out of them I would check my control arms here these are the control arms that hold the airbags and that's what it rides up and down on the control arms are not cracked damaged or loose the upper and lower mounting plates for my airbags are not crack damaged or loose the airbags are free from any abrasions bumps or cuts and it's not leaking in any way work my way to the inside of my brakes again this is the same as you've checked every brake if you look at the inside of the brake you can see that the brake pads are not crack damaged or loose they have at least one quarter inch of pad material the brake drum is not cracked damaged or loose it's free from any contaminants oil or grease the inside of my wheel is not cracked damaged or loose it's free from any illegal welds the inside of my tire wall has no abrasions bumps or cuts it is properly seated to the rim and will move our way to the outside and I'll show you the rest of it alright so we left off on the inside tire sidewall exactly the same as you've checked the rear drive tires of the track of the tractor check the tops of the tires not showing any abrasions bumps or cuts no objects impaled into them have at least 2 30 seconds of an inch tread depth these are rear trailer tire same as the drives that's fine check the sidewall of the inner tire no abrasions bumps or cuts properly seated to the rim the rim has no cracks it's not damaged in any way free from any illegal welds the inside sidewall of the outside tire same thing no abrasions bumps or cuts properly seated to the rim this sidewall no abrasions bumps or cuts properly seated to the rim again this is a retread you can see the seamer on it it's okay it's a real trailer tire no problem properly seated to the rim the rim has no cracks look free from any illegal welds all my lug nuts are in place they're not cracked or loose looseness would be indicated by rust streaks or shiny metal my valve stem is in good condition it's not cracked or loose leaking in the air out of it remember at least 100 psi of air pressure you would check it with a gauge and my wheel seal is not cracked or leaking any fluids all right move our way around to the back of the trailer here hit my mud flap my mud flap hangers my ABS light rear lights they're clean or the proper color to not crack damaged or loose on my mud flaps they're properly cleared off the ground work my way to the back of the trailer here back in my trailer general overview nothing appears to be cracked or damaged no intrusions or holes in my trailer door it's in good shape it's locked my lenses and my lights and my reflectors at the back of the trailer are clean into the proper color my d-o-t bumper is not cracked or damaged and I do have the d-o-t reflective tape in place and it is clean and other proper color that concludes the exterior portion of the pre-trip inspection here's what you need to remember like I said right now you would be able to tell the examiner look I've already checked this side of the truck I would check the other side of the truck the same way I just checked this side again they're not examining the truck they're examining you they're making sure that you know how to do a pre-trip inspection obviously on a real pre-trip inspection you need to check the whole truck you need to walk around all you need to check all Tigers in all brakes but for the purposes of passing the test you only need to demonstrate it on one set of axles because every other axle is exactly the same and you'll see that recurring way of doing it over and over and over again it's the same way of checking it you just need to know exactly what you're checking for its specific points now we're going to start the end cap portion of our so now we're going to start the in-cab portion of the pre-trip inspection where you check all the gauges and your dash and your brakes and all that your end cap starts typically depending on the truck and where everything is positioned at a lot of times they'll start outside the truck because you've got it the first three things you're going to check for is your three emergency devices that you have to have which is going to be your fuses your spare electrical fuses if your truck uses fuses your 10 B C or better fire extinguisher and your three reflective triangles in this case there's a light handle little handle down here I release it pops the door open on the side all of those things are back here when you're doing the pre-trip exam for the examiner you do have to actually open the door and show it to him he's going to be outside the truck with you and you'll show him where those devices are and then he'll climb around the inside and you'll start the actual end cap portion so remember your spare electrical fuses your three reflective triangles and your 10 BC or better fire extinguisher and they have in the fire extinguisher has to be properly mounted in place secured it has to be current and properly charged all right so we're going to step up onto the inside here and we're going to start our end cap now I like just like all of my pre trip inspection I like to work it in a system okay so that I like to let things flow across so that way I don't forget anything and I keep things where I can memorize everything so the first thing we're going to do and it's critical to remember this is put your seat belt on if you don't put your seat belt on during the pre trip they will fail you so I'm going to put my seat belt on and you also want to mention to the examiner to put their seat belt on as well because they won't put it on if you don't tell them I'm going to check my seat belt make sure it doesn't have any abrasions or frays or cuts on it you seat belt properly latches I'm going to look around on my floor board and make sure that my floor board is free from any kind of debris that might roll around on the floor board and get caught underneath my pedals so they can't operate the pedals properly in this case I'm fine I'm going to check my shifter it's not cracked or damaged it's not broken in any way my splitter is working properly okay and I'm going to start working my way around I like to work from left to right my winch my windows are or cracked or damaged or cleaning of the proper color my mirrors are not cracked or damaged they're clean they're properly adjusted my windshield is not cracked or damaged has no no obstructions and illegal stickers on it that would impede my view or prevent me from being able to see properly I'll work my way across to the passenger side windows they're the same they're clean they're not cracked or damaged my mirrors are clean they're not cracked or damaged and they're properly adjusted properly adjusted means I can see down both sides of my trailer equally I've got a clear view of my trailer but I can also see what's outside the trailer as well so I can see where my trailer is going while I'm backing up I can also see that where vehicles are while I'm driving down the road all right so we're going to need to go ahead and start the vehicle up now so that I can check all my gauges the vehicle has to be running for that we're going to perform what's called a safe start a safe start just simply means you make sure the vehicle is in neutral you move the shifter from side to side if it's in gear it'll be stiff it won't move if it's in neutral it moves back and forth from side to side freely I'm going to fully engage in the clutch then I'm going to start the truck up now at that point I can check my ABS light when you first turn the key on and start the truck up opportunity to check my ABS late your anti-lock brake light it should come on and then go off if it doesn't come along something wrong with the ABS if it comes on it stays on some from the ABS while it's doing its prequel diagnostic and come on and then go off okay so first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to check I'm going to start again just like I did with everything else I've worked my way from left to right I'm gonna start checking all my gauges the gauges are easy to check because the gauges tell you what they are model pressure gauge is operating properly it's at the proper operating levels I've got my water temperature gauge is that proper operating levels my volt meter is working properly to the proper operating levels my rpm gauge my tachometer I can rev the engine up and I can see it's working properly now my speedometer I can't tell if it's working properly because I'm not moving yet you'll get to do that when you do your rolling brake test okay my air pressure gauge is both my primary and secondary they're charged and M by the proper operating levels my fuel is I've got fuel at the proper operating amount of fuel like too safe to go out on the road with it I've got an application for pressure gauge here which is not showing anything right now without applying the brake and my transmission temperature gauge is fine as well work my way across what do I got here I've got my my windshield wipers my windshield wipers work windshield wipers themselves have no abrasions or cuts on if they're in good condition and my washer works spraying fluid leaves my windshield properly it's working properly okay at this point I want to check you can start running through your lights start checking my lights I've got my left turn signal works properly my right turn signal properly my hazard works properly as I'm working my way across I would check my my my front headlights turn them on the light indicators come on my brights my bright indicator comes on my brights are working okay you want to check you got to check your defroster defroster is not a luxury in a truck like this when you're operating in cold conditions you want to make sure your windows don't clog up so we turn it to the defrost position and you have to make sure blowing on the show which it is working properly so I think rosters working turn the pan off now I know that's working at this time I can check my horn I can check both my city horn by airhorn they're working properly so they're in good condition right so check all my gauges I checked everything on my dad my my - check my windows my mirrors I check my horn now I'm going to go into my break check this is remember what I said if you do your brake check the brake check is the one part that you can't miss anything on you have to do 100% - right very simple there's not a lot to all these other things we mentioned if I miss one thing here or another it's not going to fail me just means I haven't accumulated that point but I can still accumulate enough points the best you don't do your break check right well not fast so let's go ahead and start the break check in order to start the break check what you're checking for is to make sure the system is not leaking to an extent that makes the vehicle unsafe to operate you have to shut the truck off in order to do that because if the compressor is still running it will mask any leaks because it'll keep building pressure so we got to shut the engine off but before we do that because we're going to be disengaging the brakes I've got to bring the vehicle into gear so it doesn't roll away so I'm going to push the clutch in I'm going to bring the vehicle put it back in the first year and without letting the clutch off I'm going to go ahead and shut the engine okay now I can let the clutch out but now I need to turn the key back on because if I don't turn the key back on my gauges won't work so I'm going to turn the key back on okay and then I like to put the window down I like to put the window down so I can listen for any air leaks outside so I'm going to put my window down now I'm going to start my bright check but here's the one of the most important things that needs to be done that people forget to do all the time they forget to push their brakes in they forget to push these parking brake control knobs in if you don't charge the brake system you can't tell if it's working or not you can't tell if the system is leaking or not so I have to push these brake knobs in in order to make sure that I have to charge the entire system to listen for leaks so I'm going to start by first pushing the knobs in okay that's why I had to put it in here so the vehicle doesn't roll away okay push the knobs in and I'm going to wait while the system fills with air that's not a leak that's different areas and chambers being filled up with air pressure you're going to give it about 10 seconds 15 seconds for systems stabilized and you're going to wait and I'm going to also listen outside and make sure that it's not leaking which it's not okay now I'm going to start my static break check my static break check means I'm going to look at my gauges now remember because this is a combination vehicle it's not a straight vehicle my combination vehicle maximum air pressure loss on a static brake check with no brake applied is going to be 3 psi no more than 3 psi over a 60-second period so I'm going to start my static brake check I'm going to watch my gauges I'm going to tell the examiner I'm going to make sure that I don't have any more than 3 psi or air loss in both my primary and secondary air gauges over a 60 second period okay so I'm watching the gauges they're not losing any air and then what will typically happen is the the examiner is not going to make you wait a full 60 seconds all right they're going to say they've usually got a stopwatch and they'll say okay go ahead and move on and then you'll move on then the next thing you're going to do is your applied pressure test you've got to apply the brake so you can put your foot on the brake pedal and you're going to apply it and hold it okay now I've done my applied pressure test I'm going to watch the gauges I can't have because I'm applying the pressure now it allows me one more psi of air pressure loss over sixty second period so now I'm going to say I can't have more than four psi of air pressure loss over a 60-second period on my applied pressure test okay I'm going to go ahead and release it after the examiner tells me it's okay and I've gone 60 seconds now I'm going to do my leak down my leak down is to simulate an air leak in the system so that I'm checking my early my low pressure warning signal that goes on at 60 psi okay so I'm going to start Fanning the brakes down remember every time you apply the brakes and release them you use and lose a little bit of air pressure so every time I hear press release press and release my air pressure gauge drops my early warning buzzer and the light came on on the dashboard at 60 psi so I know that my low pressure warning signal is working properly now the next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to check my emergency valves my emergency brake valves to make sure that they pop out automatically like they're supposed to in a commercial vehicle like this with air brakes as you start losing air pressure if you get too low on air pressure these valves won't stay open they'll pop out automatically which would apply your emergency brakes on you so I'm going to continue Fanning it down and my emergency brakes are going to come on somewhere between 20 and 45 psi so I start planning the brakes and watch the valves if you have to make sure they both pop out all right there you go they just both popped out that let me know that my emergency brakes come on from both my tractor and my trailer okay and they came on somewhere between 20 and 45 psi my emergency brakes work simple way to remember that step is remember the acronym sail si le okay the first thing I'm going to do is s first s is static my static brake check a my applied right check by applying the brake l my low pressure warning signal and E my emergency braking sale si le that's very simple way to remember all right now I'm going to go ahead and I have to start the truck back up because I got to recharge the air system and I'm going to do my brake checks I'm going to actually make sure that the brakes are holding and that they're working properly so again we're going to perform a safe start I'm going to push a clutch in disengage the shifter because remember I had it in gear make sure it's in neutral start the truck up now my buzz are still going because my air pressures too low is below 60 psi so I'm going to run the air I'm going to run it up by running the engine up to a fast idle so that my compressor is working faster gives up to the proper operating levels here and what we're going to do next is we're going to do our tug tests on our emergency brakes and we're going to do our rolling tests our service race two different two different operating systems your service brakes are applied with your bow your service call the emergency brakes are applied to either setting the parking brake by pulling the knobs out or because you've lost too much air pressure they pop down automatically on their own okay so now you'll notice that my buzzer went off because I'm up to sufficient air pressure hump way above 60 psi now and I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to start my tug test on my brakes so I'm going to be checking first thing I'm checking is my emergency are my parking brace now you're going to have to check these individual you know check them at the same time right now they're both set my tractor and my trailer are set if I put the vehicle in here and tugged against it I don't know which ones holding it the trailer could be holding it or the tractor could be holding it I've got to check them individually to make sure that they're both working so you can operate this individually so it doesn't matter which order you doing it I like to check my trailer first so what I'm going to do is push the clutch in I'm going to bring the vehicle into first year leave the clutch pressed in and the first thing I'm going to do is release this spring brakes on my tractor so by pushing in the yellow knob now I've released the grates on the tractor my trailer brakes are still holding now I'm going to lightly let the clutch out and you're going to feel the vehicle tug against the clutch but it didn't go anywhere I'll do it again it didn't go anywhere because the trailers spring breaks are holding okay so I know they're working properly after they're set they're holding the wheels from turning now I got to check the tractor so I've got to release the trailer brake so I'm going to set the tractor brakes I'm going to release the trailer brakes now my trailer brakes would roll right now but my tractor brakes won't so I'm going to let the clutch out again vehicle doesn't go anywhere that's because the brakes are set okay so now they're both I know they're both work now what I'm going to do is I'm going to release my tractor brakes my trailer brakes are released the vehicle will roll now I'm going to let out the clutch I'm going to get up to about five miles an hour and I'm going to lightly hold the steering wheel and then I'm going to apply the service brake so I'm going to be checking my foot pedal brake my service great so let the clutch out get the vehicle rolling I'm going to get up to about five mile an hour and this is an opportunity to check my speedometer push manometer is working I'm going to push the clutch in and apply the vehicle came to a stop I likely held the steering wheel because if the steering wheel jerked when I applied the brake from one side to another that would mean one brake was grabbing while the other one wasn't could indicate that it's out of adjustment in this case it worked fun put the vehicle back in reverse and I'm going to back back end where I started from all right and that concludes the endcap portion and your break check for the CDL test that's all you're required to do keep those in order and remember your sale si le and then remember to do your trailer tug your tractor tug and your five-mile-an-hour roll test for purposes so you'll understand one thing this isn't required to do in the test but I want you to understand how it works this is our trailer brake this is they call it your trolley valve your Johnny gar sometimes it'll be a handle that's on the steering column sometimes it's on the dashboard this applies just the trailers service race not the trailers parking brake the trailers service brake okay so if I want to check that it's a tug test same as I did on the on the emerging rate bring the vehicle back into first year and then I would apply the trailer brake and lightly let out the clutch the vehicle doesn't go anywhere that's because I'm holding the trailers service breaks you're not required to do that in the test but this lets you know how it is a good idea to check it because you might matter this might be a trailer that you've never driven before you've never pulled it you don't know anything about it you don't know if the service brakes work properly that gives you an opportunity to check the trailer that you just picked up now I'm going to put the vehicle back in neutral and I'm going to set the barking race again by pulling them out I've just exhausted the air set the parking brakes shut the engine off and we've disc included our pre trip inspection if you need change in your life something challenging and new a career spoiler warning [Music] take the first step future today [Music] give us a car and yeah you [Music]

Channel: Apex CDL Institute

Views: 5,723,654

Rating: 4.8168855 out of 5

Keywords: Pre trip inspection, CDL training, Pre trip training, class a vehicle, Class A CDL Pre trip, truck driving school, truck driving school kansas city, cdl training kansas city, truck driver training, Commercial Driver's License, Class A Truck, Truck (Automotive Class), Truck Driver (Profession), Automotive Industry (Industry)

Id: EfW615ZnELE

Length: 61min 6sec (3666 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 03 2014