Using Blue Air Lines For Red. Legal?

It's absolutely legal to do so. DOT doesn't care about the color only that the lines aren't chafed, rubbing, leaking, or about to break. He'll mine are both black rubber and I've never had a problem. The only concern I'd have is if the drivers are smart enough to look at the hand and not the line to kno which is which.

 

I drove a Volvo and both air lines were green but had a blue and a red glad hand. The green lines were not the coiled type; they were straight like a garden hose. I didn't ask the shop guys, since the glad hands were color coded. Evidently, nothing illegal about it.

 

What would a color blind driver be seeing? Drivers need to be aware that the inside line goes to the inside and the outside to the outside!

 

I don't understand how you are repeatedly busting lines. Even an extreme jack you should have sufficient line length. There are several setups form a coiled line to a flexible tree holding up your straight lines to springs supporting your lines.
Perhaps you need to go to a flatbed setup and extend the connections to the frame or move the existing fixed connections more towards center. There is a permanent solution to where you don't have to keep buying lines. Maybe even spread the glad hand a little to where it still maintains pressure but the glad hand pops off? Anything but break the line. My new Pete come with the lines laying on the catwalk. I had to make modifications to make them legal.

Brake hoses are covered under 393.45 which besides a few other things only says they must meet the criteria of FMVSS 106 (49 CFR 571.106) which is 34 pages of everything you can possibly think of related to a brake hose. No where in either regulation is color mentioned.

Only in the drivers manual is color mentioned.

One reason color isn't a big deal is if you accidentally crossed the lines you are not going anywhere. So go ahead and use the blue lines up for now but I would look for a more permanent solution.

 

Have you thought about switching to black rubber lines? IMO they are more durable and tolerant than the cheap plastic coils.

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...s/252269-2-level-1-inspections-back-back.html Is this similar to the ops concern?

 

air lines break. more so in the winter then summer.

some trailers i've pulled had swiveling glad hands. but those are expensive.

i pack a bag of crushers and inserts. when the line breaks. i take apart. new crusher and insert. slap back together. good as new. $2 in parts.
equip the trucks with parts and make em have wrenches and a razorblade knife. fix on the spot. no waiting for a new hose. which is more expensive.

one local company i worked for. had kits in all their trucks. could fix ANY type of air leak or break. and they had tool kits that they sold to the drivers.

 

the only time my air lines ever broke is when some numbskull at a shipper decided he was going to disconnect my lines

in other words, its not the lines but the person disconnecting them that is breaking them

get the extenders, its easier to remove the lines without putting unnecessary pressure directly on the lines