I've really got to disagree here...
Hydraulic brakes are simpler, cheaper, and more reliable long term than air brakes. That is why they are used on every car and light/medium weight truck on the road today.
Every car, maybe... Light truck? Where are you breaking that class? half tons? No air brakes in a half ton trucks, but how many of those little cabover city trucks have air, and are rated at a lower GVW than a lot of 3/4 ton pickups...
Look at all of the rigmarole that truckers have to go through with air brake systems: Daily checks and maintenance, special training and licenses,
No, not at all. Look at the rigmarole that truckers have to go through because they are commercial. Brakes are irrelevant to that. If you operate air brakes, then you pretrip air brakes. If you operate hydraulic brakes, then you pretrip hydraulic brakes.
finesse with the brake treadle...
That depends what you're driving. FMVSS has set forth minimum and maximum pedal efforts, and any braking system made is free to use the whole range. Both air and hydraulic system manufacturers like to skirt the line both light and heavy depending on their target market. Some treadles can even be adjusted to driver's preferences.
With hydraulic brakes, that can be safely put off to an annual maintenance program. Anyone that can find the brake pedal can make hydraulic brakes work.
Same goes for air. The vehicle won't move until it's safe to do so. Can't say that for hydraulic brakes. Air brakes are not inspected any more than hydraulic brakes. Barring a few states that needed a new law for whatever reason, typically under 26K vehicles do not need any kind of licensing. Nor do the CDL trucks anywhere for that matter. Air brakes are not a "special license", but rather they are a restriction. Are you familiar with the licensing? It's just like a manual transmission. You do not need a special license, but if you demonstrate to the instructor that you can't operate one, he can place a RESTRICTION that you may only drive an automatic... The endorsement on your license for air is not really anything special. It pretty much just certifies you to determine which glad hand to couple together and how to figure out if you got them wrong, which trailers are required to have spring brakes, which trailers and vehicles are required (or allowed) to have which warnings, and covers the pre-trip portion specific to that type of braking system. Used to cover adjusting them too, but manual slack adjusters are so few and far between any more that they no longer cover even that.
Air brake systems had such a bad reputation for catastrophic failure in the 1950's and 60's that the ICC (now DOT) had to insist on double redundant safety systems on every axle
Yeah they did. But then again, they did that with hydraulic brakes too. Either system was typically a single circuit back then, both were prone to catastrophic failure, and it was eventually required that any braking system whatsoever have redundancies and failsafes and warning systems built into them.
; spring brakes that prevent the vehicle from moving even one inch if the air system had a failure anywhere;
Why... Because they CAN... Can you set up a hydraulic drum brake default to a moderately applied mode to serve parking and emergency secondary failsafe stopping duties? Lucas Girling. Nuff said.
alarms and gauges to alert the driver to catastrophic failure;
And hydraulic brakes do what when there is catastrophic failure? Prior to the redundancy requirements, they did nothing. After the redundancy requirements, they did exactly that. The light in front of you is red, and traffic is crossing in front of you, and your brake pedal is flat on the floor... Your car, truck, motorhome, whatever you're driving will inform you that the pedal is on the floor and that it's now OK with the FMVSS people for you to go ahead and wet yourself.
and special training for every driver.
Special training again... Absolutely, but no more "special" than driver's ed. That training (or demonstrated mastery) was already absolutely required of every driver in the US in order to acquire a "regular" license. Air brakes do require a demonstrated mastery. Just like driving cars, you can go to school for this if you wish, you can learn on the job, you can just be born knowing everything and just walk in and take the test. Do you hold it against hydraulic brakes that they are taught in driver's ed, and require a demonstrated mastery before you can get your regular license?
These systems add four or five thousand dollars to the cost of every truck.
That's because you get what you pay for. I'm not seeing the correlation to this though? A deuce already has all of the expensive stuff, deciding to check the "air" or "hydraulic" brake option wouldn't have change the price much, and I suspect air would have been a touch cheaper.
On another vehicle, WITHOUT an air system, you're right it's an expensive up front cost. It's paid for in short order in the reduced maintenance and extended service life of the wearable parts, and a lot less expensive to operate over time, measured in both cash and down time.
The past and present hazards of air brake systems are permanently enshrined in the special training, and constant checking every truck driver is required to get/do before he is allowed to drive an air brake equipped vehicle on the road.
That is an unfortunate misconception that you have about the way the inspection process works. Every commercial driver (regardless of brake types) is required to inspect every vehicle that they drive, including it's brakes and keep a record, as does their employer. The requirement is one of being a commercial driver and applies to every vehicle in commerce. Doesn't matter what you're driving, air or no air.
Why would anybody put up with air brakes?
You should try it before you knock it.
Pretty much for the same reason that some folks want automatic transmissions and power steering: The chief advantage to the air brake system is also its chief disadvantage: the driver doesn't feel any more pedal pressure for heavy loads and hard braking than for light loads and easy braking.
That's just crazy... I'ts a pedal, you push down on it when you'd like to stop... Pedal effort is already mandated and regulated to minimum and maximum levels. If loading your vehicle makes ANY brakes, including hydraulic brakes difficult to operate, then there is a problem with the brakes or there is a problem with the load.
A secondary advantage is trailers are super easy to connect, and add no additional braking effort.
Two hoses and a seven way electrical plug, and two safety chains unless it's on a kingpiin.
Versus electric brakes, with one tether, a seven way electrical plug and two safety chains unless it's on a kingpin... Saved one hookup.
Or Surge brakes, there's a tether, a four way electrical plug, two safety chains...
Not a deal breaker either way in my book...
And the braking effort... If an air or electric or surge brake trailer is causing you excessive pedal effort, then there is a problem with the truck's brakes, a problem with the trailer's brakes, or a problem with the load.
A properly set up and maintained air assisted hydraulic system gives you all of the braking the deuce needs, and gives you easy trailer connection too. The best of all worlds in my opinion.
Absolutely, you are quite right on that point. It will certainly give you all the braking you need. The foundation brakes are awesome, the hydraulic system mediocre, but the job at hand does not at all exceed it's limits, it will do the job quite nicely.
Where the deuce brakes lack is in being high maintenance, short service life for the mechanical components, having no failsafe mechainisms, ZERO redundancy in the event of the smallest of failures, and most often giving no signs of impending failures. This is the issue that people are addressing when they discuss "upgrading" a deuce's brakes, be it air or hydraulic upgrades.
