Slakjak – a tool designed to check the slack adjustment in trailer brakes was invented by Steve O’Grady. Steve is a veteran driver, of ten years, who commuted up and down the Cajon Pass on I‐15, between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, driving for an over the road trucking company. In 2005, he went to work for a premium bulk carrier in the High Desert area of Southern California, working in their state of the art truck repair shop.
Steve saw right away how many trucks were coming in for repairs that were often due to mal adjusted brakes. He knew that trucks driving under load, travelling the Baker Grade and the I‐15 Cajon Pass,between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with its steep grades, would put a lot of stress on the truck’s brake systems. Overuse of mal adjusted brakes in that situation, will heat the brake drums and shoes to the point where the brakes are of little or no use, with the potential for a catastrophic brake failure.
Steve also knew that many times brakes went unchecked because it was a messy, time consuming task. The saying “time is money” in the trucking industry are not just words, but a way of life. Drivers are constantly on the move. The most commonly used method for checking brakes involved setting and releasing, walking back and forth between cab and trailer, crawling on the ground, getting greasy and dirty, which reduced the probability of a proper inspection. The only way to ensure the brakes were adjusted correctly was to check them, and Steve knew there just had to be a better way.
In the beginning Steve started fabricating out of anything he could get a hold of. He spent countless hours in his workshop, cutting and welding, bending and shaping, and then giving the result to a driver for them to test and give him feedback. Each time he would see the drivers he had given tools to, he would pick their brains about what worked and what didn’t work, updating and perfecting along the way. Eventually the demand increased to the point that the one at a time, handcrafted method could not keep up. Steve recruited an experienced fabricator and friend, Ralph, to help him come up with a way to produce a greater quantity without ever sacrificing quality.
The final result is Slakjak – a simple, easy to use, quality tool, which will make brake inspections quick, clean, fast and far more likely to be performed by a driver during pre‐trip inspections, versus messy conventional methods. Slakjak was designed by a driver, for a driver and is proudly manufactured in the USA. Slakjak is a well‐designed tool that should be standard equipment for every professional driver, and is invaluable for every Safety Manager looking to enhance quality, reduce accidents, prevent injuries, and improve their overall level of safety performance.