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Leveling off at every floor? Two schools of thought and I keep flip flopping
So I've been doing this for about 8 years now, mostly in older buildings around Pittsburgh. I always leveled off at every single floor, even on express runs. Thought that was just the correct way. Then last month I rode with a senior mechanic from a bigger outfit and he said he only levels at stops where passengers are actually getting on or off. He said the extra stops wear out the brake coils faster and he's seen 3 times the failures on cars that level constantly. I mean, I get that, but my way does give a smoother ride and catches door zone issues sooner. The dude had 25 years on me though. Did I have it backwards this whole time? What do you guys do on high rise traffic patterns? Has anyone else had that moment where a veteran makes you question your whole routine?
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kevin_wells462mo ago
Three times the failures on constant levelers sounds like survivor bias to me, most guys who burn through coils are running hot cars with worn guides, not leveling every stop. I've logged 40k runs on a 52 floor building in Minneapolis and the only coil I swapped was after a door zone sensor went bad, which the constant stops actually caught before it got ugly. The smooth ride thing isn't just comfort either, it keeps the car from slamming into the sill plate on long runs and that's where I see real wear on the rails. I'd rather replace a $60 coil every few years than deal with a mis-leveled car that injures someone and gets me written up.
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