brake adjustment

General, Snug the adjustment to bring the shoes to the drum, then back of between 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn.

Exact directions depend on what adjuster are on that peticular tractor or trailers, ther are many different designs so check with the shop guys at your company.

 

if it has the same hardware as a T660, take a 10mm socket and ratchet, find all six slack adjusters and rotate the adjustment screw clockwise until the it stops, then rotate counter clockwise 1/4 or 1/2 of a turn.. you should hear a clicking noise as you back them off.. and you can only do this while the brakes are RELEASED.. so make sure you chaulk your tires or pull the red valve to park the trailer and leave the yellow valve pushed in to keep the truck brakes release.

 

A 2005 SHOULD have auto-adjusting slack adjusters on it. If they require manual adjustment other than immediately following other brake work (new shoes, etc), then they should be replaced. Frequent manual adjustment of certain types of auto-slacks will cause them to wear out.

 

Here is the easiest way to adjust brakes. Park or at a light. Press brake pedal down to about 100 - 120 psi or just hard. Hold for about 5 seconds. You may hear them setting up or just one. It is usually the steer you hear. this is done with out setting any of them. Next time you use them you will feel an improvement. I do this at end of ramps and traffic lights and if pulled around at a scale. Never been cited for out of adjustment brakes by doing that .

 

If they are auto this is the best and only way to be safe.

 

correct me if im wrong but i thought i heard drivers couldnt adjust there slack adusters for the fact of safety and that a trained mechanic had to do it

 

I believe that if "you, the driver" hold an Air Brake certification, that would be incorrect?

 

If the brakes need to be adjusted use the foot valve like posted earlier.. Manually adjusting means they need to be replaced. New slack adjusters are not to be manually adjusted like the older ones could be. The decal on them states that they are not to be adjusted.. Older equipment is ok to adjust by hand.

 

I agree with Gordon . If you need to adjust a auto slack adjuster you may be covering up other problems such as worn s cam bushings constant adjustment breaks prongs off inside of adjusters then makes them useless .. If you have to back off a brakes some have a pin you lift with a sceewdriver to prevent damaging internal mechanism