Forgot to cage the brake.....

Full air pressure? Nobody was applying the service brakes? Because that should not happen. There's a light return spring in the bottom of the service section that should pull the pushrod in when brakes are released. Are you sure the slack adjuster didn't kick backwards into the clevis from brake shoe tension on the cam?

 

If the rod did indeed shoot out of the chamber and you've verified the park brakes were fully released as well as no service air pressure being applied, I would have to say your brake chamber is likely no beuno.

 

I second that. Hit the brake chamber with a hammer and you will hear the broken spring loose. When you push yellow button, booster rod is supposed to enter

 

You will be so glad that you did.

I replaced all of them, everything brakes drums cams bushings slack adjusters brake Chambers, and the R12 valve on my truck and I'll tell you what with a complete full load I only very lightly have to apply the brakes. I have better brakes on this truck than any truck I've ever driven in my life.

If your brake Chambers have been on there for some time, I would recommend that you replace them also. You can keep some of them in the truck as a spare.

The reason I say that is because at that point you won't have to worry about your brakes for some time.

Also I would suggest to check your airlines very closely for any problems.

 

Not always, I had 2 on my Trailer that were broken, yet still applied the brakes. Must have been broken near the ends.

 

When I suggest that you replace the brake Chambers I'm not trying to make you spend unnecessary money.

But if they have been on there for some unknown amount of time you're going to be changing them whether it's on the side of the road whether it's in a month whether it's in 6 months but you're going to be changing them.

When I was younger I used to do repairs piecemeal.

I'm not suggesting you're doing this at all but what happens is you change one brake chamber and then you drive for some probably short period of time.

Then you need a slack adjuster so you replace it.

Then you drive for a little bit and then another brake chamber Blows out on the side of the road and it cost you money and time. And so on. Working like that you'll always have a feeling that you're never caught up.

So let's say I'm working on the brakes. If I can, I want to replace everything back there that I'm uncertain about or that I think could be a problem in the not-too-distant future so that then I can take the whole system of brakes and put that off to the side and say everything is good now I can work on the next part because when you have to keep going back it's time-consuming and costly and it seems like you're never finished.

So by the same token let's say that you needed to replace your radiator. If it were me and it has been so long I would replace the water pump the thermostat the hoses the belts everything there that is associated with that the radiator mounts everything- even service the oil cooler since the anti-freeze has drained and check all heater hoses and everything else- so that once I seal that up I say that's it that whole radiator and circulation system is good. It will be a long time before I have to pull that radiator out again and get into anything there. Maybe even rebuild the clutch fan if that's gone for some unknown amount of time.

Then I can move on to fortifying the next part of the truck to make sure that it stays dependable and then I can put that into the taken care of category and move into whatever is next if anything is next.

And I say this also because if you have a truck that is not new, if it's an older truck and it has some miles on it there's a lot of little stuff you're going to have to fix.

Getting the real maintenance stuff that's going to have to be fixed anyway out of the way it's something you don't have to touch anymore then when that little stuff comes up you could just do it and keep going and just keep the truck greased and all that and you have less downtime, which in reality costs money.

That's the way I do it anyway.

 

I always used to roll my eyes at owners who'd come in for a brake job and they'd get new shoes on all axles but would only replace the one drum that was worn out. Meanwhile the remaining 5 drums would be worn to the limit within the next 4 months