Brake chambers..

Until the vice grips pop off and your wheels lock up on an icy road.

 

Caging is fine and dandy and easy but you srtill need to cap the linesand if you dont have caps, a pair of vice grips on the line works just fine and no a pot hole will most definately not make he vice grips fall off. Come on dude thats a little rediculous

 

If I can get vice grips to snap open by popping them with a wrench or screw driver, the force of a truck hitting a pot hole certainly will. Using them to slow the air leak is one thing(tho you should be carrying plug fittings) but you still got to cage the spring off so you don't risk a sudden brake lock up at highway speed.

Edit: I reread the first post on this topic, he said pinch off the hose and for what ever reason I thought he said use vice grips to keep the rod out. Pinching off the hose isn't gonna do anything to release the spring brake so I can only assume he is talking about a single can, not a maxi can.

 

Didnt read the thread, but i had a broken spring create a leak in the pancake and release air applied the rearmost trailer brake until caught fire @ 70mph. There was some colorful gesturing.

 

Even in the early 80s had bolt clamps on both ends..

 

Did you ever cage a brake chamber spring?..on a old chamber, rusted, full of road grimm using the cage bolt from its position mounted on the side of the chamber. With a boxend wrench or a cresent wrench? No I don't leave my cage bolts in that hold spot on the chamber. Because after a couple years they are pretty much useless. Rusted etc. What I did before is, if possible back brake off, then set brakes, that shuts air off to the spring side. Then pull off the line and put in a piece of old bicycle tire innertube. Tighten line back on. That stops diaphragm leak, but still holds air. Then I get somewhere more comfortable to fix it.

 

You beat me to it.

I was coming round to talk about Mr Spring. It can kill or worse.

Let the shop put their lives on the line.

 

for the price of a whole brake chamber with new everything and spring, 30 bucks. its beyond me why people pay labor and somone lse to replace pancakes anymore. or ami missing something. so easy and chea to replace the whole unit

 

When he said brake chamber blew out I thought He was talking about this!
2006 container chassis. Tamper proof sealed band failure!

 

I prefer to let the shop deal with it. If it costs a few more dollars so be it.

As a company driver what do I care? The shop will get it. With our own vehicles as old as they are, we have a shop that understand them very well. Easy fix as long you have the parts and the money for their time. If I had a older late 60's or early 70's carburated points based engine, I do my own work under there. All of it. But anything with a computer? The shop gets to deal with it.