Another on brakes...

You will find that trucking has pretty much disposed of the manual adjusters. I put away my half inch and 9-16th wrenches decades ago.

We run automatic slack adjusters which now by rule cannot be touched by anyone not holding a current certification in adjusting those particular brakes from a particular manufacturer or... a company shop with a mechanic who holds a certificate in brake adjustment and repair.

Used to be that you applied the service brake to the floor 7 times as a workaround to adjustment while the DOT man is walking from the coop shack all the way to the furthest spot you parked in with a pending inspection process.

 

Every truck ive drove that is a few years old does not adjust automaticaly as they should. So I'm guessing they have a 2 year service life. But some auto slack adjusters are made very cheap as well.

 

Even though I'm technically not supposed to adjust my brakes, I have done it a time or 2 when it was of necessity. I had already discussed such a situation with my supervisors and showed that I knew what I was doing in the shop under supervision. Therefore I was granted permission to do adjustments if it was truly a necessity.

 

actually I really don't miss crawling around down there and adjusting the brakes every time you pick up a different trailer. .... some parts of the good old days weren't that great lol. .... now pick up a trailer and the brakes are way out of adjustment you have to take it in and waste 2 hours maybe it's like all modern technology when it works it's great but when it don't

 

to be honest, is there a video that show you what to look for when you check your brakes to prevent them from failure ?

 

Failure takes different forms.

I can safely testify Ive had em all kinds of failures. Some my fault others not. Mostly my fault.

One example, the older truck did not have a automatic air dryer. You are supposed to open the air holding tanks (All of them) and allow to drain overnight.) if you did not drain, then the sludge grit and liquids work into any brake chamber and try to eat through the middle diaphragm dividing the spring and service air chambers inside. When it eats through that, the moment you apply brakes you lose too much air. You will literally be out of air in your tanks and not even down to 25 mph yet from 70 loaded on a curve no less. (You have a problem when Mr Pop shows up and your rig irrevocably applies the brakes full.)

Failures could be heat related. The drum itself could be glazed. The pad could be ground down. You can have a 3 foot rod there and it wont make that pad contact the drum worth a ####.

I like adjusting brakes etc. However when corporate started handing down directives that we do not touch nothing, great. Im going to get coffee. Let me know when it's finished.

 

How about these brakes?

Or after the repair?