Cracked brake spider

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by allan5oh, May 19, 2016.

  1. allan5oh

    allan5oh Road Train Member

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    Found a cracked brake spider on my dads truck today. It cracked through the top bolt hole down to the s-cam hole. Rear diff on a Meritor setup. I've never seen or even heard of this before. The entire brake chamber/slack adjuster assembly would move forward on brake application. The slack was also not working properly. With no application the whole assembly would be loose.

    What causes this?

    My best guess would be the top bolt stretched and became loose. The bolts were definitely rusty and starting to disappear. The truck has just over 3 million KM, maybe not a bad idea to replace the four s-cam tube bolts after 15 years or so?
     
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  3. mnmover

    mnmover Road Train Member

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    On a Freightliner, there is a ubolt that supports the s cam assembly, when they break, the s cam starts to wobble and so on to the problem you describe.
     
  4. allan5oh

    allan5oh Road Train Member

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    I looked at my Ken worth it is similar except it has an extra bracket to help take some of the torque. I'd imagine that makes a difference
     
  5. swaan

    swaan Road Train Member

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    With that many miles it was probley just fatigue. Work hardened started to crack
     
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