Air Brake Maintenance

[frank1]

I own a 2004 International 4300 (DT 466) with a six speed manual and air brakes. I've own the truck for the past three and a half years, I was wondering what type of maintenance I should be doing to the air brake system? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks, Frank

 

[E7mack96]

Well, for 1, change the air drier desiccant cartridge. Some maintenance intervals are as short as 1 yr. Drain the air tanks daily and that is about it. If you get oil in the "Wet" tank, then you are having compressor problems that need to be addressed. (which is what also ruins / contaminates the air drier desiccant)

 

[Bob4x4]

Make sure all your bushings are good or your brake adjustments will never be correct.

 

[frank1]

Thanks guys for the tips! I'll drain the tanks tomorrow and check the bushings.

 

[NIsaacs]

When you check the rear for linkage and bushing wear, make sure the maxi brake is released. Some smaller GVW trucks used wedge brakes but yours are probably s-cam type. Check for applied pressure leaks and brake lining wear.

Nick

 

[Bob4x4]

Didn't wedge brakes fade away Many years ago?My old fleet only had 2 trailers with wedge brakes-they were from the '70s

 

[BIGNASTY]

Drain the air tanks air dryer or not, its your life on the line. Wedge brakes were the same as NO BRAKES!!

 

[Bob4x4]

Wedge brakes were the same as NO BRAKES!!

And try to get them to work behind a tractor with s cams.Out of all the comercial inspectors only my bits inspector could honestly tell me the pass/fail for wedge brake adjustment

 

[mwilson]

Once in a blue moon a wedge brake unit will show up here, but getting rare. Parts are expensive, hard to find, many of the wedge shoes are NLA. Sometimes you can find the friction material and do the relining yourself using the old brake shoe.

Many of the Ford trucks used wedge on the steers right up until Daimler bought them out.

Now you are seeing air disc brakes making the second comeback, first time around they had a lot of issues with them.

This time they may stay and become the industry standard as the stopping distance requirements keep getting shorter for trucks.

What puzzles me is making these trucks able to stop like a Prius.........but it may be hooked to a trailer that is 10 years old with standard S Cam 16 1/2 x 7 brakes........

Mike.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Once in a blue moon a wedge brake unit will show up here, but getting rare. Parts are expensive, hard to find, many of the wedge shoes are NLA. Sometimes you can find the friction material and do the relining yourself using the old brake shoe.

Many of the Ford trucks used wedge on the steers right up until Daimler bought them out.

Now you are seeing air disc brakes making the second comeback, first time around they had a lot of issues with them.

This time they may stay and become the industry standard as the stopping distance requirements keep getting shorter for trucks.

What puzzles me is making these trucks able to stop like a Prius.........but it may be hooked to a trailer that is 10 years old with standard brakes........

Mike.

Never liked the Disc brakes that the company had on the new rigs they bought, tractors and trailers had the LATEST AND BEST TECHNOLOGY IN THEM is what the Supervisor said, I mumbled something at a saftey meeting he asked if I would like to share my thoughts with the rest? I said ya put your A** behind the wheel of a bomb and use the brakes on a rain slick road so you can tell us DRIVERS all about your experience behind the wheel, tell us about that experience will you Please!!!

My regular Boss whispered its getting difficult to keep them A** Holes off your back, so you might want to think a bit more before you open your yap. A bit later that year a driver in the Bay Area got killed the DOT said brake failure, Yep I like those new brake systems, Can I have one PLEASE!!

 

[NIsaacs]

Didn't wedge brakes fade away Many years ago?My old fleet only had 2 trailers with wedge brakes-they were from the '70s

That was my era so I had to bring 'um up I put lotsa miles on an early 70's model Ford L-900 with a 534 gasser hauling cows with a 34' single axle trailer. The truck had wedge and the trailer had s-cam brakes, I never felt like the brakes were poor. Bobtail it would stop on a dime.

Nick

 

[Weston]

air brake

Bendix Westinghouse sells air brake fluid to use in air brake system, do not run the fluid through the air c0mpressor, undo the output line from air compressor and pour into the line, build the air pressure up and pump the brakes to push the fluid into the system and to the air pots on the axles. this should clear the system of any oil and water. Weston.

 

[Wayne M.]

Mack is now shoving this down our throats. Reason I bring it up is if you quickly peek under, it'll look like wedgies with the chamber pointing right at the wheel. They DO stop fantastic, but pad wear hasn't been dialed in yet, too quick.

Frank, if your truck was spec'd out for northern use, it might have one of these. It will be plumbed in right after the dryer. We keep ours filled with air brake antifreeze (alcohol) from election day till Easter. If you post a picture of the dryer, we can offer advice on how to deal with it. There are many types used. Some are simple spin-on filters, and some have to be disassembled for service. Some are more troublesome than others.

 

[frank1]

Wayne, the truck in it's former "life" was a Penesky box truck. The box was removed and a 16' dumping grain body was added some five years ago. I bought the truck from a used International truck dealer outside of Philly with 165,000 miles on it. I found where the chamber is attached behind the two air canister to the frame rail. Pretty easy to get to (simply lift the dumping body). Looks to me, you need to take the canister apart. I took several pictures today on my i phone, need to wait until one of the kids get home to help down load.Also, the air tank mounted closest to "road" has two drain valves, one in the front and one in the back. Drain both of them? Another question, does it matter which tank gets drained first, the closest to the frame rail or the outer one??? Thanks again, Frank

 

[S.Morris]

IF you have to replace a caliper on one of the"new" disk brake trucks, it will cost you more than the parts to do ALL the drums on your old one.

 

[Wayne M.]

S. Morris, I agree and on the last axle the axle must be unbolted from the suspension to access the bolts to yank the caliper or remove a rotor.

Frank, now i remember that truck. All tanks should have drains. If you follow the plumbing from the compressor thru the dryer etc to the first tank, that is your wet tank. Its the first stop for air, and where the condensation happens most. You might see an automatic drain valve, aka spit valve there. If theres also not a drain valve you can pull, put one in. Ive seen the spit valve teed with a pull valve on the tee. This tank can be drained daily, especially after a hard run on a damp day.

 

[frank1]

I finally empty both air tanks on the truck (have been doing them each morning for the past two weeks). The tank closest to the frame rail always has a lot of black oily looking water that comes out. Is this normal? The tank on the outside has minimal water/oil. Thanks agai.

 

[Wayne M.]

Is it oil or water? Ive seen dark water. Its a truck with a lot of hours? I wouldnt expect the inside of that system to be spotless.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Most times if anything nasty came out of the air tank drain valve it was thicker than water beige colored, water and oil from the compressor mixed together, NOT BLACK unless the compressor is shot and just blowing oil into the system?

How old is the truck, On my old truck *many years ago* there was always one tank that had more nasty stuff to drain out of because it was the first tank to get the air from the compressor. On the newer air brake systems with Primary and Secondary systems Im not sure how that all works as to what tank or tanks get the air first.

If you have an air dryer what's that looking like? same black crap in it or coming out of it?

Pull an air line or two and see what comes out of the end of them, in various places in the System. If it were me I would be wondering what the brake cans look like pull an airline on them and see if the contamination has gone that far, if so I would be very concerned.

 

[mwilson]

Also before pulling any lines look at the quick release valves, they each have an open port on bottom. See if there is much crud there.
There will be one up front (usually mounted to the cross member under the radiator) and one mounted to the rear suspension cross member.