Brake Can Issues
Brake Can Issues |
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| Jack Mayer 17 August 2011 06:52 PM |
When you single the truck put on new brake cans. Even if they look "OK". Lose a can on the roadside and you will be really, really unhappy. |
| trucksaledave 17 August 2011 07:41 PM |
Well, as many as I have changed over the years, I am going to let the boys at the office change my 2 brake chambers. Both are 30/30 chambers on the back and have 998210 miles on them. They are the same red color as the frame was, so they are original. It is just time to swap them out. My cost is $32.00 each thru the shop. You can expect to pay on the outside up to $45.00 each with all the hardware. The main problem in changing out one is caging the main spring so it will not jump out and bite you or kill you. Once you cage it you can change out the front part of the chamber. Most of the time we only replace the front part and leave the spring and rod attached to the brake adjuster. With so many miles on mine I want the whole chamber replaced. This project is not hard, but dangerous. The older the chamber, the harder it is screw the rod into the backing plate to cage the spring. I can get my chambers changed out for a extra large pizza. Otherwise a hour and half worth of labor. |
| J.W. Morgan 17 August 2011 08:07 PM |
It is nice to work on trucks like I have here now, it is just a two year old and the cans were easier to swap than to re-plum. |
| Rick & Alana 17 August 2011 08:37 PM |
Don't mess with them - as Dave said the spring in the parking brake end will kill you if it comes out while your fooling around with it. If you just have to change it yourself - then buy a 3030 complete for the 55 or 60 bucks and do it. Before they started putting the clamp ring on the parking brake side so you couldn't get in to it. The manufacture paid $2.00 for each chamber made for insurance- so when a dumb a$$ got hurt or killed they had it covered |
| jmb 17 August 2011 08:58 PM |
We were having a 60 mile day when I stopped and heard air rushing but my parking brake. 5:15 on a Memorial Day Friday afternoon. I picked up my phone called my mobile mechanic some 1500 miles away and asked him what the problem was. air pressure at idle was hovering around 70 pounds. He said drive fast to the next park, 10 miles down the road and be prepared to pull over at 60 pounds as my brakes may lock up. Got into the park told them I need a place to park in a hurry or I was going to be stuck in their parking lot. They directed me to an easy quick spot and I got in by the hair of my brake can. If I remember correctly I had both cans replaced on the next Tuesday for about 200 bucks. If you hear air rushing by your brake find a place to park ASAP. Regards JB |
| hjsdds 18 August 2011 03:21 AM |
PSD Tweaker inspected mine at the East Coast Rally and told me they were garbage (they were "moving" when the brakes were applied). I had them replace and he was right. They are held in place by two bolts which are spot welded to the can (thin sheet metal). All bolts were rusted through, one was completely broken off. I got pictures of them someplace in the "archives." I need to dig out. The springs inside the cans develop 1,500-1,800 pounds of pressure to lock the brakes, if I remember right that force is measured during the VIS check. Every year there were fatalities of mechanics killed by one of these doing rebuild, aren't the new ones crimped over to prevent getting into them? hjs |
| chevillac 18 August 2011 08:11 AM |
This may seem dumb. Remember to chock the wheels before removing the spring brake chambers because you will not have parking brakes without them! |
| VegasFlyer 24 August 2011 12:14 AM |
Many moons ago I changed out a can on my first truck and thought it would be interesting to tear it apart, just like nearly everything else I tore apart as a kid, just to see how they worked. I rationalized that decision would be ok, because I could clearly see that the spring was cleanly broken into two pieces with one piece having moved inside the other.
Being the safety minded individual that I was at that age, I decided to place the can on the ground place a chunk of 2x12, with a hole drilled in it, over the can and put a socket wrench through the hole and onto the caging tool nut and stood on the 2x12. After a few turns of the ratchet and thinking to myself how overrated all the warnings were, I remember hearing and feeling a muffled BANG and the next thing I knew, I was on top of a flat bed trailer that had been about eight feet away from where I had started my little journey. As the saying goes. "God looks after fools and children!" I would like to think that it was a good thing that I was a kid at the time....... |
| Bob Cochran 24 August 2011 05:39 PM |
This brings to mind a question. I have an open right rear brake sensor that will probably need changing. Do you need to cage the can on the wheel before removing the wheels and drum? |
| VegasFlyer 29 April 2010 02:36 PM |
No. You just back off the adjuster. |
| Scrap 24 August 2011 08:04 PM |
I do. No real reason because I have to back the slack off anyways to get the linings under the lip of the drum, but I don't have to back the slack off as far. Some of the ratcheting self adjusters feel like they'll pop into 1000 pieces as you are clicking along. Plus I got one of those long caging bolt sockets so it takes like 5 seconds to cage.
I Guess JW will be the tie breaker? |
| Russ Barnes 24 August 2011 10:12 PM |
My 2 cents; The newer cans are all crimped unlike the old ones with the bands around them bolted together that naturally made us do-it-yourselfers wonder what was in there. In the truck parts store they aren't caged so safety isn't a reason to cage them. I've taken off several and installing cage bolts does make it easier to get the pin out of the clevis so I vote for using the bolts even though I don't have one of Scrap's hi-tech super deep sockets.
FWIW, have others seen the Brake Inspector? I bought one and haven't put it on yet, but if you have a full bed and find looking at the slack to see if you're in adjustment almost impossible you may want to consider one. LED's on the dash show you if you're adjusted, getting out or are out of travel. One of these days I'll be too old to bend over and try and find where the slack is. |
| J.W. Morgan 24 August 2011 11:57 PM |
You may be to old to drive by the time you get finished with the truck! |
| VegasFlyer 25 August 2011 09:24 AM |
That is one technique and not a bad one. His question appeared to be whether it was required that you cage the cans before working on brakes. And other than techniques as Russ mentioned, I have never seen any that required it for safety sake.
The primary use of caging tools, is to provide a manual way to release the brakes in the event that you rupture a diaphragm on an individual can or do not have enough of an air supply and need to move the vehicle. Spring brakes can be very dangerous if you are trying to split the cans apart. However, once properly installed on a truck, it is not a case of having to put the pin (caging tool) back in the grenade before working on the other brake |
| VegasFlyer 29 April 2010 04:23 PM |
Russ Barnes, on 24 August 2011 - 10:12 PM, said: Russ, There is a similar product being built by MGM Brakes who builds brake cans. Their product has the sensors already built into the cans, you just run cables to an indicator in the cab. Both products seem like a good idea, especially for applications like a bed that makes it hard/impossible to get access to brakes when the truck is sitting in a parking lot. |
| Russ Barnes 25 August 2011 11:29 AM |
As JW said "I'm getting old" so that also means my memory is fading, but I seem to recall the brake inspector being about $500 +/-, but it was 18 months ago that I bought it and then I remembered everything, even who JW used to be - a blacksmith that showed horses - right? Russ |
| Bob Cochran 25 August 2011 03:40 PM |
Your exactly right safety should I for some reason lose air with drum off.
Thanks everyone now back to the OP!!! |