A brake job seems like a pretty straightforward, run-of-the-mill service event, but then the trailer is back in the bay, this time with a wheel end issue. It seems unrelated–leaking lube–but then, as the fleet manager, you think back to that brake job when you had to take the wheel end apart. Did your tech put it back together correctly? Could your service department or provider have caused this issue? Could it have been avoided?
Anytime you’re touching one component to get to another there’s a chance for another service event to boomerang around due to improper maintenance. Maybe it’s because of unfamiliarity with the associated component’s construction. Maybe it’s a lack of focus because that component wasn’t the problem, until it was. Either way, it was avoidable.
“The minute you take the hubcap off, you are subjecting the wheel end to contamination,” noted Greg Dvorchak, engineering supervisor-application engineering, wheel ends and braking systems, axle, brake, and wheel end division, Hendrickson. “Something as simple as water or as harsh as any metal rust can get in there and interfere with the proper operation of the bearings.”
That’s just one example of a complication. For several others and advice on how to avoid those service complications, watch the video above.
No script? No plan? No problem. Welcome to Fleet Equipment Unscripted—the video interview series that connects you with the greatest minds in the heavy-duty trucking world. Fleet Equipment Unscripted is sponsored by Hendrickson.
