Safety – Brakes
While braking system suppliers to the trucking industry continue to bring new technologies and specification choices to fleets, the desire to improve safety and stopping performance is hardly new.
Wheel ends in the winter: What you need to know
Safety systems like full stability and collision mitigation can be valuable on winter roads, but they perform at their best only when the brakes at the wheel-ends are also in peak condition to deliver stopping power.
Safety system service issues
Identifying brake component wear
trends, training technicians and implementing best practices leads to
increases in uptime and lower costs
How to avoid truck parts failure ‘gotchas’
Fleets and drivers can prevent key air system and brake components from failing due to improper maintenance practices, helping to keep vehicles on the road and in good operating condition.
Inside wheel ends: How slack adjusters could raise wheel end temperatures
Wheel end thermal events are serious maintenance issues that can be caused by setup, maintenance, driver neglect, road debris or some combination of all of these. Before we look at how slack adjusters may factor into higher wheel end temperatures let’s get this out of the way first: Each wheel end thermal service event needs
What’s the difference between clearance-sensing and stroke-sensing slack adjusters?
“Clearance-sensing slacks adjust to produce a consistent gap between the face of the brake pad and the braking surface of the drum,” said Greg Sturdy, director of wheel end product engineering for Accuride Corp. “Stroke-sensing slacks adjust to produce a consistent distance the pushrod of the brake canister is allowed to move.” Like any component,
Common wheel-end service misconceptions
In servicing commercial vehicle wheel-ends, fleets and operators sometimes rely on industry practices that are accepted, trusted—and may no longer be valid. This installment of the Bendix Tech Tips series from Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC (BSFB) addresses five common misconceptions, offering the facts behind each to help industry
Preparing wheel-ends, air dryers for winter
Across North America, it’s getting to be that time of year: Temperatures are dropping, and fleets and owner-operators are prepping for chilly conditions and wintry roads. Before things get too harsh out there, the Bendix Tech Tips series from Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC (BSFB) offers some simple steps
Advanced safety systems maintenance tips
Advanced safety systems such as full-stability and collision mitigation technology occupy a growing part of the commercial vehicle landscape; fleets are adopting them in greater numbers, and electronic stability control (ESC) systems will be required on most new Class 7 and 8 commercial vehicles under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules taking effect next year. Air
Top tips for wheel end air chamber maintenance and replacement
While every part of a commercial vehicle air braking system is important to safe and effective operation, air chambers have a uniquely vital job: At each wheel-end, it’s the air chamber, sometimes called the actuator, that transfers air pressure into a mechanical force, which is then translated into the brake application of an S-cam drum
