Truck Maintenance: Three Essential Tips for Better Brake Performance and Safety

One of the common causes of accidents involving commercial trucks is the negligence of brakes maintenance. The brakes are responsible for stopping and slowing down the large and heavy vehicle. If the brakes fail, you will have an out-of-control truck, and it could cause irreversible damage on the road. Therefore, you should be diligent in the inspection and upkeep of your braking systems. Here are essential tips to help you enhance safety and improve brake performance.

Avoid Out-of-Adjustment Strokes

You should make sure that your wheel ends in your truck do not exceed the recommended brake stroke. If they do exceed the recommended level, your brakes will be considered to be out of adjustment. If the anomaly is significant, your vehicle will not be safe for operation. Fortunately, trucks have slack adjusters to prevent the detriments of the brakes falling out of ideal alignment. If your truck has a manual adjuster, you will need to handle the adjustment with physical effort. Automatic adjusters will handle the misalignment automatically. If the automatic adjusters fail to operate, you should not attempt manual adjustment. Often, this issue is related to malfunctions such as improper lubrication and excessive wear. These problems must be resolved for ideal functionality.

Protect Your Air System

You should protect the air system in your truck from contamination. In general, the infiltration of pollutants such as oil into this element will cause the premature wear of critical braking components like chamber diaphragms and modulating valves. Moreover, the seals in the system will experience excessive wear due to contaminants. If the seals deteriorate significantly, your air system will experience some leakage. Therefore, you should perform regular inspections of your air brake system. You should also install and replace the cartridges intended for oil-coalescing and air drying to minimise the possibility of contamination. If you notice anomalies in the operation of air brakes, you should consult a truck repairs specialist.

Conduct Visual Assessments

You should perform a visual inspection of your brakes before your trips or at least, regularly. This assessment is crucial for identifying problems which could compromise brakes performance and general vehicle safety. Detecting functional issues early will minimise the possibility of unexpected failures. You should look for damaged hoses or leakages. You should also check the disc rotors for cracks. Any anomalies should be reported, and a mechanic should be hired for troubleshooting and repair.

Finally, you should perform the recommended maintenance tasks by your truck manufacturer for ideal long-term performance and road safety of your Hino truck parts.