Truck brake repair

Air brakes on tractors and heavy trucks, hydraulic brakes on medium duty trucks, and the air system that feeds them.

Brakes are the one system nobody argues about. A truck with a dragging shoe, an air leak or an adjuster at the end of its travel is a truck that should not be loaded, so brake work jumps the queue here.

Signs it is time to bring it in

• The low air warning comes on, or air pressure is slow to build
• The truck pulls to one side under braking
• A wheel end runs much hotter than the others after a trip
• You hear air leaking with the brakes applied
• Pushrod travel is past the adjustment limit at inspection
• A brake drum is cracked, scored or worn past the size cast into it

Air brake work

On air brakes we handle the whole chain from the compressor to the shoes: service and spring brake chambers (the 30/30 double chambers included), S-cams, S-cam bushings and bearings, automatic and manual slack adjusters, drums, shoes and shoe spring kits, and wedge style and Q style foundation brakes.

On the air side we repair and replace brake valves, quick release valves, relay valves and air dryers, and we chase leaks with the system under pressure.

Hydraulic brakes and parking brakes

Medium duty trucks on hydraulic brakes get calipers, rotors, lines and master cylinder work. We also repair parking brakes, including the drum style transmission parking brake used on many medium duty chassis.

How long a brake job lasts

Heavy truck linings are commonly quoted at around 50,000 miles, but the honest answer is that it depends on the load, the route and the driver. Stop and go city work in Orlando wears brakes far faster than highway miles. Dirt and road grime also eat into drums and hardware, which is why we measure at every PM service rather than wait for a noise.

Parts

The brake parts we fit are the same components you can buy from our parts store at pgttruckparts.com, from makers such as Bendix, Meritor and Wabco.