Brakes
Truck Brakes Repair in Corpus Christi, Texas
Drum Brakes Explained
Do your fleet trucks use drum brakes? Are you looking for an explanation as to how they work and how to maintain them? Say no more! Drum brakes are a power brake system type that’s commonly found on heavy and medium-duty trucks. Rather than using a brake calliper to compress pads against a rotor, drum brakes use brake shoes to put your brake pads in contact with a brake drum. The process prior to your brake shoes expanding is quite elaborate and relies on compressed air. This compressed air will enter a cylindrical service chamber, which forces a diaphragm within the chamber to move. This movement sets off a chain reaction of events in which your push rod moves forward to rotate your S cam and puts pressure on your brake shoes. From here, your brake shoes expand, causing your brake pads to contact the drum.
Disc Brakes Explained
Disc brakes are a simplistic braking system found on light-duty trucks and at times the front wheels of heavy and medium-duty trucks. This assembly is quite straightforward. Firstly, either compressed air or brake fluid will flow through your brake lines and put pressure on your brake callipers. These callipers will compress against your brake disc. What’s important to note here is that there are two brake pads within these callipers. When the calliper makes contact, it’s essentially pushing pads into the disc, rather than contacting the disc itself.
Compressed Air Versus Brake Fluid
Compressed air is the most common braking force on medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Brake fluid on the other hand is generally found on light-duty trucks and passenger vehicles. Compressed air is often preferred over that of brake fluid for it provides more braking force, can be generated on-demand, and is less likely to leak. In the event that it does leak, it can still be at the expense of an overworked air compressor. Nevertheless, air systems are generally more reliable than brake fluid systems.
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