Maintaining the air brakes on your heavy-duty fleet trucks is of the utmost importance. At Accelerated Fleet Services, we offer air brake service for fleets to customers in and around Fort Worth, Texas. Whether your airlines are frozen or your airbags are leaking, we’ve got your fleet covered.

Symptoms of Malfunctioning Air Brakes

As a fleet manager, it’s extremely important that you ensure your drivers know how to spot the symptoms of malfunctioning air brakes. It doesn’t take much more than a slight overlook to cause a catastrophe. When it comes to bringing 100 thousand pounds to a stop on a regular basis, corners should never be cut, and symptoms should never be ignored. Below you’ll find a list of symptoms to look out for with respect to malfunctioning air brakes.

Poor Braking Performance

If a driver’s air brake system malfunctions, they’ll likely notice poor braking performance as the first symptom. This poor braking performance is generally caused by old brake pads, malfunctioning brake adjusters, or frozen air brake lines. Although poor braking performance isn’t an indicator of a specific braking issue, it’s a sign that your driver should be bringing their truck in for service as soon as possible.

Excessive Brake Pedal Travel

If your drivers are having to push their brake pedal down farther than normal in order to bring their truck to a stop, there’s likely something wrong with your brake adjuster. Your brake adjuster is designed to take up slack as your brake pads wear down. However, if this brake adjuster fails, your push rod will have to travel very far before it can activate your Q-cam. This makes your brakes less effective and puts more strain on your air compression system.

Excessive Air Pressure Charging Time

Since air brakes require compressed air on demand, it must be stored within air tanks before it can be used. If it takes longer than normal to build up pressure within these tanks, you may have a damaged airline, or a leak coming from the tank itself.

Contact Us

For more information about our air brake services, or the symptoms of a malfunctioning air brake system, give us a call.