Adjust your brakes

You may need to adjust you air brakes if you see the stopping power is decreasing. It’s a job you can do with common tools. You can perform this action if you don’t have the new automatic slack adjustment feature.

Follow these steps:

1. Install a pair of chocks to the wheels and check the sir pressure to be at maximum.  Pull the emergency brake and bleed the air out after pressing the relief valve
2. It’s time to test the push rod by highlighting the point where it exits the air chamber. Measure the distance from your first chalk mark to the bottom of the push rod where it exits the brake chamber. If this distance is over 3 quarters of an inch the brakes need slack adjustment.
3. To manually adjust the slack adjuster, locate them near the push rod and tighten it to feel some resistance. To prevent the linings from touching the brakes unscrew the adjuster a quarter to a half a turn.
4. The job is probably done. Just check again the push rod’s distance to be less than 3 quarters of an inch.

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