bleeding air breaks
I have a 2001 bounder with 51000 miles. Should i have the break lines bled? And where do I find where the lines bleed from? thanks. Just trying to learn.
Forum Discussion
prstlk wrote:
Let's muddy this up even more, in reality these systems are not "air brakes" they are in fact spring brakes. Massive springs force the brake shoes to the drums at all times. the air pressure keeps the shoes from the drums. This changes when the brakes are applied and eases the shoes to the drums, or when park is pulled or pushed the brakes shoes fully engage the drums.
The reason for this system comes from big trucks and safety. Any loss of air will result in brake lock up. (That's were those big black marks come from on the freeway)
When you park and pull the big button the sound you hear is the braking system in action letting those shoes inpact the drums.
All that said I work on all my own stuff, classics, track cars and the like. I never mess with brakes on my rig other than dryer filters and the like.
I came down a 9% grade TODAY out of death valley. Thank God it wasn't Uncle Bob who last worked on my brakes.
IMHO
If you were to look at your air brake system you would realize that like the above poster said the front brakes are not controlled by a big spring.
Your rear brake chambers are a dual chamber. One side has a spring in it that will apply when the air is released and is called your parking brake. The other side of it is your service brake that works the same as your front brake. The only spring in your service brakes is a return spring to bring the brake shoes away from the drum.
