My air brakes are locked!

mdamerell wrote:


OK, I'm confused. Never said there were more than one set of brake shoes. Perhaps people who have air brakes on their RV's should have to have an "air brake endorsement" on their drivers license. The air system contains two braking systems in one. Service and parking (aka emergency). Both systems operate the same set of brake shoes.

Have a nice day.

^^^^^^^^^^
x2

barth wrote:
*** UPDATE ***

Today I was able to go and try to unlock my brakes. I first jacked up the back (after I blocked the front wheels)until the rear wheels were off the ground. One side turned freely, the other didn't. I then went under and was able to see that the top brake pad was free but it was the bottom one that was stuck. I took my hammer and wacked the top metal part of the shoe several time and Bingo! it freed up.

Thank you again to everybody that contributed their knowledge. It was much appreciated.

Hoping that this tread may help others with the same problem in the future. That's the power of this forum

Glad you got it taken care of... but I don't understand the 'jacked up the back' part. Why? as there isn't any need to.

A simple whack with a hammer on the steel that the pad is lined to will work. It you can't reach it easily with the hammer head, take a short piece of steel (like a #8 rebar, or concrete stake, or...) and use it like a punch.

Good job Barth,, You are now Air Brake savvy!! Happens allot to truckers,, just "Whack 'em"!!

Barth, I believe you mispoke. You had a wall behind you and you DIDNT WANT to back up. My stepson can demonstrate how you actually COULD back into and THROUGH said wall if you would like to learn. I'm just sayin.....

hipower wrote:
Glad you found a cure. The advice to try backing up slightly would likely have done the same thing quicker and without the work of jacking up your coach.

The good thing is that you now have additional knowledge that money can't buy.

Unfortunately I had a wall 12 inches behind my RV so I couldn't back up

Glad you found a cure. The advice to try backing up slightly would likely have done the same thing quicker and without the work of jacking up your coach.

The good thing is that you now have additional knowledge that money can't buy.

So did you use a metric or standard hammer ?

*** UPDATE ***

Today I was able to go and try to unlock my brakes. I first jacked up the back (after I blocked the front wheels)until the rear wheels were off the ground. One side turned freely, the other didn't. I then went under and was able to see that the top brake pad was free but it was the bottom one that was stuck. I took my hammer and wacked the top metal part of the shoe several time and Bingo! it freed up.

Thank you again to everybody that contributed their knowledge. It was much appreciated.

Hoping that this tread may help others with the same problem in the future. That's the power of this forum

Crawl under, and look at the shoes. With the brakes released. You should be able to wiggle the shoes, and possible see a slight gap, if the shoes are released from the drum. If they are tight to the drum, hit them on the steel backing with a hammer, to break them loose. It is not common, but not uncommon either. It happens.

barth wrote:

JetAonly wrote:
This is common if you don't do a pneumatic system test. You know…. the one you are supposed to do each day before you operate an air brake vehicle.

Yes I do the daily check when I use it. We are talking about releasing the brakes after 6 months of storage.

I didn't know this was a fairly common problem.

The drums will rust slightly very quickly. Given time they will rust to the brake shoes. The cycling of the test will help brake the rust bond. If that doesn't work then with brakes released try going between drive and reverse while applying the brakes, mine have always released at this point. The next option is to ring the drum like a bell with a hammer. If they don't release at this point you likely have another issue, like a cam over on the actuator. This would be the point I would call service.

Good Luck!

BigRabbitMan wrote:

mdamerell wrote:

barth wrote:

okgc wrote:
I know of a case where the air line for the parking brake had been chewed by mice so there was no air pressure to release brakes.

I'm a bit confused. Are saying that there is two braking system? The regular one and the parking one?
If there is only one system, then my air pressure is up and steady. One weel wants to move while the other one doesn't

Yes, there are parking brakes and service brakes. If you look at your rear axle there should be two chambers. One contains a massive spring to apply the parking brake. The other is the service brake. It normally takes about 30# of air to compress and hold it out of the way. If you look at your steer axle there is only 1 chamber on each wheel (service brake)

Air Brake pump down procedure

I'd try backing up 1st, then tap the metal part of the brake shoe with a hammer to bust it loose. Common on a truck that's sat.

But ONLY ONE SET OF BRAKE SHOES! Don't confuse the issue.

OK, I'm confused. Never said there were more than one set of brake shoes. Perhaps people who have air brakes on their RV's should have to have an "air brake endorsement" on their drivers license. The air system contains two braking systems in one. Service and parking (aka emergency). Both systems operate the same set of brake shoes.

Have a nice day.