The hardest part of disassembling the brakes is usually removing the drum. Some drums and most backing plates have inspection slots near the bottom (sometimes covered with a rubber plug or a steel ...

Technology around us is growing at a faster rate than we can say "What's the Wi-Fi password?" However, there are still some things that haven't changed since they were invented and are still in use ...

We talked about the wide world of disc brakes in our previous look at brake systems. Now let’s jump into the dark arts of drum brakes. Because there are generally more moving parts with a drum brake ...

A quality drum brake rebuild using performance shoes and new small parts can make an incredible difference in braking power. Note that the shoe with the shorter lining (called the primary shoe) always ...

There is a reason that every manufacturer eventually dropped the drum brake design. When cars had 100 horsepower drum brakes ...

One reason that today's vehicles are the safest in history is that, since 1968, all vehicles come equipped with dual brake systems. Figure 14-1 shows a basic brake system with a brake booster, disc ...

When you start talking brakes and trucking safety, there’s good news to be had. For starters, mandates put in place several years ago (see sidebar) significantly beefed up the stopping power of both S ...

Typical, medium-duty, hydraulic brake system with front discs (red circuit) and rear drums (green circuit). Boost, or assist (blue circuit), is provided by an engine-driven pump, although the power ...

We place emphasis on going faster and making more power, but how often do we address safe and effective stopping? Not often enough. We don't need to say this, but we will anyway-stopping is more ...

Five years ago, when federal authorities announced that stopping-distance rules for heavy tractors would get stricter, there was talk that this would finally cause a conversion from drum brakes to air ...