Time for brakes?

hrcarver · Nov 22, 2011

I hauled a half dozen pallets of sod to the next town over on my p/u-tag trailer this afternoon (Not a habit, but our road tractor was temporarily down).

I took it easy, but when I firmly applied brakes it seems like there was more shaking than stopping. Brakes seem just fine unloaded.

I was thinking rotors (4 of them

), but I dont know... shouldn't they be warped all the time?

Fixemall · Nov 22, 2011

Your rotors are probably just heat glazed and not warped, that would explain the shaking under load.

hrcarver · Nov 23, 2011

That's a new one to me. If I understand, this just happens if the brakes are hot? Is there a solution other than cool brakes?

Diamondpilot · Nov 23, 2011

I think its warped rotors. I did it before also. Had to pull a 10K trailer down a big hill with no trailer brakes.

Only fix is to have them turned and dont do that again. lol

Chris

Fixemall · Nov 23, 2011

Heat glazing results when an OEM pad is heated beyond standard use, the heat essentially melts the pad an rotor making them dinner plate smooth, slightly irregular and taking away a good portion of their stopping power. To fix this condition you should have the rotors turned(like diamond pilot said) and switch to a semi-ceramic pad, if your rotors are shot...shop aftermarket cross drilled ones that are designed for heavy use, I was a stubborn OEM guy for years till my son talked me into a front set on my tow rig and I realized the first time I applied the brakes how wrong I was all these years, as a bonus they were Less than OEM replacements.

Renze · Nov 23, 2011

I have resurfaced heat glazed brake pads with a wire brush in the angle grinder... Luckily they dont sell asbestos brake lining anymore these days

sandman2234 · Nov 23, 2011

Renze said:
I have resurfaced heat glazed brake pads with a wire brush in the angle grinder... Luckily they dont sell asbestos brake lining anymore these days

Doesn't matter, you were wearing a dust mask anyway, RIGHT???
David from jax

Renze · Nov 24, 2011

sandman2234 said:
Doesn't matter, you were wearing a dust mask anyway, RIGHT???
David from jax

I was wearing steel toe'd boots...

sandman2234 · Nov 24, 2011

Well, at least your feet didn't breathe in the fumes!!!
David from jax

crazyal · Nov 24, 2011

I would look at the rear of the truck first. When you have no load the rear brakes do very little but once you put a load it down that's when you'll notice problems.