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Kenworth T300 hard brake pedal

Funkyfullwidth

Active Member
Got a 2001 Kenworth T300. Driver tells me that the pedal randomly gets hard, he has to pump it and then it catches and then the brakes lock up on the passenger side rear. I drained the water out and there wasn't much. I didn't see anything obvious. I installed a new treadle valve and it was fine for a day. Now it's happening again. Anything I can test or something i'm overlooking?
 

Junkyard

Senior Member
Well.....is the air dryer functioning properly? Kinda sounds like a restriction somewhere due to ice. Beyond that, everything greased and working properly? No missing springs on shoes, at least the ones you can see? All the brakes adjusted properly? Pedal and associated pivots, pins etc not binding up? Does the truck have ABS? Build up and hold air properly? Relay valve could have trash in it as well, with brakes set is there any air leaking from exhaust of relay valve?

Did this come on all of the sudden or has it be a progressive problem? A good visual inspection will tell you a lot. Chock the wheels, release parking brake and have somebody step on the brake and release. Watch rod stroke from chamber, out smooth, in smooth. Watch shoes and see if they move and return properly. Listen for air leaks. I assume shoes are in good shape and they're not about to cam over or anything like that. Watch the front action too looking for the same things. There's a restriction or something bound up....that's my swag anyway.
 

Funkyfullwidth

Active Member
The air dryer is relatively new. there is no abs. When I did the treadle valve I replaced the mount and pins for the pedal. I did a pretty thorough cleaning around the pedals in case dirt was getting lodged in there. Air builds normally and there's no air leaks. I've chocked the wheels and checked strokes, nothing looked bad and everything moved and returned at the same speeds. From what i'm told the problem just started all of a sudden and seemed to coincide with the cold weather. The shoes aren't terrible, but it will be due for an overhaul in the next few months. My thought was to do the mechanicals sooner rather than later and see if it at least cured the lock up issue. Maybe my thought process is wrong but it seemed like a two part issue to me. One air related causing the hard pedal and one mechanical issue causing only one side to lock up.
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Hard pedal and pushing the pedal farther to accomplish braking are two different things. Of course it can be a problem trying to communicate clearly driver to mechanic what is wrong. Of course the mechanic thinks the driver is stupid and the driver thinks the mechanic is lazy ;)
 
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