How To Beat CVSA Brake Inspections: Part 1 - Automatic Slack Adjusters

Heavy duty trucks and transport vehicles are only making money when they're driving on the road. The sooner a truck gets to its destination, the sooner it can pick up another load and go to its next destination. The faster a truck can get there, the more likely the fleet will be able to be awarded competitive jobs. To put it simply, more money is made when the truck is moving while money isn't being made when the truck is "parked".

Roadside Inspections are one of the easiest ways to lose money, and there are a lot of issues that get flagged that could be in your truck's brake system right now. So we decided we'd "brake down" all of the most common braking issues in our new 5-Part Blog series. Throughout the journey will identify what inspectors look for, and how to identify issues before they cause your fleet heavy fines and extended downtime.

Saving Money the Easy Way: Reducing Downtime and Keeping Your Vehicle on the Road

Let's be realistic, the truck can't be in motion 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are occupational hazards. Drivers need to sleep and eat. Trucks need to be loaded and unloaded. The next job needs to be set up before the truck can start calling. There will always be various logistical bottlenecks. All of these are unavoidable and won't ever change. But we can reduce a very specific type of downtime, and that's with service and inspection issues.

The issue isn't the inspector's fault. It's usually not on the driver, or on the mechanic who installed the parts. It's on the parts manager who bought the inferior parts in the first place.

I don't blame them, because at the time it feels smart. You're replacing parts on your brakes with lower quality, lower-cost versions. On paper, it looks like you're saving fifty to a hundred bucks per part. You're cutting costs and reducing that bottom line. Only this thinking process is flawed because what we're you're doing is saving fifty dollars now to lose hundreds later.

But say your average revenue is around $2 per mile, and your vehicle averages about 50 miles in an hour. We're looking at $100 per hour in revenue. Now vehicles that fail inspection are typically out-of-service for around 4 hours. So say you fail an inspection because you "saved" 50 dollars on that cheap brake part you bought a few months ago, what actually happens is you lose out on $400 in revenue because you could have been on the road for those 4 hours making money.

CVSA Inspections

Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, or the CVSA, conducts around 4 million total vehicle inspections every year.

As a driver, I wouldn't bank on the concept "it's not gonna happen to me." Looking strictly at roadside inspections, the CVSA conducted 2.4 million inspections to vehicles. Of those, around 480 thousand were designated as out-of-service and half of those were due to brake issues.

In this blog posts, we're going to "break down" the CVSA's requirements on defective brakes, and one of our favorite brands Meritor is going to show us how we can properly prepare for when these inspections happen.

The 20 Percent Rule

As defined by the CVSA the 20 percent rule is "The number of defective brakes is equal to or greater than 20 percent of the service brakes on the vehicle or combination."

Translation: if you have four brakes on a vehicle, and one is defective then 25% of your brakes are defective and you're deemed out of service. If you have six brakes on a vehicle, and again only one is defective, then 16% of your brakes are defective, meaning you can remain in service (though I would get that brake fixed as soon as possible after the next drop is made).

Fixing Brake Problems Before They Start

Inspections are definitely a pain in the rear-end, but they're there for a reason. It's a cost-benefit to you to have a safe vehicle hauling your shipments across the country. Even if you should be lucky enough to avoid inspection throughout the year, any damages caused from weak brake parts will contribute to costly repairs to your vehicle and incurred liability should another vehicle be involved in the accident.

29% of all major heavy-duty truck accidents are attributed to brakes. We've broken it down into the top five most common parts and how you can avoid future problems by picking the right part from the get-go.

Automatic Slack Adjusters

When Automatic Slack Adjusters (or ASAs) came on the scene, they were a game-changer. They're increasingly more reliable than their manual predecessor because they consistently adjust for lining wear. The ASA can be found near the truck's wheel between the pushrod and the S-cam on drum brakes.

Though they are "Automatic" Slack Adjusters, they're still something you need to check daily, and while that may seem a bit tedious, it'll pay off big come inspection time. One of the most common inspection issues that leads to out-of-service is when your brakes are out of adjustment. Below is the CVSA's definition:

• One brake at ¼ inch (6.4 mm) or more beyond the adjustment limit.
• A brake found at 1/8 inch (3.2mm) beyond the adjustment limit is considered a 0.5 (1/2) defective brake.
• Any wedge brake where the combined brake lining movement of both top and bottom shoes exceeds 1/8 of an inch.

It all goes back to the 20 percent rule. If any of the ASA's on your brakes fail to be within the above limits, they contribute as a defective brake and will need to be repaired immediately post-inspection.

Our Solution: The best ways to keep your slack adjustment in control is with Meritor's SimpleCheck stroke tool. Install it at the base of the chamber or spring brake to easily measure the brake stroke. Luckily you don't go have to go far to get them, we have a wide selection right here.

Not only do we want to save you money in the long haul, but we want to make sure you're riding with the safest possible brake parts in your vehicle. Stay tuned for the other four parts of our brake inspection blog series!