Meritor’s Mobile Training Van
As part of the training, the technicians receive maintenance manuals and other materials to use as references when working on air disc brakes.
Martin makes the sessions interactive and asks questions of the technicians in attendance as well as answering questions they have about Meritor’s products or air disc brakes in general.
Martin demonstrated how to properly use the templates.
The Meritor training van brings hands-on training to various locations across the United States and Canada. It recently stopped at Central Illinois Trucks in Mokena, Ill.
Technicians from Central Illinois Trucks took advantage of Meritor’s mobile training and learned more about air disc brakes in the dealership’s service garage. Training lasted about 90 minutes and was focused on air disc brake maintenance and repair. The dealership sells Kenworth, Mack, Volvo and Isuzu trucks.
Rick Martin, senior manager, Meritor Aftermarket Training, is an ASE-certified Master Heavy Duty Truck Technician. He has more than 40 years experience in the automotive and commercial vehicle industries. He conducts these mobile trainings at a variety of locations throughout the year.
At CTI, Martin focused on maintenance of the Meritor EX+ air disc brake for trucks, tractors and trailers reminding the technicians in attendance that these brakes are lubed for life. The training covered component identification, system operation and maintenance, along with installation procedures for Meritor automatic slack adjusters.
Martin starts the training session by reviewing the various parts of the braking system.
The EX+ brake comes with an indicator spring. As the brake pads wear the indicator gives the technician an idea of how much life is left on the brake pad.
Slack adjusters must be set at a specified angle on trucks, tractors and trailers. If the slacks are out of adjustment that means there is a problem in the braking system not with the ASA itself.
Slack adjusters were passed around to the technicians during the training session. Martin reminded the technicians that the angle is measured from the centerline of the ASA to the centerline of the chamber pushrod.
Martin gave the technicians truck, tractor and trailer automatic slack adjuster templates to help them determine which clevis they need to use.