Truck Maintenance

When a big rig starts wandering down the road, banging over bumps, or slinging oil out of a wheel end, we get it in the bay and find out what’s going on underneath it.

Redneck Diesel Performance handles brakes, steering, suspension, wheel ends, and driveline repairs on medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks. From a leaking brake chamber to a steer axle that needs sleeving, we follow the problem back to where it started and tell you what it’ll take to fix it.

A brake job ought to include figuring out why one side wore faster than the other. A kingpin job ought to include checking whether the axle can still hold the pin. That’s the kind of detail that matters when the truck leaves our shop and goes right back under a load.

Pads. Shoes. Drums. Rotors. Chambers. Air lines.

When you bring in a truck for brake work, we look at how the brakes are wearing and how they apply and release. On drum brakes, that can mean looking over the shoes and drums, checking chamber operation and pushrod travel, and inspecting the slack adjusters and S-cam components. On air disc brakes, we look at the pads, rotors, and caliper operation.

If one set of pads is worn down while the other side still has material, that wear tells us where to start looking. The same goes for a brake that drags or a truck that pulls when you get on the pedal. We check what’s making that corner act different before we hang new parts on it.

Hear air escaping when you apply the brakes? Tell us when you hear it. We can trace the leak to the chamber, line, fitting, or other component it’s coming from and show you what we found.

If you’re sawing at the wheel just to keep your rig in its lane, we’ll get under it and check where that movement is coming from. We look at kingpins, tie rod ends, drag links, and other steering components to see what moves when the wheel turns and where there’s play that shouldn’t be there.

A wandering front end, a clunk when you turn, or steer tires wearing unevenly can all give us somewhere to start. We check the front end as a whole so we can point to the part that’s worn and show you why it needs attention.

Sometimes the wear is in the axle eye, the hole in the steer axle where the kingpin fits. Once that hole wears out of round, a brand-new pin can still wobble in the axle. We check where the movement is happening so we can tell whether it’s in the kingpin bushings or in the axle bore itself.

When the axle is a candidate for sleeving, we can bring Axle Surgeon right into our shop. They machine the worn axle eye and install a precision sleeve with the axle still on the truck. That brings the bore back to its original dimensions so the new kingpin fits like it did when the axle was new.

A rig that sits low on one side, bangs over bumps, or rides different with a load on it gives us something to work with. Depending on your suspension setup, we check air bags, ride height, leaf springs, shocks, bushings, torque rods, and mounting hardware.

If the truck is sitting low, we look at what’s making it sit there. If it clunks over bumps, we check for worn bushings, loose mounts, and other places the suspension can move more than it should. Tell us if it happens loaded, empty, or both. That’s a detail you can feel from the driver’s seat that helps us know where to start in the bay.

Oil streaked across a wheel can be the first thing you notice on a walkaround. We trace the leak and check the seal, hub, and bearings as needed. If oil has reached the brake components, we check those too so the repair covers everything the leak affected.

A clunk on takeoff or a vibration that shows up at a certain speed sends us looking along the driveline. We check U-joints, the carrier bearing and its mount, and the driveshaft for wear, damage, or looseness. We also handle axle and differential leaks and trace the oil back to the source so you know what needs to be repaired.

If it shakes under throttle and smooths out when you let off, tell us. If it does it at the same road speed loaded or empty, tell us that too. Those details help us narrow down what to check first.

Downtime don’t make money. Whether you’ve got one truck pulling freight or a fleet that needs to stay moving, we’ll tell you what we found, what needs fixing now, and what to keep an eye on down the road.