Keeping your fleet of commercial trucks in good condition lets you avoid lengthy downtime and expensive repairs. But even with proper maintenance, good driving habits and regular inspections, certain parts will wear out faster than others.
Rather than wait for your trucks to break down during transit, it’s much quicker and more convenient to install replacement truck parts before they set off. That means you need to know which truck parts are most commonly replaced and what problems you should look out for to perform timely truck repair work.
Clutch
In a manual transmission system, the clutch acts as a mechanical link between the engine and the gearbox. When the pedal is pressed in, the clutch allows the driver to smoothly change gears.
Most clutches are set to disengage once they reach a certain level of torque. While this prevents catastrophic engine failure, it’s still very damaging to the transmission. As incredibly powerful vehicles, trucks tend to reach this limit much more quickly, leading to higher rates of clutch wear.
If your driver believes that the clutch feels unusual, they should stop to inspect it immediately. Continuing to drive with a faulty clutch can cause major damage to the truck’s transmission system. As a rule of thumb, you should expect to get around 200,000 miles out of your truck clutch before it needs replacing.
Top tips:
- Don’t ride the clutch by pressing it in when not changing gears.
- Place the vehicle in neutral and step off the clutch when stopped for long periods.
- Switch gears quickly but without rushing.
Tyres
Tyres grip the road as you drive to ensure you have good control over your vehicle. As they wear down, their grip becomes weaker. If your tyre treads are allowed to go below minimum legal standards, you put your drivers and other road users at risk.
Truck tyres are designed to be far more durable than conventional car tyres because they carry heavier weight. But trucks also spend much more time driving up and down motorways, leading to higher levels of wear.
While it’s common to see people changing car tyres at the side of the road, it’s significantly harder to do this with truck tyres. Instead, inspect and replace them before your driver sets out. Most heavy-duty truck tyres should last you around 100,000 miles.
Top tips:
- Get your tyres rotated regularly to extend their lifespan.
- Check tyre pressure when your tyres are cold, as warm tyres always show a higher pressure.
Brake pads
When you press the brake pedal, your brake pads clamp against your brake disc to slow your truck. Because trucks are very heavy and powerful, this places intense friction on your brake pads, causing them to wear quickly. And since trucks spend a lot of time on the road, they need to brake frequently, particularly in stop-and-start motorway traffic.
Worn brake pads are much less effective at bringing your truck to a stop. This puts your driver and other road users at serious risk of harm.
Brake pads should last around 3-5 years on a heavy-duty truck. However, they should be inspected and replaced early if your truck takes a long time to stop.
Top tips:
- Avoid quick or emergency braking when possible to extend brake pad lifespan.
- Brake at a smooth, consistent pace.
Mirrors
Due to their large size, trucks are very difficult to manoeuvre. When reversing, mirrors are essential to position the truck accurately and avoid hitting people or objects.
As trucks drive along the road, dirt, rocks, gravel and other debris are kicked up from the road. These scratch and crack your truck’s mirrors, lowering rear visibility.
Before they set out, inspect your truck mirrors for signs of significant wear. If you find any, replace them immediately.
Top tip:
- Avoid driving too closely to the vehicle in front, as they may kick up road debris.
Headlights
It’s very common for trucks to drive through the night in order to make deliveries on time. Faulty lights effectively cut your truck’s uptime in half and can put your driver in danger if headlights fail while driving in the dark. Flickering, dimming or burnt-out headlights should be replaced before your truck begins its journey.
Top tip:
- Before you replace a headlight, check that the modules, relays and fuses are working properly. You might be able to replace one of these smaller, less expensive components to repair the headlight rather than replacing it outright.
Batteries
Most truck batteries last for three to four years before they need to be replaced. But factors like temperature, climate and driving habits can shorten battery lifespan.
Unlike brake pads or headlights, weak batteries don’t always show warning signs before they fail. Test your truck batteries regularly and replace weak batteries before departure.
Top tip:
- Don’t use electrical components such as lights or air conditioning while the truck’s engine is switched off.
Water pumps
The water pump is an integral part of your truck’s engine cooling system. It transports coolant liquid around the engine to remove heat and prevent overheating.
When your water pump malfunctions, there’s no way for the engine to cool effectively. This allows a dangerous amount of heat to build up, causing massive damage.
Top tip:
- Keep an eye on your truck’s temperature gauge, and pull over if the engine begins to overheat.
Get reliable, affordable replacement DAF truck parts from PT Parts
Since truck repair adds time and costs to your operation, it’s important to get replacement truck parts quickly at a great price. That’s why PT Parts offers a massive inventory of affordable new and used replacement DAF truck parts with quick delivery across the UK, Europe and beyond. We professionally clean and test our parts to ensure you receive outstanding quality, and each one comes with a minimum three-month warranty so you can shop with confidence.
Visit our online store today to stock up on the most commonly replaced truck parts and keep your operation at peak performance.
