How to Read the Number on Your Air Brake Chamber (Type 30, 30/30, Long Stroke)

PartStop Team·Aug 5, 2026 6 min read
How to Read the Number on Your Air Brake Chamber (Type 30, 30/30, Long Stroke)

The number stamped on the old can tells you everything you need to order the right one — if you know where to look and what each part of it means.

Where the number is stamped

Look on the flat face of the chamber, the clamp band, or the metal ID tag riveted to the body. You're after two things: the type number and whether it's a spring brake. On a highway tractor it's usually cast right into the housing, so a wire brush and a rag will find it faster than a parts catalog.

What the type number means

The type is the effective diaphragm area in square inches. A Type 30 has a 30 in² diaphragm; a Type 24 has 24 in². Bigger area means more clamping force at the same air pressure. Drive axles on most road tractors run Type 30; steer axles usually run smaller service-only chambers.

A "30/30" means both halves are Type 30 — a 30 service side and a 30 spring side stacked together. That's the double-diaphragm spring brake you'll find on the drives.

Stroke is the detail that trips people up

  • Standard (short) stroke: the older spec, less pushrod travel, matched to a standard slack adjuster.
  • Long stroke: more travel before it's out of adjustment — what most modern trucks run so brakes stay legal longer.
  • They look nearly identical. Swap one for the other and the brakes go out of adjustment or come up short on travel. Always match the stroke to what came off.

Service chamber or spring brake?

A single service chamber applies the brakes when you hit the pedal — that's the steer axle. A spring brake (the double / piggyback) adds the parking-and-emergency spring and lives on the drives and the trailer. If you can see a second, larger housing bolted behind the first, it's a spring brake, and it gets replaced as a complete unit — never opened.

Lost the tag? Use the VIN

Corrosion eats ID tags. If yours is unreadable, the VIN gets us the spec that left the factory, and the number on the slack adjuster and the axle tag help confirm it. Send us a photo of what's left of the old can and we'll cross it.

Order it right the first time

Match the type, the stroke, and the mounting and the new chamber drops in on the same bolts. PartStop chambers are aftermarket direct replacements cross-referenced to Bendix, Haldex and Meritor, and we confirm fit before it ships — same-day out of Tacoma, 6+ month warranty.

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