Narrative:

First officer (first officer) did walk around last night in ZZZ; gate X; flight ZZZ-ZZZ1. Push time scheduled late evening. Called maintenance with gripe concerning #1 main landing gear (medium large transport) tire brake pins being below flush. Aircraft a B737-800. Waited 30-minutes. Single maintenance technician comes out and tells us the pins are above flush. First officer and I point out to him that two are; two are not. We want the brake system fixed. He departs. (My assessment: he just wanted to get away so he could go home.) about 30-minutes later (and after ZZZ operations deplaned the passengers); two competent technicians arrive and diagnose the problem. They claim the delay in arriving was due to a shift change. The real problem is that two of the brake pucks are fused to the brake and wheel assembly with associated metal damage and fragmentation. Some parts are the diameter and length of my thumb. No mention of whether the [tire] fuse plugs had melted. Solution: change the entire medium large transport tire; wheel; axle and brake assembly. Maintenance technicians comment that damage was so bad that the wheel assembly could have catastrophically failed upon next takeoff or landing. The previous inbound crew [into ZZZ] had taxied to the gate with no apparent problems or issues. We departed ZZZ about 2.5-hours late. Everything worked fine thereafter. Recommend sending competent maintenance technician to aircraft the first time. ZZZ maintenance took a long time to respond to my request for service. Equipment malfunction.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain and First Officer report Number 1 Tire Brake wear pins on the left Main Landing Gear (MLG) were found below flush during a walkaround on a B737-800 aircraft. Two of the brake pucks were fused to the Brake and Wheel Assembly with associated metal damage and fragmentation. Maintenance Technician noted Wheel Assembly could have catastrophically failed upon next takeoff or landing.

Narrative: First Officer (F/O) did walk around last night in ZZZ; Gate X; Flight ZZZ-ZZZ1. Push time scheduled late evening. Called Maintenance with gripe concerning #1 Main Landing Gear (MLG) Tire Brake pins being below flush. Aircraft a B737-800. Waited 30-minutes. Single Maintenance Technician comes out and tells us the pins are above flush. F/O and I point out to him that two are; two are not. We want the Brake System fixed. He departs. (My assessment: he just wanted to get away so he could go home.) About 30-minutes later (and after ZZZ Operations deplaned the passengers); two COMPETENT technicians arrive and diagnose the problem. They claim the delay in arriving was due to a Shift change. The real problem is that two of the brake pucks are fused to the Brake and Wheel Assembly with associated metal damage and fragmentation. Some parts are the diameter and length of my thumb. No mention of whether the [tire] Fuse plugs had melted. Solution: Change the entire MLG tire; wheel; axle and brake assembly. Maintenance technicians comment that damage was so bad that the Wheel Assembly could have catastrophically failed upon next Takeoff or Landing. The previous inbound crew [into ZZZ] had taxied to the gate with no apparent problems or issues. We departed ZZZ about 2.5-hours late. Everything worked fine thereafter. Recommend sending competent Maintenance technician to aircraft the first time. ZZZ Maintenance took a long time to respond to my request for service. Equipment malfunction.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.