Before I start, Yes, I know that FOT is the place to get brakes done... but.. A 800 mile trip is not always practical.
On our summer trip I had no problems even on passes and hills all over the NW and W.
On our trip back from FL to ATL two weeks ago I felt something was wrong so I put it in a local shop just to pull the wheels and inspect the rear brakes.
Findings : No lining material on either pad on the left rear and the rotor ground down to about 1/2 inch thickness, Right rotor and pads no appreciable wear but rotor was cracked clear thru to the hub.
Brakes had been replaced including the RR rotor about 60 K ago by a shop in ATL, ( Big Mo's Truck and Brake ), at that time I did not know a whole lot about our air brakes and they screwed up, thankfully BILL W here was able to properly grease the rotors and adjust the brakes while at the SEA Rally.
This shop did a good job but did have problems. We were unable to back the calipers off far enough to clear the pads, in both calipers we found baked hardened black crap that was old baked in grease, had a devil of a time purging it. In addition the slide pins were in backwards on the left side which makes me believe that the previous brake job was faked and pads never replaced. Just as a precaution since there was no way to check it we replaced the left slack adjuster. With pads, rotors, seals, slack adjusters and misc the job came to about 2 K. I am now confident that the brakes have been done right and I was able to watch and see the Tech at each step of the way.
Moral.... Don't trust just anyone to work on your brakes ( or anything else ) and never leave the coach in a shop if you cannot watch the work every moment.
Gary B
Wow Gary... Glad you made it home safely and got it all fixed. I will have to eyeball my pads to see how much pad is left. Thanks for the info.
Mark
Gary,
Just curious which shop did you use this time on your brake repairs? It is always good to know about reliable shops. Also, did you have to go thru FOT for rotors or are they available thru other vendors- what other applications do they fit?
I would like to know more about what should be done on air brakes (maintenace wise).
Thanks,
Jerry
Jerry, I used a local shop in Conyers, Goes by American Truck Repairs, his is a combo shop, they run a trucking co, a construction co and the shop. Rate was 85 bucks an hour.
ALL Parts were from Fleet Pride, a national supplier. Prices were about the same as FT without the shipping costs. The rotors were in Macon, Not Conley so to speed things up I picked them up and there were no shipping charges. Seals and Misc. came from D & J Parts in Lithonia I have dealt with them for years but they do not carry any air disc brake parts, their main business is dump trucks.
AT ALL COSTS, Avoid BIG MO in Austell, They don't have a clue about MH's or air brakes even tho they advertise themselves as a brake shop.
Gary B
I had mine checked after a one cross country trip and twice up and down the east coast plus a few other excursions as well. The guy at the truck frame and axle shop told me they looked almost unused. He said my coach has wedge brakes "like you'd see on a garbage truck." He usually has a coach there getting worked on as I drive by everyday so this setup must be somewhat unusual for a motorhome. I was kind of insulted at first but then he added that this was very heavy duty for the application. They do seem to work just fine.
Dwayne, Wedge brakes are standard on most trucks. What that indicates is that the air cylinder at the axle drives a wedge between the brake shoes causing them to bear on the drums and stopping the vehicle. There are also "S" Cam brakes that work in a similar fashion, the air cylinder rotates a cam that has S shaped ends that drive the shoes apart that then impinge on the drums stopping the vehicle. Much simpler operation that the air disc brakes on many FT's.
Gary B
If you have the original manuals in red and black binders for your coach, it will have one with the manufacturer's parts/maintenance for each of the chassis components, including engine, transmission, rear axle, front axle, brakes, steering, air suspension, etc. The manuals go into detail for adjustment, lubrication, part numbers. If you don't have one, just write to the manufacturer and they will send one at a nominal cost.
Detailed shop manuals are also available but cost quite a bit more and don't have more info that the average person would need over the supplied manuals.
Rotors are rotors (and most anything else underneath the coach) and available online or NAPA truck parts stores/shops once you look up the brand and part number.
Wedge brakes work very well with shaft lubrication important so just read about them and make sure the shop is reliable.
Pierce