I am trying to wrap my brain around what is involved in a thorough inspection of the disc brakes on a Foretravel of the years '01-'05. I am trying to add this to my customized PDI. Can someone please help me with this?
I have tried to glean this information from the brake-related threads I found, but there seems to be no complete description of it.
Royce, You will most likely hear many versions of the how to for the disk brakes.
My version is to simply raise a wheel off the ground, pull the wheel, and look at what you have. I normally, pull the guide pins, clean them, dry lube them and reinstall provided the rotor and the pads look OK, I also installed the spring kit from Meritor to assist in haveing the pads back away from the rotor when not needed. Also be sure to check the slack adjuster for correct adjustment. In general, give it a good snooping overand looking for signs of wear, binding and sloppy material.
My 01 had 52,000 when I purcdhased it, now is over 104,000, the brakes look today exactly as they did at 52,000 miles, no sign of wear, yes I use the retarder a fair amount.
Very simple for those who work around heavy vehicles.
You need to read the manual from Meritor on the care and feeding of your brakes, it is very good reading. It should be available here on the Forum.
Good luck
Royce,
I don't know of anyone who has paid to have all the wheels pulled and the brakes disassembled as part of a PDI. I routinely check the length of each guide pin showing at the rear of the caliper. If it is equal on each brake, and more importantly equal among all the brakes, I judge the brakes fine.
Be sure to add inspecting the disks for signs of overheating (bluing) or cracking/checking. No disassembly needed for this.
I guess what I need to know is what is the most reasonable inspection that I could ask a diesel shop to do without having to pay to have the wheels pulled.
Not all shops have a clue to the Disk Brake operation, so first , would think finding a shop that knows what they are looking at would be a biggie. For mechanics who know what their looking at, using your HWH air leveling system, raise the coach so they can have a better chance of getting under it "cheaply".
To reinforce Dave's point, very few heavy vehicles have disk brakes. Many fire trucks DO have disk brakes, so if in a small town, you might ask the local fire department maintenance department if they would look at it/recommend someone familiar with them.
This is very timely thread for me. Had coach over to Parliament Coach last month after our long trip for all the basic maint- Oil and filter change for M11 engine, Gen., Aqua Hot, Steering, etc. which also included greasing of all points. Since Parliament has been servicing and selling Prevost and other high end coaches and having been recently purchased by a new owner, who maintained all the same good mechanics and continues to be an approved service center for Foretravel, one would think that they would be familiar with the high end Meritor Air brake system that uses CLAY BASED grease.
The other day I noticed several drops of a reddish-orange colored grease from the right front disc brakes. I made contact with Paul Yesbeck who used to be one of the former outstanding Mech.-tech of Foretravel who I just discovered lives only an hour fr. me. When he showed me the color of clay based grease which was kind of grayish as compared to what was extruding from my disc brake, it was obvious that Parliament used the wrong stuff! Now he will have to "clean-out" all that wrong grease before using the right stuff! I plan to call Parliament to complain and make them aware of this sig. error and lack of Knowledge on their part- specially after I get the bill for the job!
Ed Pan
Ed, Cleaning out the wrong grease from those calipers is a PITA and time consuming. On mine we detached the Slack adjuster and repeatedly over and over forced it full stroke to force the old hard dry grease out of the caliper. I would jump on Parliment so hard that they would write my name on the wall and invite to never come back. >:(
Gary B
Thanks for the education, Guys. It is very much appreciated. Ed's complaint just proves that you never know who you have to keep an eye on, so I guess you have to watch everyone.
Ed - is that from the same visit where they screwed something up with your oil change (left the cap off or something like that?)
Michelle,
You are right! You know, in gen. they really are not bad at all since they work on high end coaches and generally understand everything. But, carelessness or being distracted by something or someone can happen, even in the best of places. But one thing I'll give them- after I notified them about what happened, etc.; Parliament made a generous adjustment on the final bill.
Will I recommend Parliament? Yes I will. But since they allow you to watch while they work on the coach, I recommend doing so if you have the time. When this oil cover thing happened, I was invited by one of their directors to tour their new Sales and Supply renovation, which was very nicely done. One would get the feeling that you were entering a med. sized Camping World! Almost anything and everything one may need! And of course, parts too. So, in a way, I was to blame because I "left my post" & failed to watch (?)
Now I'm just waiting to hear about my brakes from Paul Yesbeck. Will give a follow-up report.
Ed
One more question, which I think I know the answer to already. Can the lubrication of the slide pins be done without pulling the wheels?
Ed, I use a grease for the brake calipers from Mobile that is clay base and it is a deep red in color.
I recently needed to have an under body chassis inspection before I started my trip out west this fall. (currently in OK)
Knowing that most service shops don't have a clue about the brakes, I took the coach to a large tour bus outfit who service about four or five different tour coaches in a fleet of about 80 coaches or so. They spotted minuscule cracks in the rear rotors and suggested that I get them swapped out within the next 10K miles. He is very familiar with Meritor disc brakes as they are used on a lot of their coaches. He said that they do NOT use the clay based grease due to the various problems they have with it over the long term. They use something else. They have a LOT less problems, which is why they are using something else. I will inquire about it more when I get back to their area.
I watched most of their work on my coach and they were very thorough in what they did and found a lot of little things that apparently others have missed in the past. I plan on going back in the spring.
Has anyone found a good source for rear rotors?
Apparently, my "idler arm" or "drag link" on the steering assembly is showing its age at 250K and should be replaced. Any one got a source for the part?
Regards,
Bruce,
The clay based grease from Meritor is that grayish color. You may be ok with the red colored Mobile clay based. But knowing that Foretravel has been using the former- and recommends it, I just feel safer. Just me, I guess.
Ed
I use synthetic grease, it has a higher temp rating than the clay based, temp seems to be the big concern from Meritor. Anyway, have used it for the past 6 years having this coach. The brake system after 50,000+ miles since I have owned it, still look exactly the same as the first time I serviced them 6 yrs a go, rotors, calipers, slide pins, slack adjusters and pads do still look very fine with very little wear.
I use the synthetic for all zerk fittings on the coach.
Dave,
What you say about Synthetic grease sounds impressive- and since it has been working for you so far, I don't blame you for sticking with it. It is for the same reason that I stay with the Meritor CB grease. No problems with brakes and now with 98,000 miles.
Ed
Ed, I was searching for the Clay Based, but started reading the specs for it, then read the specs on our synthetic gun grease we have been using for a year or so, looked better and was available, so since I tend to be a grease monkey, I started using it, and checking for issues, none appeared, so I still use it. With 104K miles, am very satisfied with everything including the brakes, feel I have a lucky coach.
A small point: Synthetic does not dry out / cake up. ;D
Dave,
Looks like this is something to look into. That's why we have this forum. One can always learn something to keep our "other woman"running smoothely- that's what my wife Sue refers to the coach whenever someone is looking for me and I'm out in the coach garage doing something.
Ed
Anyone have an answer to the question, is it necessary to pull the wheels to remove, clean, lube, replace the slide pins? Thanks jc
Never tried, I doubt you could remove the pins and reinstall them with the wheels on. Being limited, I would never try it.
Kinda depends on how pins were installed if you can remove them with wheels on. On mine when brake job was done we found that the threaded holes in the end of the pins was faced towards the wheel and if they were sticky ( they were ) you could not thread in a slap hammer to pull them. They should not be so tight that a slap hammer is needed but s... happens. With wheels off you can tap them out with a punch if they are tight where you can't have room with wheels on. You should be able to insert a bolt and use a pair of vice grips to slide them out.
Gary B
Dave , Back when I was doing brakes, I talked to Meritor Tech about synthetic they said as long as the thep ratings are the same specs, and all the old grease was flushed out all would be good.
The slide pins should not be lubed with anything other than a dry spray lube as mentioned in the Meritor maintenance manual, it has been posted here several times if you do a search you will find it.
I use Mobil 28 grease available here.
MOBIL GREASE 28 from Aircraft Spruce (http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/mobilGrease28.php)
"I don't know of anyone who has paid to have all the wheels pulled and the brakes disassembled as part of a PDI."
During PDI I asked for a reasonable inspection & took a well qualified mechanic with me to inspect it also.
After I purchased it we pulled all the wheels out. Although nothing major but I am glad we did that and replaced everything bolts, sealed, etc. Anyway I think it is very important to make sure.