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Topic: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder (Read 1416 times) previous topic - next topic

Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Especially for Newbies, if you missed this, search the ForeForum threads for this information.  I know many have covered this, and I posted one on slacker brake adjustment importance after an episode and on slide pins after a friend had major freeze up of brake due to corrosion.

From that experience, I just had all of our brake slide pins pulled and inspected.  History: our coach has some miles, we are the third owner of this 2001 and I am told maintenance was well done when we bought it from a dealer, and no evidence that I recognized that I might have a problem.  So in spite of this supposedly pretty good record, I wanted the inspection and the technical folks found at least two slide pins with important problems.  I have posted some photos below to help a newbie understand.  The one I am showing has a fairly good sized, deep, hole in it, with rough edge, that I am told is serious, could before long have caused brake problem.  It is speculated that the coach may have sat for a time, caused some rust to begin, it got worse over time, then turned into the hole.  Understand that this pin has been cleaned to show me (you) the problem area, it is not this nice and shiny all over.  A new paper weight.

The lesson.....if this is new to you, go back and search the Forum threads on slide pins, consider a periodic inspection or cleaning of these pins and probably factor in how often you use the coach, what conditions (salt on roads in winter?).  Dave K. told me that pumping the brakes six times before driving can help you understand or keep the brakes sliding well on the pins;  I hope he covers that better if he sees this thread.

The coins are just to show you scale for those new to this topic.  The coins value is not representative of the cost to inspect and, or replace the pins and especially a repair if the brakes seize or fail because of corrosion.

Safe travels.  Mike

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #1 –
                   Thanks Michael. Very good and important advice. We have an appointment at FOT in two weeks to get our brakes inspected, lubed, slide pins cleaned, and the helper springs installed. Also getting an alignment.

          FWIW anyone looking to get service work done at FOT they are booked through the end of April.

                    Dean

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #2 –
Any recommendation for someone on the West Coast to do this inspection?

best, paul

Quote
Thanks Michael. Very good and important advice. We have an appointment at FOT in two weeks to get our brakes inspected, lubed, slide pins cleaned, and the helper springs installed. Also getting an alignment.

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #3 –
Mike, Having just had a 2100 dollar rear brake rebuild I can second your concern on brake pins,  These pins are very hard and it is difficult to damage them but it can be done.  One source of damage is failing to properly torque the lock pins that keep the slide pin in place and I can see on one pin where the wear at the pin center could be due to over torquing.  As long as the pin is smooth and has no gouges that protrude above the hardened surface they are good to use.  Looks like yours were damaged in installation or at brake replacement.
Gary B

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #4 –
Prime example why I trust a very few when it comes to working on my anything just too many parts replacers, not carving about the job. Nor what cost.
Thank you I' ll do it my self.
Dave M
What I hate about this iPad, it finishes words incorrectly, just a Dumas box

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #5 –
I agree, especially when it comes to brakes!

BTW, you can turn that auto-correction off in the Control panel under: Settings/General/ Keyboard... I have considered turning it off in mine, but in my case, I think it guesses right slightly more often than wrong... Plus some of the wrong guesses are hilarious ;D
Don
Quote from: Dave M –
Prime example why I trust a very few when it comes to working on my anything just too many parts replacers, not carving about the job. Nor what cost.
Thank you I' ll do it my self.
Dave M
What I hate about this iPad, it finishes words incorrectly, just a Dumas box

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #6 –
I removed and cleaned all the Meritor Slide pins myself, it was not a difficult job but does require removing the wheels. I also installed the helper springs at the same time.

I removed the front wheels myself, but waited until the tires were being replaced to do the back brakes.

I found that the lower pins on the rear were the most dirty and corroded. I purchased four new pins (two kits) from eBay for less than $50 per pin. I will replace the rear bottom pins from the inside without removing the tires. This is possible because the pins are clean and do not have to be pounded out.

The dirt on the pins looked like brake dust which became a paste due to moisture and dried on quite hard. Brake dust is somewhat corrosive and I suspect that is what damaged the pins rather then over torquing of the pinch bolts. The four top pins looked like new even though my coach has 107,000 miles on it.


Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Michael & Jackie –
...

The lesson.....if this is new to you, go back and search the Forum threads on slide pins, consider a periodic inspection or cleaning of these pins and probably factor in how often you use the coach, what conditions (salt on roads in winter?).  Dave K. told me that pumping the brakes six times before driving can help you understand or keep the brakes sliding well on the pins;  I hope he covers that better if he sees this thread.
...

Safe travels.  Mike

I can't claim originality on pumping the brakes hard 6 times before starting out - read it  on the Forum I think.  Two reasons for doing that:  Most of us drive with the retarder on, and the brake pedal engages the retarder before the disk brakes, so often not much motion on the slide pins, which may let them stick.  The other reason is that the slack adjusters need travel of the pads to adjust, so pumping the brakes hard will keep them adjusted for when you need them. 

Be sure to have the parking brake OFF before doing that, since I read somewhere that full-on service brake pressure plus the pressure of the spring brakes (parking brakes) may overstress things.  Not sure whether that is an issue with our Meritor disks, but best to be safe.   

Meritor Brakes, Spring Kit, rotors & disk pads

Reply #9 –
A rainy day here, so was perfect to get into the brakes, install the new spring kit, inspect, clean up and verify being correct.
The good news, all 4 brake assemblies were perfect, just remove the slide pins, clean up, install the new spring kits and reassemble.  ALso, the 4 rotors and dick pads are in great shape.
The entire project took 5.5 hrs, mostly due to one slide pin being a pain to remove, all other slide pins worked very normal/good.  Lost about an hour on that pesky slide pin, between heat, hammer. puller it finally surrendered, so cleaned it up back to new.
Oh Happy Day.
Dave M

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #10 –
Dave:
Which slide pin was the pesky one, and was it badly corroded?
My worst one was the lower, rear, passenger side, just behind the water tank overflow.
I used thin strips of plastic scub clothe to clean the pins before removing and mine removed with just some hammering.



 

 

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #11 –
Very close, mine was te upper Right Rear, it did cleanup fine. Other rear pins would rotate when w tried to chase the threads for pulling.  The fronts, we had pulled &  checked them when purchased the coah five yrs ago, they were stll in great shape & easy to remove.
The biggest surprise was how good the condition of both rotors and pads on all four locations.  Would assume they will go 300 K miles easy, yes I use the retarder.
Glad I have a good shop and great air wrenchs, air/ hydraulic jacks etc..
Dave M

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #12 –
Quote from: Dave M –

The biggest surprise was how good the condition of both rotors and pads on all four locations.  Would assume they will go 300 K miles easy, yes I use the retarder.

We had that comment by FOT tech in 2009 - brake pads/rotors looked nearly new and we also use retarder.

Quote
Glad I have a good shop and great air wrenchs, air/ hydraulic jacks etc..

Is this a commercially-available shop or a private one?  Just interested in whether we might want to route through VA on our way to Maine this year ;)

-M

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #13 –
Michelle, All the HD equipment in my shop was originally for working on the MCI I had prior to the Foretravel, makes it easy for this grease monkey. ;D
Yes our shop rates are inline. :o
Our business is generators, the shop is my play house. 40 X 60 playhouse.

Re: Brake Slide Pin report, reminder

Reply #14 –
I had my slide pins and brakes serviced at Cummins in Cloverdale VA.iwas very happy with the service there.