Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 10, 2025 ...

Had the brake caliper lube purged and replaced with the right Grade #1 stuff at Peterbuilt in Missoula - $119.00.  Although it is true that a grade #2 lube may meet the specs, there are 3 things the spec calls for.  High temp, low temp and lube viscosity.  Many grade #2 lubes meet the Meritor specs.  Not sure if the low temp requirement is important to us as we will probably not see subzero temps while under way.  When the tech checked the slack adjusters after the purge and re-lube he stated that the slack adjusters were set correctly.  He also stated that our brakes looked almost new.

The RnR tech has been working on Foretravel chassis for some years and seemed to know his stuff (although didn't know about Meritor helper springs)....

That would likely be Luke.  He does know Foretravels and is a decent guy who seems to care.  When I had an issue he couldn't solve, he called FOT to get an answer...and when the answer was WRONG, he considered it a while and called FOT back and got a "lower" tech to tell him the right way to fix my issue (about 10% of the cost that FOT had initially suggested).  RnR may cost a little more than some, but I trust Luke to fix things and fix them right. 

Brad - the fellow working on FT chassis (at least on mine) was Rich and had a number of years experience with FT; Luke was also in the shop but seemed to have a different FT specialty.  Yes RnR seemed quite competent; I thought I'd do some more checking before I proceeded.  We won't be going back that way until next summer though.

Scott - thanks for all the info.  I'll post the results when I have some (likely late September).

Scott - was it Montana Peterbilt you had do the work in Missoula?  I called them today to see about purging red grease from our brakes but the service fellow I talked to didn't recall working on a motorhome and said they have only started working on Meritor air disk brakes on trucks recently...  If this is the right place I'll call back and try for a different fellow.

Background - I had the oil changed in Kalispell; I had asked for NO chassis lubrication but found the tech busily greasing before I stopped him; I thought I had stopped him before he got to the brakes.

A few weeks (300 miles) later I was going to have RnR in Liberty Lake, WA, inspect and lube the brakes but once the coach was up on the hoist they informed me that all 4 brakes had red grease on the nipples and it would be a 10 hour job to take all the calipers apart, purge the grease and check to see if new parts were required ($2600 was the worst case estimate for parts if all new parts required – which they doubted).  He did say the brake pads looked good.

The RnR tech has been working on Foretravel chassis for some years and seemed to know his stuff (although didn't know about Meritor helper springs).

With a $1000⁺ cost estimate, I thought I'd do some more research first.  I've been looking at FF posts and the Meritor website trying to learn a bit more about brakes and what is required to get rid of the dreaded red grease.  It seems from FF posts that the red grease can be forced out with the proper grease and, as long as excess grease is purged, all can be good.  Now it's to find someone to do it properly... (the coach is back in Kalispell until we head south in September).

Mobil 28 grease is RED and appropriate for the calipers.

Good luck,

Mobil 28 is a clay based synthetic and I used it for my brakes. It is a bright red color. It is also readily availible
Google
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Belgium-English/Aviation/PDS/GLXXENAVIEMMobilgrease_28.aspx
Good luck,
Rick

The shop manual I think shows a bleed valve that needs to be open when filling with grease.

Plus retract the pads in the process?

Re greasing u joints, always grease BOTH grease nipple in a u joint, after wiping any dirt, dust off the fitting...that is the standard procedure in the trucking industry.