Check your brakes

[Ddubya]

I took the brakes apart today and here is what I found. Keep in mind that RV is only one year old. Only one brake was not damaged out of four. Below photos show adjuster that fell out when the hub was removed. The spring that holds the shoes together at the bottom was missing.
The left rear showing the brake pads that had fallen off. One is intact and the other is in two pieces.
I checked the brakes and re-packed the bearings (very little grease from factory) when I bought the unit new last November and they were OK.
I was backing into our barn this week and my wife heard noise from the brake that the shoes came off. That is why I decided to check them. After what I saw I made the decision to go with disc brakes. Much easier to service and I can see if the rear seal is leaking without having to remove a drum.

[Hodgy]

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No kidding your wife heard a noise.

I did not know you could convert the drums to disc.

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[Ken / Claudia]

That's bad, you post 1 year old but, what's the mileage on the trailer.

[Ddubya]

We bought the trailer new in November 2016. It is a 2017 model. We have less than 10000 miles on it.

It is quite common to convert electric drum brakes to electric over hydraulic disc brakes. There are several kits available. I purchased a kit made byTitan.

[Hodgy]

We bought the trailer new in November 2016. It is a 2017 model. We have less than 10000 miles on it.

It is quite common to convert electric drum brakes to electric over hydraulic disc brakes. There are several kits available. I purchased a kit made byTitan.



Never heard of them, do you have a link ?


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[Ddubya]

This is where I purchased mine. There are several companies that sell them.

http://www.stopyourtrailer.com/

[chuckster57]

If you convert your brakes to hydraulic, make sure your brake controller will work. I have a Prodigy, but it’s an older version so it won’t work with electric over hydraulic.

[gearhead]

PM sent 12/13/17.

[trucker LOU]

Hi all, I converted to disc brakes before my 16,000 mi summer trip,crossed continental divide 4 times. Wow, improvement over drums is large%.

[Ddubya]

Chuckster57, The Ram controller will work. Some Ford and GM trucks may require an adapter to work with their factory controllers.

[JRTJH]

Chuckster57, The Ram controller will work. Some Ford and GM trucks may require an adapter to work with their factory controllers.

The Ford factory controllers from 2011 through current have a HYD over ELEC setting in the dash trailer settings. On trucks with the "in dash LED screen", it's one of the selections where different trailers can be named. Once you make the settings, the computer/brake controller will remember the settings when you select that trailer by name. It will monitor miles towed for each trailer individually as well.

Not sure about the 2010 and prior Ford brake controllers.

[bdaniel]

I did this a couple of years ago and love them. I have lots of details on my website.

http://www.bobbystuff.com/rv/228/electic-over-hydraulic-disc-brake-conversion

Bobby

[Ddubya]

Bdaniel, Great write up. I noticed that your old brakes were not self adjusting. Mine were and my thought was that had something to do with the failure because I never had the issue with non-self adjusting. Guess it can happen on all of them. When I took delivery of my unit I re- packed the bearings and one rear seal was already leaking. I am sure that there are hundreds of trailers on the road that have defective brakes and the owners are unaware.

[Dave W]

Chuckster57, The Ram controller will work. Some Ford and GM trucks may require an adapter to work with their factory controllers.


Hydrastar has a chart that shows what year of the Big Three EB controllers will work. Your year Ram should be fine though there were reports that some just wouldn't even after having FCA reflach the system based on my research when I did my disc brake upgrade last spring.

The hydraulic brake lines can be interesting to run especially if you have drop down front frame. I'm not happy with how mine are run and will be doing a part of them over this coming spring. The brakes work fantastically after some gain adjustment fiddling and pad break in

[bdaniel]

Bdaniel, Great write up. I noticed that your old brakes were not self adjusting. Mine were and my thought was that had something to do with the failure because I never had the issue with non-self adjusting. Guess it can happen on all of them. When I took delivery of my unit I re- packed the bearings and one rear seal was already leaking. I am sure that there are hundreds of trailers on the road that have defective brakes and the owners are unaware.

Thanks, and I agree about many folks going down the road with suspension problems. I have had broken spring shackles, broken springs, cracked spring hangers, failed grease seals from the factory, brake magnets that don't work, exploding tires and now bent axles and pitted bearings.

I have never been over weight as I weight each rig fully loaded with food, propane, full tank of water, etc. I check air pressures and do maintenance.

The suspension on modern RVs is a joke and disgrace, really sad.

Bobby

[Ddubya]

I have been trying to decide how to route the lines. I do have a dropped frame and looks like a challenge.

[Dave W]

I did this a couple of years ago and love them. I have lots of details on my website.

http://www.bobbystuff.com/rv/228/electic-over-hydraulic-disc-brake-conversion

Bobby

:hide:Kinda sideways hijack

I just looked at your link and you did about the same 6K conversion, springs and brakes as I did on ours. I used steel lines instead of the Kodiak flex. Somewhere along our travels, one of the lines got partially crushed, possibly road debris so will need to redo at least a length but am considering the Kodiak flex line system as an option.
Coupla questions:
- Why the 24 foot long line version vs their 20 footer?
- How did you run those lines? A photo or so if you have them will work
- what happened to the extra line length - rolled and tie wrapped to the belly, or.....?

Thanks
-

[bdaniel]

:hide:Kinda sideways hijack

Coupla questions:
- Why the 24 foot long line version vs their 20 footer?
- How did you run those lines? A photo or so if you have them will work
- what happened to the extra line length - rolled and tie wrapped to the belly, or.....?

Thanks
-

I got 24 feet because my unit is 37 feet long and I wanted to have enough length
I mounted the Actuator in the front storage area out of the weather and ran the line thru the wall into the belly area above the coroplast I think.
The extra was just coiled up as I could not cut the hose.

Bobby

[Dave W]

I got 24 feet because my unit is 37 feet long and I wanted to have enough length
I mounted the Actuator in the front storage area out of the weather and ran the line thru the wall into the belly area above the coroplast I think.
The extra was just coiled up as I could not cut the hose.

Bobby

Thanks for the quick reply.
I guess, and probably why I went with steel lines, is that coil of extra hose length - which is not a criticism of that way. I'll just drag out my brake flare and bending tools and remake the damaged length and hope that it doesn't happen again.

I do agree that what RV manufacturers use for suspension is a travesty. Our 38 footer, ready to travel is not 'as advertised' but usually over 12K with minimal water and few normal 'things' which in turn puts a way higher dynamic load on those puny 5.2K OEM 4 leaf spings Keystone/Lippert supplies. Then the useless nylon bushings, puny shackles or even the almost as fast wearing bronze wet bolts -----which wore shot in 12,000 miles.

[bdaniel]

I just replaced a cheap bent Lippert axle with one from Dexter. It says 7,000 lbs on it. The Lippert axle weighted 47 pounds, the Dexter 56 lbs. It has thicker walls.

I will do a write up in a week or two and add to my website.

Bobby

[concours]

Our trailer came with Dexter 5200lb brakes and we had very similar problems i.e. shoe delamination and broken hardware. I contacted Dexter and explained the situation and was surprised that they shipped me new 7000lb brakes. which I installed 2 years ago with no problems since

[Hodgy]

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Those electric over hydraulic units are not cheap.

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[Dave W]

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Those electric over hydraulic units are not cheap.

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You really have 3 choices - Hydrastar, Titan and Dexter. I chose the Hydrastar as it is all metal while the price of the Dexter put it out of my desired sight range plus couldn't guarantee that it would work with Ford's EBC

[gearhead]

One of these days someone will build trailers with torsion axles, disc brakes and Vault hubs.
Maybe.

[miaoreo]

OMG same thing with our 2018 Alpine... heard a noise... and the adjuster and spring were rolling around in the drum! What a poor setup.

[travelin texans]

[QUOTE=gearhead;266702]One of these days someone will build trailers with torsion axles, disc brakes and Vault hubs.
Maybe.[/QconsiderE]



MorRyde can upgrade to all of that!! Actually the whole setup installed is not too bad a price considering the ride/braking improvement.
I had Titan disc brakes added the my 5er at my campsite a couple years ago, best upgrade $$ ever spent.

[rjsurfer]

Are there any kits for the smaller 10" drums with 4400lbs axles.

I made the switch on my older Cougar with 12" drums and was the best mod I made on my 2008.......

Ron W.