Dexter Brake Failure

[Brantel]

So my right rear brake shoes decided to delaminate and shed the friction material on our last road trip wedging and causing constant braking action. I see this seems to be common on OEM Dexter brakes. Had to pull the drum and remove the material to get home.

Anyone have a source for better quality brakes?

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by Brantel

So my right rear brake shoes decided to delaminate and shed the friction material on our last road trip wedging and causing constant braking action. I see this seems to be common on OEM Dexter brakes. Had to pull the drum and remove the material to get home.

Anyone have a source for better quality brakes?

If you truly want better brakes contact Performance Trailer Braking & upgrade to disc brakes. They come to you to install them & once you've had a RV with disc brakes you'll never want another with drum brakes.

[Javi]

Depending on how long you will keep the trailer, I went with disc brakes from Performance Trailer Braking.

Best deal I've done this year

[JRTJH]

Brantel,

Not to question your visual inspection of your brakes, but, are you sure they are Dexter brakes? It is my understanding that everything under the Cougar line in the past 3 or 4 years has all been Lippert. From the axles, bearings, springs, equalizers and brakes, they all come as a single assembly, installed on the trailer frame while it's upside down at the front door of the assembly line, then rotated "wheels down" and tires/wheels are installed....

Not saying your brakes aren't Dexter, just that I'm surprised they aren't Lippert... And, yes, LCI does buy most of their components from the lowest bidder (in China).....

[ChuckS]

I’ve never had an issue in many decades with Dexter OEM brake shoes..

first image is my brake shoes .. OEM Dexter on my 2014 Alpine fifth wheel ..39K miles on them now.. I tow in the Mtns of Idaho and Montana

Second image is from another Alpine 2016 with about 45K miles on the OEM Dexter brake shoes

Have you checked the auto adjusters and hardware to verify all is working correctly and verified brakes are adjusted properly?

Link to Dexter brake service manual

https://www.dexteraxle.com/user_area...ice_manual.pdf

The disc brakes are nice but not in my pocket book to purchase.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Brantel,

Not to question your visual inspection of your brakes, but, are you sure they are Dexter brakes? It is my understanding that everything under the Cougar line in the past 3 or 4 years has all been Lippert. From the axles, bearings, springs, equalizers and brakes, they all come as a single assembly, installed on the trailer frame while it's upside down at the front door of the assembly line, then rotated "wheels down" and tires/wheels are installed....

Not saying your brakes aren't Dexter, just that I'm surprised they aren't Lippert... And, yes, LCI does buy most of their components from the lowest bidder (in China).....

Yep, very sure....Dexter has already sent me the axle build sheet. The whole assembly is Dexter.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

I’ve never had an issue in many decades with Dexter OEM brake shoes..

first image is my brake shoes .. OEM Dexter on my 2014 Alpine fifth wheel ..39K miles on them now.. I tow in the Mtns of Idaho and Montana

Second image is from another Alpine 2016 with about 45K miles on the OEM Dexter brake shoes

Have you checked the auto adjusters and hardware to verify all is working correctly and verified brakes are adjusted properly?

Link to Dexter brake service manual

https://www.dexteraxle.com/user_area...ice_manual.pdf

The disc brakes are nice but not in my pocket book to purchase.

Well I don't jack up my rig and spin each wheel before every tow but there was no indication that anything was wrong with them. The other 3 appear normal. The entire mechanism was still in place and fully functional with the exception of the lining material. Brakes have about 6000 miles on them. Never abused.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by Javi

Depending on how long you will keep the trailer, I went with disc brakes from Performance Trailer Braking.

Best deal I've done this year

Originally Posted by travelin texans

If you truly want better brakes contact Performance Trailer Braking & upgrade to disc brakes. They come to you to install them & once you've had a RV with disc brakes you'll never want another with drum brakes.

Not planning to keep this rig long term. Disc brakes will be something I consider for my next rig though!

[Marineman]

Originally Posted by Brantel

So my right rear brake shoes decided to delaminate and shed the friction material on our last road trip wedging and causing constant braking action. I see this seems to be common on OEM Dexter brakes. Had to pull the drum and remove the material to get home.

Anyone have a source for better quality brakes?

I find it interesting that the same axle and tires are used on your Keystone Cougar 32BHS and my 24SAB.

Your GVW is 11,500 and mine is 7,800. You would think Keystone would beef up the heavier RV's for the simple reason of more GVW.

Last summer my sister and her husband came up to Washington to meet us at one of our awesome campgrounds. He just bought a brand new fifth wheel (not a Keystone) and I immediately checked everything out to see how it was built. Same thing. He had the same axle as mine on a much heavier unit.

Depending on where people take their RV's, brakes and the axle can take a real beating.

When I first started towing an RV back in 2007, I had a half ton Chevy. It did the job of towing my 26' Forest River Wildwood, but the truck didn't perform like I wanted it too. So I went out and purchased a 2009 Chevy 2500 HD, and what a difference that was! And one of the biggest changes was the brake setup. Those massive 4 wheel disc brakes were a game changer.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by Marineman

I find it interesting that the same axle and tires are used on your Keystone Cougar 32BHS and my 24SAB.

Your GVW is 11,500 and mine is 7,800. You would think Keystone would beef up the heavier RV's for the simple reason of more GVW.

Last summer my sister and her husband came up to Washington to meet us at one of our awesome campgrounds. He just bought a brand new fifth wheel (not a Keystone) and I immediately checked everything out to see how it was built. Same thing. He had the same axle as mine on a much heavier unit.

Depending on where people take their RV's, brakes and the axle can take a real beating.

When I first started towing an RV back in 2007, I had a half ton Chevy. It did the job of towing my 26' Forest River Wildwood, but the truck didn't perform like I wanted it too. So I went out and purchased a 2009 Chevy 2500 HD, and what a difference that was! And one of the biggest changes was the brake setup. Those massive 4 wheel disc brakes were a game changer.

Most manufacturers do this. The axles typically are not rated for the full GVWR due to about 20% always being carried by the truck. They are not gonna give an inch more than they have to.

[Marineman]

Originally Posted by Brantel

Most manufacturers do this. The axles typically are not rated for the full GVWR due to about 20% always being carried by the truck. They are not gonna give an inch more than they have to.

You're right. If they can get away with it, they will. I've seen people on this forum who want to literally change out the entire axle(s) on their campers so they can have peace of mind. And plenty have changed out drum brakes for disc.

The only consolation in this is that my RV has much less weight than others on the same axle.

IMO, one of the most important safeguards in towing is to never tow the unit with full tanks. Sometimes that's not an option, and when I have, I always keep in mind that extra weight going down the road.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Brantel

Most manufacturers do this. The axles typically are not rated for the full GVWR due to about 20% always being carried by the truck. They are not gonna give an inch more than they have to.

You are right. I have never agreed to the "shorting" of axle/tire capacities due to off loading weight to the tongue/pin. I've always dealt with it aware of what they were doing and the complications of carrying too much weight.

Marineman mentioned some "wanted" to change out entire axle assemblies for peace of mine; I wanted to and did - along with a lot more "stuff" including disc brakes simply because they were the very minimum required to "get by".

When I bought this trailer it was not what I wanted exactly but I have a self imposed limit on what I will buy for a truck, ie; no dually. That then dictates where I am with a trailer. That said, between my age, disabilities, won't get a bigger truck, can't get a bigger trailer I'm pretty much on my last trailer. With that it made no sense to crisscross the country RV in tow with minimal suspension components waiting for the weakest link to fail.

And....I will say that I am very happy with the change in suspension, axles, brakes and tires. We'll see how long I get to hang with it all.

[Northofu1]

I wouldn't waste the money for disc upgrade on a half-ton/x-lite trailer. Replace/ repair what you find and move on. Chalk it up to experience and check them thoroughly at least once a season, unless full-timing. Good luck

[gearhead]

I replaced OEM brakes on a previous Montana HC with self adjusters from eTrailer. I'm sure they were the cheapest Chinese junk they could find, but they worked well for me.

[JRTJH]

The axles on my Cougar are Lippert 5200 pound axles that were derated to 4400 pounds so Keystone could install 225 75R15 LRD tires 2540 each, and meet the 8800 pound "axle weight" with the pinbox carrying 1230 so the GVWR could be 30 pounds less than the total (10030). My trailer was built before the "RVIA mandated safety margins were imposed" That's about as close to cutting it at the core as I've seen.... My axles "supposedly" have the same bearings as the 5200 pound axle, same 12x2 brakes as the 5200 pound axle and same springs as the 5200 pound axle. So far, I've lost the rear roadside hub/wheel assembly (thankfully inside a campground rather than on the highway) and have had to replace bearings and races on two spindles from wear. I changed all at the same time, but the other two appeared to still be serviceable.

Anyway, I'm currently in the process of installing 6000 pound Dexter axles, new springs, wet bolt kit and the Mor-Ryde X-Factor crossmember stiffener. Hopefully that will eliminate the problems of reliability on our "fantastic public roads"...

It doesn't surprise me that Keystone and all the other manufacturers install the "basic minimum" based on engineering calculations for "average use at GVWR".... What that means to me, is the trailer will usually make it through the warranty period before things start failing....

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by Brantel

So my right rear brake shoes decided to delaminate and shed the friction material on our last road trip wedging and causing constant braking action. I see this seems to be common on OEM Dexter brakes. Had to pull the drum and remove the material to get home.

Anyone have a source for better quality brakes?

Going back to your statement with your Dexter brake problem did you take some picture of the issue as you found it and also some pics of the brake shoes so others can see exactly what the issue was?

As I said previously I have never had any issues in over 45 years of RVing with Dexter brake shoes..

When my 2014 fifth Alpine needs brake shoes I will reinstall the exact same ones from Dexter.. where they are made at ..who knows and I don't care

Pics of issues are much more helpful

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

Going back to your statement with your Dexter brake problem did you take some picture of the issue as you found it and also some pics of the brake shoes so others can see exactly what the issue was?

As I said previously I have never had any issues in over 45 years of RVing with Dexter brake shoes..

When my 2014 fifth Alpine needs brake shoes I will reinstall the exact same ones from Dexter.. where they are made at ..who knows and I don't care

Pics of issues are much more helpful

Not much more to tell other than the pic in the first post. Pulled the hub and all that was left of the shoe friction material fell out on the ground in crumbs and a few larger pieces. I circled the chunks in red in the pic above. The rest of the brake system was all in place just like normal. There was a few small pieces of gunk on the brake shoe frames themselves which I removed before reinstalling the hub.

[ChuckS]

Only thing I can think of is that brake shoe had a less than stellar bond job done with the shoe was bonded to the backing.. Or was it the riveted style?

Again.. I have never had an issue with a Dexter brake shoe, bearing, or race.. Stuff happens I guess

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

Only thing I can think of is that brake shoe had a less than stellar bond job done with the shoe was bonded to the backing.. Or was it the riveted style?

Again.. I have never had an issue with a Dexter brake shoe, bearing, or race.. Stuff happens I guess

They are the non-riveted bonded style. Hopefully it was just a freak incident.

[FrankO]

This happened to me as well but they wedged so the friction was so severe it heated the drum and I wound up blowing a tire. I went with self adjusting brakes from Dexter and have had no issues since.