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Old 05-10-2015, 07:05 PM   #1
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Brakes

How long do brakes last?
2014 Denali 287RE 12,000 miles 2 years pulled by 2014 RAM w/ diesel exhaust brake.
Grease seal failed, brakes useless. Is this a mfg issue?

Love the trailer. Curtis Trailer in Oregon is good.

Dano.
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Old 05-10-2015, 08:20 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DanL View Post
How long do brakes last?
2014 Denali 287RE 12,000 miles 2 years pulled by 2014 RAM w/ diesel exhaust brake.
Grease seal failed, brakes useless. Is this a mfg issue?

Love the trailer. Curtis Trailer in Oregon is good.

Dano.
I would say no. I inspect my trailer brakes annually regardless of the number of miles traveled. I have had grease seals fail with less than a 1000 miles on them.

Aaron
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Old 05-11-2015, 01:56 PM   #3
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The dealer fix for this is $1300 brake replacement. Really? How does U-Haul resolved this issue on their trailers? DOT etc./
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Old 05-11-2015, 05:39 PM   #4
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Dan L,
SOB owner here, lots of experience w/ trailer brakes on my 5th wheel and now 21' TT. Was your failure symptom grabbing brakes? Common for bad seal. To fix is easy if you are comfortable with jacking up your trailer to change a tire. You may only need to fix one seal/wheel to fix. You will need to replace seal and, its cheaper to buy a replacement drum assy than to replace greasy shoes. To completely solve present and future brake issues, my suggestion is to replace inadequate drum brakes with disc-no fade, no worry and peace of mind for you and your family. I did my 5ver years ago with Kodiak discs and Dexter actuator. Works perfect, no issues after 6+ years.
Best of luck!
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Old 05-12-2015, 12:47 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by DanL View Post
How long do brakes last?
2014 Denali 287RE 12,000 miles 2 years pulled by 2014 RAM w/ diesel exhaust brake.
Grease seal failed, brakes useless. Is this a mfg issue?

Love the trailer. Curtis Trailer in Oregon is good.

Dano.
Had similar problems. Brakes failed on a trip with controller showing short. Found the wheel that was humming, and cut the wire. Figured 3 brakes better than none. Had the local on site RV service guy come out and fix it. Pulled the wheel, grease all over, and the brake wire had shorted and grounded.

Next incident was picking up RV from service, brakes failed when I hooked up, nearly went through a fence. Dealer took it back, same problem, cut wire, and grease everywhere. This was a different wheel.

Next time in for service, at a different dealer, he tells me they've had about 50 cases where the clip to hold the wire for the magnets was not installed. Asked him to pull all the wheels, and check, also mentioned the leaking grease issue.

Grease everywhere. His answer was Dutchmen used poor quality parts. Rebuild the wheel assemblies from the spindles out. New bearings, seals, backing plates, brakes, and magnets. They did clean up and reuse the drums. I think it was about $1,300, of course a year out of warranty. Thanks Dutchmen.
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Old 05-12-2015, 02:36 PM   #6
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Sure glad I can do my own brake jobs. $1300 is way over priced!
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Old 05-12-2015, 09:36 PM   #7
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Sure glad I can do my own brake jobs. $1300 is way over priced!
That price was not for just a brake job. It included rebuilding from the axel spindles out, including new bearings, seals, backing plates, brakes, magnets, and labor. The only things re-used were the drums. Mostly parts cost, not labor.
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Old 05-12-2015, 10:19 PM   #8
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Not sure you want to see this.
Dexter Hydraulic Drum Brake Assembly - Duo Servo - 12" - Right Hand - 7,000 lbs Dexter Trailer Brakes 23-337
This is what was on our Teton that I bought from them.
If the Voltage has different axles it could be even cheaper.
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Old 05-14-2015, 05:06 PM   #9
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dealer replaced all backing plates, grease seals and brake drums. Dealer said cause was maintenance and excess of grease inside of hubs. The wheels have never been off. How do you grease inside of hub? Dealer says grease every two years. Keystone it's out of warranty. It came from the factory that way.
Unacceptable.
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Old 05-14-2015, 05:58 PM   #10
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Been a mechanic for 40+ and only way to grease inside bearings is to pull the drums off. Trailer bearing almost always fail because of lack of grease. When grease seals fail grease goes out into drum area.
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Old 05-18-2015, 01:39 AM   #11
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We had the grease in the drum issue from the factory. Took the trailer to the dealer several times for warranty issues and told them every time the brakes are not right. Every time we got a different answer. Just after the one year warranty ran out they wanted to charge a fortune to pull the drums and look. I had a local hitch and trailer shop do it for a lot less money. Found all four drums full of grease! 13 months 3500 miles first real inspection.... Dutchmen called it "Lack of maintenance" and basically said "get lost sucker" the owner of the dealership basically said "Too bad our service writers (3 different ones in the first year) didn't write "customer having brake issues" on any of your warranty paperwork and your warranty is now gone". The extended warranty company said" you have to get pre approval before going in for repairs but we can work with you" Well a $1300 total brake replacement for 2 axles I got $600 ish reimbursed with some bs excuse about not being at an approved dealer. The Dealer we purchased from is now out of business and Dutchmen has gone though some major restructuring.... I STILL WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER DUTCHMEN PRODUCT!
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