Brake Job?

[Straylee]

We have a triple axle Voltage 5th Wheel. We are due for a new set of brakes. Can someone speculate what I should expect to pay per wheel (6 of them) to have the work done?

[ATCguy]

Originally Posted by Straylee

...Can someone speculate what I should expect to pay per wheel (6 of them) to have the work done?

The brake assemblies themselves aren't really all that expensive... about $80 each. Plus, you'll also need to replace bearing seals (about $7 each).

Now though... since whoever's gonna do the job already has everything disassembled, you may wanna go ahead & replace the bearings too, or at the very least, have them cleaned & repacked. If you do the repack yourself, a tub of bearing grease won't set you back much more than about $25.

So, if you were gonna do the job yourself... around $550 for the brake parts, bearing seals, and grease. If you want new bearings, add another $100.

However, if you "have the work done", as you said... now you're you're talking a whole lot more.

Shop rate for labor in most garages is about $100/hour, depending on where you are. (some less, some more)... and you can bet it's gonna be at least a 5-hour job, and probably longer.

Ok, so that's the guesswork. Now for some facts...

Last year at about this time, I felt the brakes on my rig weren't doing the job while traveling between Arizona & Wyoming. I did a few tests to confirm this, and I made an appointment in Salt Lake City to have them checked.

Mechanic got me in the shop first thing on the morning of the appointment... and about an hour later called me back to show me what he found. 2 of the brake assembly electro-magnets were completely worn down... and a 3rd assembly out of the 4 was completely coated in grease from a ruptured bearing seal.

So the need to replace 2 of the 4 assemblies was absolute... while the 3rd one could conceivably been cleaned up & reused. The 4th one checked out just fine, and was working as advertised.

Under normal circumstances, this was a job I could've done myself... but as I said, I was on the road traveling, and I've had some physical issues that make it hard enough to do, even if I was home. So I agreed to allow them to do the work. And I had them inspect the bearings, and if good asked for a repack. (they were)

When the work was complete, I got out of the shop just after lunch. I pulled the receipt from my files, and the total cost for the job was $793.18... broken down as follows:

- 2 BRAKE ASSEMBLIES @ 80.99 EACH
- 4 BEARING SEALS @ 6.99 EACH
- 4 HOURS SHOP LABOR @ 90/HOUR
- BEARING REPACK (TANDEM AXLE) @ 180.03 (labor + supplies)
- TAX @ 63.21
------------------
TOTAL: $793.18


Remember though, this was was a tandem axle rig... not triple. Hope it helps.

[Straylee]

Tom,
Thank you so much for the great information. With 6 tires I was expecting it to run a $1000 and now with your info I'm kinda expecting it to be more than that.
Jim

[bw193]

I replaced mine. 5 years old but they were not self adjusting so I installed self adjusting. I cleaned and repacked the bearings as they were in great shape. 4 brake assemblies were about $125.00 took about 3 hours.

[Norm-n-Mary]

Straylee, I got an estimate for our 2015 28' Aerolite 288RLSS with dual axle and the price was 1150.00. 475.00 for parts and 675.00 for labor. I decided to do the job myself and I'm not mechanically inclined. I purchased the complete Dexter brakes and bearing/races through etrailer.com for less than 300.00 parts arrived within a week and the job was my labor. (see my post couple weeks ago)
My point is that if you have the time do it yourself; do it, you'll know it was completed correctly.

[Norm-n-Mary]

Straylee, See "Bearing Questions" by Norm-n-Mary
Regards
Norm