Brake Maintenance

wjhgolf · Post by **wjhgolf** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:13 am

How frequently has anyone been; tiurning the rotors, replacing the pads, or replacing the calipers on their brakes? My 2002 - 24ft RB has just over 20,000 miles and I believe that I am going to be doing all of that based on a brake inspection I just had done. Now, when I bought my unit last fall, it was 9 years old with under 14,000 miles, so I would not be surprised if rust caused part of my problem. Any information on mileage between brake repairs would be appreciated.

wjhgolf · Post by **wjhgolf** » Thu May 03, 2012 1:51 pm

My repair shop just told me something interesting. Apparently, Ford does not take the extra weight of the motorhome bodies into account when installing the rear brake calipers. They only consider commercial weights, which are lighter. After 20,000 miles - or maybe a little sooner, don't know for sure - my rear calipers have "burned up". FYI for those with Ford E350 and E450 chassis!

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:39 pm

My 2002 Born Free 26' RSB coach currently with 71,000 miles on it still has the original brake pads and rotors. And I travel frequently in the up and down grades on I-40, I-17, I-15, and I-10 in the southwestern states which of course requires the aggressive use of the brakes at times. I am surprised that my pads have lasted this long.

However, back in October 2010 at 62,000 miles I had the local Ford dealer do a complete brake inspection during which at that time they removed, cleaned & lubed front and rear calipers and they replaced four worn locking pins on the rear caliper sliders.

Virgil and Anne Dutton · Thu May 03, 2012 5:09 pm

You can hear all kinds of conjecture from all kinds of sources on things like this. You can bet your bottom that Ford takes the full weight of a Motorhome into account when they design and test an item such as the braking system. If brakes have burned up after 25,000 miles there is something else going on such as a rusting and frozen slider and/or exceptional brake usage. I just checked the brakes on my 2006 BFT with 60,000 miles and still have a lot of life left in them. I have a Ford F250 Super Duty pick-up with 150,000 miles and just pulled the rear wheels to check the brakes on it. They are the original pads and they still have lots of life left. I believe the reason for the long life in this case is that during the first 2 years we had a travel trailer, but after we got our BFT and sold the travel trailer, the truck rarely has much of a load. So, brake life is usually a function of weight, brake operator usage and environmental conditions.

Virgil

hrgermany · Post by **hrgermany** » Thu May 03, 2012 5:53 pm

The most important thing for the brakes is to change the brake fluid every 2
years.I learned that the hard way when I lost my brakes in the mountains.
Luckily noting happened.

Hans Rueckert

1995 BF 26FT RSB

jasper2222 · Post by **jasper2222** » Sun May 06, 2012 5:51 pm

I have a 2005. 1 1/2 year ago I got a very bad vibration in front. Fluid had been changed the year before. Brake man said calipers pistons were not made of a material that is condusive to long wear. (don't really remember). Had them rebuild all calipers with new pistons, new pads, new rotors. Whole deal, we were going on a extended trip. Got back from the trip 7000 miles. Then had another problem, collasping front brake fluid hoses. They replaced those, parts only was the charge. Since then all OK. My truck has 150,000 and only fluid changes, so who knows.

30,000 miles on coach when I had to do the brakes. Usually do my own brake work but------

Try to drive the coach every 2 weeks.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Sun May 06, 2012 9:51 pm

My BF is a 99' with 60000 miles. I just had a brake job. Not new rotors but everything else was done.

karls · Post by **karls** » Mon May 07, 2012 1:45 am

My 98 RB has disc brakes on the front, drums on the back. I replaced the pads and rotors at 96K and 166K. Usually no major player in the brake maintenance business will turn the rotors as the specs for how much thickness must be left is usually not there. Also, rotors don't cost all that much as I remember, and are easy to replace,

Brake pads vary in life expectancy, and the cost follows that - more bucks for the longer life pads.

As has been pointed out, the pistons that push the pads against the rotors are notorious for hanging up, thereby keeping the pads pressed against the rotors to varying degrees. Even though the pistons have a seal around them, they live in a difficult environment with high exposure to road spray, salt, etc, some of which gets into the brake cylinder, causing corrosion and freezing the piston in place. The fit between the piston (or puck as it is called) and the cylinder is very close, and the slightest amount of corrosion can cause the problem.

It's not easy to tell if you have a sticking brake puck because the mass and power of the RV hide it. But it is worthwhile doing the following to see if you have a dragging brake.

Go to Lowes/Home Depot and purchase one of those pistol-shaped remote temperature gizmos. Check the temperature before moving, and then drive a mile or two using no to little brake to stop. Coasting to a stop going up hill works. The temperature shouldn't be noticably hotter, although there is always a little pad-to-rotor contact even in properly operating brakes. If there is a big differential between the right and left side the hotter one is dragging - not something to ignore.

jeleuen · Post by **jeleuen** » Thu May 10, 2012 10:06 pm

My front brakes started dragging at 32K miles. Thought at first the tire tread had separated. Had the caliper rails lubed but the problem soon recurred. Had the rotors turned, new calipers and pads somewhere around $1000. Haven't done anything to the rear. If the brakes on any wheel are dragging, the tire gets very hot and could actually catch on fire. This seems to be something inherent in the design of the Ford brakes. Can't remember with the new front brakes whether there is any preventive maintenance to assist. No further problems with front 22K miles later. This is one of those events that can happen without regard to mileage intervals. But once the brakes are done, they should be good for several years hopefully. 2002 26 RSB 53K miles.

wjhgolf · Post by **wjhgolf** » Thu May 10, 2012 11:06 pm

Bottom line on mine is this: Probably caused more by rust than anything as a result of lack of use by prior (original) owner - less than 14,000 miles in 9 years before I bought it. I now have just under 21,000 miles. Replaced front and rear pads (lifetime warranty), turned front and rear rotors and replaced rear calipers (due to overheating from draggiing - not releasing). Front calipers cleaned and lubed, but were OK when inspected. Total cost of about $1,450. Should be fine now for quite sometime according to my repairman.

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Fri May 11, 2012 3:38 pm

When I had my brake work done the service people told me the Ford pistons were acutally not metal and dragging after heat or time was not uncommon. three of four showed signs they were sticking or had stuck; they replaced them with metal parts - so far so good.
Brent

Trix · Post by **Trix** » Wed May 16, 2012 1:44 pm

Nothing technical to add here, just a story to relate: On my way home Saturday from the Western Oregon BF get-together, my rig started pulling to the left. I checked the tires and all seemed fine. However, I could tell something was definately wrong. I pulled into a Chevron hoping to find a mechanic, but no joy. What I did find was the extremely unpleasant smell of burning brakes. After a long two nights spent in the mini-mart parking lot, on Monday morning Coach-Net had me towed to the nearest Ford dealer. Ford confirmed a stuck caliper on the left front brake, and the pad and rotor were ruined. They ordered parts, and I spent the night in their lot plugged into shore power. Parts arrived on schedule Tuesday and they had me back on the road by noon. Not a fun ending to the get-together, but not a tragedy either. My rig is a new-to-me 2007 24' RB which now has 27,000 miles on the odometer since I drove it home from Florida in April. The brakes had been checked over the week previously by a mechanic when I had the oil changed. Ford had no explanation for what caused the caliper to stick, but did recommend I get the rig out on the road regularly.

Tom and Jennifer Pierpan · Wed May 23, 2012 11:09 am

Our '04 26 foot rear side bed has gone through extended periods of not being driven.
Replaced original front pads and rotors in September 2011 at 43,000 miles. Left original brakes on rear alone. Should have had the calipers serviced then. Went to the BF Vermont rally in late September.
BF then sat without being driven until mid-February, when we took a two month trip to the Gulf states and then to Iowa. On the way home, I noticed periodically a strange noise from the rear, but it did not really sound like the normal chirping from the brake pad wear indicators. Got home early April, and the BF went back on the pad, at 49,000 miles.
Finally got around today to taking it to the Ford dealer who services it.
The bad news is the rear calipers are frozen, so in addition to needing new pads and rotors, it also needs new rear calipers. The tech felt so much heat from underneath the rear end of the coach when he went to inspect, that he thought there was a problem with the exhaust, then he put his hand near the caliper on one side and could not believe the pads had not caught on fire. And that was just from driving 14 miles from my home to the dealer with a full tank of propane and half a tank of gasoline.
My recommendation to everyone is to have the calipers front and rear serviced regularly, even if the inspection shows that the pads and rotors are OK. I intend to write a note to the Ford dealer about this, and recommend that they advise other E450 and 350 owners accordingly when they bring their RV's in for service.

Tom Pierpan

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:23 pm

As stated in an earlier post - I was told the stock calipers were not metal and heat is a primary problem that causes them to stick Assuming this is true it seems to make sense to replace with aftermarket metal at the first sign of an issue? I've done it and so far so good.
Brent

Tom and Jennifer Pierpan · Sat May 26, 2012 7:16 am

Thanks. We are picking the BF up this morning after its three days at the Ford dealer. I'll check to see what calipers were put on. While they were repairing all of this, we got a call from the service writer that the wheel bearings were "toast" from all the heat that had built up. The good news, if there is any good news out of all this, is that there's no additional labor charge to install the new bearings since everything is apart anyway. WHOOPIE! Another lesson learned the expensive way.

Apparently there's a board on the iNET where people who own heavy duty Ford trucks are complaining about bad calipers on their vehicles. Jennifer has read it and says there are a lot of complaints. One guy complains about lubing the calipers on his truck regularly, and they still freeze up.

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