Another Dexter drum brake failure

fmartinmn

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2017
Messages
379
Location
Litchfield, MN
This is the second Dexter drum brake failure experience for me. The first was on my Imagine 2970RL, a magnet broke loose and wedged itself under the front shoe. The friction between the shoe and the drum created enough heat to ignite the shoe material, resulting in fire in the drum. When the dealer pulled the opposite side of the same axle, that side had to be replaced as well. This time on our Solitude 3350RL, one of the brake assemblies "grenaded". My BIL alerted me to a grinding noise when we were both stopping for a red light while enroute to the Black Hills. We had just about completed the 400 mile tow when he noticed the grinding noise. I nursed the trailer into our campground using the truck's diesel brake heavily to avoid any heavy braking of the trailer. When we we pulled the drum, parts just cascaded. Totally shot, including the drum. After two personal experiences with 3 Dexter drum brake failures, I am convinced Dexter drum brakes are not a good match for these trailers. Disc brake conversion just became #1 priority for us. On our return trip home we happened to get assigned a site next to a fellow Solitude owner (2930RL). We chatted about the upcoming rally and he told me about his experience enroute to his first rally, no brakes at all, due to a short in one of the magnets. He managed to figure out which one it was and limped in on 3 brakes working. He had a disc brake conversion done before leaving Indiana. Done with Dexter.

Dexter 1.jpgDexter 2.jpgDexter 3.jpgDexter 4.jpgDexter 5.jpg
 
Interesting........most of these posts have the word "Lippert" in place of the "Dexter".


I haven't heard of many failures with Dexter.
 
To have it done would probably run in the neighborhood of $3,000-$5,000. Just a guess, probably more. The brake kit alone is around $2,000, plus
all the additional parts.
 
Interesting........most of these posts have the word "Lippert" in place of the "Dexter".


I haven't heard of many failures with Dexter.

I had exactly the same thing happen with a *Dexter* hub on the first trip in my Reflection. I was in the middle of nowhere in KY, and fortunately GD paid for a complete hub/break assembly to be over-nighted in. I did the repair myself and have not had a issue since.

I'm sure this could happen with any brand hub if original assembly was not correct.
 
I’d be curious to know how many miles on the unit and how often you pull the hubs and inspect, clean, grease…

I have over 35K on original OEM 7K Dexter axles and all are working great with lots of miles left in them
 
I’d be curious to know how many miles on the unit and how often you pull the hubs and inspect, clean, grease…

I have over 35K on original OEM 7K Dexter axles and all are working great with lots of miles left in them

Hi Viper, this is our third Grand Design product. We are not new to travel trailer ownership and preventive maintenance. ( 4 trailers and 1 class :cool: We tow about 7000-9000 miles per year. In the case of the 2970RL failure, the trailer was less than 4 mos old and had about 900 miles on it. I did not inspect the hubs, bearings and seals. In this case, I acquired the trailer in Apr of this year from an owner in AZ who had it delivered to his permanent site in Apache Junction, AZ. Other than the 1500 mile trip from IN to AZ, I am the first to tow it. I picked it up early Apr and did a full inspection of bearings, tires, brakes, and shackles. All bearings were hand packed by me and new seals were installed. Also, greased all zerk fittings. All looked good at that time. Since that time we have towed 6600 miles to time of failure. Since we tow less than 10,000 miles per year, I only do a spring inspection of bearings and replace all seals. I wish I had your luck.
How often do you do your PM? thanks, Frank.
 
About how much would that cost to have done? (I only do work on things that, if they break, won't kill me.)

I just had my 21bhe converted to EOH disc brakes and cost was $3400. In the case of the 21bhe the axles needed to be replaced as well since no disc brake conversion was available for the undersized 3000 lb dexter axles GD used. Dexter had now discontinued the 3000 lb axle.
 
Interesting........most of these posts have the word "Lippert" in place of the "Dexter".

I haven't heard of many failures with Dexter.

Steve, X2.....this is the first on this forum as I recall this situation being shared.

[MENTION=11190]fmartinmn[/MENTION] - thanks, for sharing. At the National Rally in 2019, there were a number of folks were getting various types of suspension work right at their campsites. These service techs from these companies and from GDRV are amazing hard working folks.

Enjoy the rally !

Dan
 
Hi Viper, this is our third Grand Design product. We are not new to travel trailer ownership and preventive maintenance. ( 4 trailers and 1 class :cool: We tow about 7000-9000 miles per year. In the case of the 2970RL failure, the trailer was less than 4 mos old and had about 900 miles on it. I did not inspect the hubs, bearings and seals. In this case, I acquired the trailer in Apr of this year from an owner in AZ who had it delivered to his permanent site in Apache Junction, AZ. Other than the 1500 mile trip from IN to AZ, I am the first to tow it. I picked it up early Apr and did a full inspection of bearings, tires, brakes, and shackles. All bearings were hand packed by me and new seals were installed. Also, greased all zerk fittings. All looked good at that time. Since that time we have towed 6600 miles to time of failure. Since we tow less than 10,000 miles per year, I only do a spring inspection of bearings and replace all seals. I wish I had your luck.
How often do you do your PM? thanks, Frank.

We tow about 4000 miles a year.. I also have owned several RVs over the last 45 years and do all work on my RVs ..

I pull the hubs at the start of a new season and clean and inspect the brake parts, races, bearings, suspension, etc

Image of my brakes when I serviced them early May this year…
 

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We tow about 4000 miles a year.. I also have owned several RVs over the last 45 years and do all work on my RVs ..

I pull the hubs at the start of a new season and clean and inspect the brake parts, races, bearings, suspension, etc

Image of my brakes when I serviced them early May this yearÂ…

Thanks for the response Viper, looks great, in Apr mine looked at least that good since they only had about 1500 miles on them. I am in the process of pulling the other 3 drums to check them after 6600 miles since my last inspection. So far, 1 failed seal, it was a Dexter OEM part. Keep up the good work.
 
Smart move bailing on the drum brakes. Not waiting for my failure, converting to disc brakes over the winter on my 2020 2970RL. Can't keep the magnetic brakes in adjustment...Dexter axles. Really sucks that you have to get 5200 lb axles to get discs.
 
Smart move bailing on the drum brakes. Not waiting for my failure, converting to disc brakes over the winter on my 2020 2970RL. Can't keep the magnetic brakes in adjustment...Dexter axles. Really sucks that you have to get 5200 lb axles to get discs.

Here is an update to my original thread. I just completed replacing the other 3 brake assemblies. 3 of the 4 new Dexter seals I installed in Apr failed and allowed grease to saturate my brake shoes. So now I have new brake assemblies all the way around. Total miles on the seals was about 6600. Based on my experience with the drum brakes, I feel it will be well worth the upgrade. I don't want to be paranoid and pulling my drums every 3-4000 miles to inspect. Best of luck with your conversion. Frank.
 

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