Brake seal failure

Beth & Moe

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Posts
17
I sure would be interested to know why 3 brake seals leaked on our 2014 Solitude. Everything inside was soaked for who knows how many miles resulting in a $2500 repair. [emoji36]


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$2500??!! Sounds like highway robbery to me. You can replace all of the braking components with new materials, the axle seals and turn the drums for approximately $500. If you add four hours of labor at $150 per hour, that comes out to $1100. It looks like somebody did some price gouging.
 
I sure would be interested to know why 3 brake seals leaked on our 2014 Solitude. Everything inside was soaked for who knows how many miles resulting in a $2500 repair. [emoji36]


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Hi @Beth & Moe,

Please add your 17-digit RV VIN to the "About Me" section of your forum profile, and reply back to this message to let me know when that is done. Thank you in advance...

Best regards,
~ Janice
 
Lippert takes short cuts when assembling axles that go to trailer manufacturers. It's so much of a time saving to use a bearing buddy type of hub and just inject a thin "axle grease" rather than hand pack the bearings with a thick old style axle grease. Then they use cheap $2 Chinese axle seals instead of spending $4 for a quality North American built axle seal. They force the thin "axle grease" past the seal into the brakes.

Unfortunately, their cost savings often results in a trailer missing some of their brakes--coated with grease. It's a serious safety issue. And few owners report this to the National Highway and Transportation Safety folks.

I'm lucky only one seal is bad. But my brakes still don't work well. In the Spring, I'll be disassembling, inspecting and fixing all brake seals and adjusting the brakes.

$2500 fix is ridiculous as you can buy all new brakes and seals for $55 per axle--$75 for self adjusting brakes. Replacement is maybe a 45 minute job per axle. That would put the repair in the area of $600-$750 at an ethical repair shop.
 
Hi Janice. I can't seem to find an 'about me' section in my profile.


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Your "about me" is at the top of the page. Mine is in white lettering which is hard to see. When you click on your name, its easy to navigate from there.
 
Hi Janice,

I have added my VIN and model to my profile. Sorry it took so long, we were in Quartzsite for a few days. :)
 
Hi Janice,

I have added my VIN and model to my profile. Sorry it took so long, we were in Quartzsite for a few days. :)

Hi @Beth & Moe,

Thank you for the reply! I've taken the liberty of asking Ryan Prough, the Warranty Manager here at Grand Design RV, to contact you. Or if it is more convenient for you, please feel free to contact Ryan at our Customer Support direct phone number of (574) 825-9679.

Best regards,
~ Janice
 
Well I was doing my first year maintenance aka wheel bearing regrease my brakes seem to be working OK so thats why I have not check them till now and the first wheel I took off it was leaking grease so I sent off an e-mail off to the customer service to see what can be done wish me luck, my rig is just a couple months over a year old and we have about 9000 miles on it.
 
If the grease is not actually on the brake "pad" surface, just clean up everything really good, use a good quality grease, replace seals and you will be good to go.

If grease on the "pads" they need to be replaced.
 
I posted this in the Frame section of the Reflection forum but thought I would add it here as well.

Update on the greasy brakes. Because it was over one year, Lippert agreed to send new parts but wouldn't pay for labour. After Christmas with the new brakes installed we headed down the I5 to SoCal for a few months. On return I found the right rear tire severely worn on the inside. This on top of the fridge crapping out on the return which fortunately is still covered by warranty. Dealer finally sent suspension measurements to GD and after five weeks in the shop, I find out today they say it is a bent spindle, which they or my extended warranty won't cover because it is due to a pot hole, so now I am on the hook for a new axle. I really don't think designing a trailer that requires at least 2000 lbs on the pin to barely keep from over loading the axles is the way to go but that's what everyone seems to be doing these days. Engineering with a minimum of margin between component limits and operating weights. Now I'm wondering about the 8" frame used on the 303 rather than the 10" used on larger Reflection models. Time will tell.

As much as I like this trailer, we are becoming frustrated by it. It has had more shop time in the two years we have had it, just because of components (furnace, fridge, brakes, axles) than our old Titanium did in total during the 12 years we owned it.
 
I posted this in the Frame section of the Reflection forum but thought I would add it here as well.

Update on the greasy brakes. Because it was over one year, Lippert agreed to send new parts but wouldn't pay for labour. After Christmas with the new brakes installed we headed down the I5 to SoCal for a few months. On return I found the right rear tire severely worn on the inside. This on top of the fridge crapping out on the return which fortunately is still covered by warranty. Dealer finally sent suspension measurements to GD and after five weeks in the shop, I find out today they say it is a bent spindle, which they or my extended warranty won't cover because it is due to a pot hole, so now I am on the hook for a new axle. I really don't think designing a trailer that requires at least 2000 lbs on the pin to barely keep from over loading the axles is the way to go but that's what everyone seems to be doing these days. Engineering with a minimum of margin between component limits and operating weights. Now I'm wondering about the 8" frame used on the 303 rather than the 10" used on larger Reflection models. Time will tell.

As much as I like this trailer, we are becoming frustrated by it. It has had more shop time in the two years we have had it, just because of components (furnace, fridge, brakes, axles) than our old Titanium did in total during the 12 years we owned it.

Hi Nick and Nancy (@notsosan),

I have taken the liberty of asking our Customer Support to contact you. Or please feel free to contact them at your convenience by calling Grand Design Customer Support directly at (574) 825-9679 or emailing [email protected].

Best regards,
~ Janice
 
I just finished doing all my brakes DIY because of grease. Only one working brake, two had ripped seal (looks like drug on threads during assembly) and on the third grease probably blew by the seal. No wear on the drums on the bad brakes so 3 probably never worked.

Replaced all the backing plates with forward adjusting brakes, hand packed bearings, new seals, replaced the drum (bearings and seal) on the one working brake because it probably overheated and not perfectly round anymore.

Side note: I was going to use the breakaway switch to test the new backing plate connections and make sure the new brakes work. Nothing happened. Ohm'd out the switch.... Bad Switch! Brakes work with truck connected.

Cost: ~$300 for parts, grease and cleaning solvents. My time... Priceless:D

Post #82 http://www.granddesignowners.com/forum/showthread.php/4373-DIY-Replacing-Axle-Seals-and-Brakes

Took me over a day with having to lift by frame, meticulously clean the bearing and the drums, hand pack the bearings, replace the backing plates, preliminary adjustment and cleanup the mess.
 
Greasy Brakes,
Just found my seals are leaking. Has Dexter seals made in china with the #1203 & 10-36, who makes a good replacement? Anyone upgrade to Dexter Nev-R-Adjust brakes?
 
I upgraded to Nev-R-Adjust brakes. The part number for your seals (as well as bearings) should be listed in your Lippert Components owner's manual.
 

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