Check Your Brakes & Bearings! My 2019 Imagine 2670MK had a Brake Shoe Lining Failure!

[ReiMan1776]

Check Your Brakes & Bearings! My 2019 Imagine 2670MK had a Brake Shoe Lining Failure!

Don't put off bearing maintenance and brake checks!

Getting ready to leave in a few days for Kings Canyon National Park.

My last two trips were ugly, three Westlake tires decomposed, two on one trip despite being properly inflated. Have replaced all with Goodyear Endurance tires, NO MORE tires made in China!

So, with safety on my mind I decided to do wheel bearing maintenance myself, grease repack and check the brakes.

All was going smoothly, three wheels done, one more to go yesterday. As soon as I pulled the hub off a large piece of brake lining fell out. The brake lining on the trailing shoe came apart from the metal, not worn, just completely came off. Dexter brake assembly.

Glad I found out now before leaving on our trip however getting parts a problem. Long story short I am replacing all 4 brake assemblies with Lippert Components self adjusting, 10" x 2.25" should fit the Dexter drum / axle but will let you know. Lippert part number 296650 / 296649 Cost for set of 4 about $200 on Amazon.

I confirmed with GD I have a 4400lb Dexter axle. Lippert lists these components for 3500# axle but web research indicates these should be correct. If anybody knows differently let us know.

For right now, hopefully I motivate you folks to perform this critical service and inspection on your rig. Being safe is being happy.

 

[FT4NOW]

Good find, I've never seen that. Here's a tip for you, when installing the new assemblies, be careful about pinching the brake magnet wire on the backside. Its very easy to do and not notice. I did this on my Momentum and it caused me a lot of time searching for the short on my brake line, I eventually found it, but it was completely avoidable.

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[geotex1]

Electric drum brake setups are fairly generic and the usual difference is the drum casting. You very likely could have gotten a loaded backing plate from your local trailer shop that would work fine. Nevertheless, the important point is that you found the problem before a bigger problem occurred!

 

[Ynot4me2]

Good catch. I'm planning on adjusting ours this weekend before our trip on June 6. If campgrounds and parks open that is.

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[ReiMan1776]

Good tip,,,, thanks.

 

[bfs673]

Don't put off bearing maintenance and brake checks!

Good find! Had this same thing happen to me, and it ruined both drums on my passenger side. Doesn't appear to be too uncommon.

Given the cost of the whole system, I ended up going with Hydraulic disc brakes. Best move I could've made with the trailer.
There's no substitute for rigorous maintenance and checking things out!

 

[jleonard]

I had that happen on a new Chevy truck that had very low miles on it. It rattled around inside the drum for a while. Replaced under warrantee.

 

[ReiMan1776]

Update to the parts fiasco: Ordered Lippert self adjusting on amazon, would have fit and been perfect except the backing plate holes do not line up. The flange on the 4400lb axle has the upper holes that match but the lower holes are farther apart. Saturday panic before my trip, went to NAPA auto parts and lucked out as they found the brake shoes only. Changed out the shoes only and got on the road but it was a royal pain, bought a brake tool to assist with removal / install of the springs but it was useless.

 

[ReiMan1776]

As a further update I just installed new brake shoes on the remaining wheels. I discovered several other brake shoes with large chunks of lining broken off and gone.

So, now I am thinking this may have caused my tire blowout problem that with the cost if new tires cost me about 2 GRAND. Large chunks of lining breaking off could have caused excessive heat leading to tire failure. It just makes sense with the THREE blowouts in short order. I have towed trailers for many years and never suffered a blowout.

Besides the expense this is a real safety issue and I am going to take this up with Grand Design, Dexter mfg, and the NHSTA

The shoes are stamped April 2018

And yes, I just ordered a tire pressure monitoring system. Tire Minder i10

 

[BadDogPSD]

I found 3 blown grease seals the first time I went to repack the wheel bearings on a non-GD toyhauler. I opted to replace with new loaded backing plates & drums from e-trailer. I thought it was odd that the complete backing plates were only a few dollars more than just buying new shoes.

 

[ReiMan1776]

Important Update: Heard from Dexter Axle and am sending them brake shoes in question. Really one show one shoe of concern and that is the one with all the lining that is gone.

The other shoes I was concerned about, ones with shorter lining is normal. The leading and trailing shoes are different.

I learned something new and that is there is lubrication required as part of normal maintenance. Between the backing plate and shoes and on the spindles.

The bottom line is be aware of all that is required.

 

[ReiMan1776]

As a further update I just installed new brake shoes on the remaining wheels. I discovered several other brake shoes with large chunks of lining broken off and gone.

So, now I am thinking this may have caused my tire blowout problem that with the cost if new tires cost me about 2 GRAND. Large chunks of lining breaking off could have caused excessive heat leading to tire failure. It just makes sense with the THREE blowouts in short order. I have towed trailers for many years and never suffered a blowout.

Besides the expense this is a real safety issue and I am going to take this up with Grand Design, Dexter mfg, and the NHSTA

The shoes are stamped April 2018

And yes, I just ordered a tire pressure monitoring system. Tire Minder i10View attachment 34967View attachment 34968

Thanks to Dexter Axle Co who called me and taught me some new valuable lessons.

The one shoe with missing lining is definitely not normal.
The other shoes with shortened lining are normal, they face forward.

Of real importance and something I did not know is lubrication is required when normal inspection and maintenance is performed.

Here is the link to the Dexter Service Manual:
https://www.dexteraxle.com/user_area/content_media/raw/600-8k_complete_service_manual.pdf