First trip back to the dealer - no brakes

[ChopperBill]

Had this trailer 14 months and its the first trip back to the dealer. The Lippert brakes are next to nothing. I bet it would take a 100 yards to stop it from 25 mph with O poop lever. The old trailers brakes wernt much good but they sure were alot better than this one. Not sure what they are going to do but I do know the drums are out of round. When its finished and isnt much better I will just head straight over to the independent trailer repair and have Dexter brake assy put on. He said Dexter was top of the line and Lipperts were pretty much at the bottom. You guys with Dexter pretty happy with them? Disc brakes are way out of our budget range.
Anyone know how to check the Prodigy controller? After I dropped it off I thought it might be a good idea to go through it.

 

[Delaine and Lindy]

Haven't used Lippert brakes, well I might on the first two 5ers, and I guess our 2009 Landmark might have had Lippert not for sure but I never had any problems. Always used the Prodigy except with the Landmark, I used the GM IBC and the Brakes were great. I must say I have owned 3 5th wheels with Disk Brakes and really the Electric brakes don't even compare with the Disk Brakes. I would always go with the Disk Brakes if possible. Our last two 5th wheel came standard with Disk Brakes, And the other one that had Disk Brakes I had installed by Mor/Ryde. Good Luck on your repairs. Happy Trails......

 

[davidg]

Bill, first thing I would do is to raise one wheel off the ground turn it by hand and have someone apply the brakes in the truck to see if the brakes are working on that wheel, and just work your way around to the other three, depending on the mileage it could be the magnets or your brakes need adjusting.
We returned from vacation 3 years ago having trouble stopping, so once we were home did some checking and found we only had one wheel that had brakes, pulled the drums off and found the magnets were worn, replaced the magnets and all was good.
David

 

[ChopperBill]

Only about 2500 miles on the trailer, well except for the transporter. Had an independent utility trailer repair service adjust and check them out. I "burnished" them in and they got no better. He said it took about 40 clicks to tighten them up but it took 10 clicks to loosing them so they wouldn't drag so much because the drums were so out of round. He said Dexter were top of the line and would put the whole setup on at around $75 each. Just didn't want to through good money after bad if Windish RV cant get them to work any better. Discs would be nice but am not sure if we will keep this trailer. We have not traveled much as I found out I wasn't to keen on pulling 40 feet of trailer around. Any one know how I can get the room of a 40 footer into an 30 foot trailer

 

[lwmcguir]

We have 8K alxes and brakes from Lippert now and had the 2 inch prior. Both the small 2 inch and the 3.75 currently will lock up the axles at low speed. We have a number of trailers and some have beter brakes than others so we set the gain accordinly. Howeveer all of the feel safe to pull as yours doesnt. I would definitley get enough brakeing ability to stop the Coach safely by itself or not even attempt to travel.

 

[ChopperBill]

How much voltage should I show at the Trailer plug-in? The controller says I have 13+ volts at full braking with the hand control. How much drop can be expected back at the brakes?

 

[traveler44]

When I adjusted the brakes and spun the wheel I could feel some uneven drag but I didn't adjust them enough to eliminate it all the way. I figured they will wear in a little. I adjusted them out tight and adjusted them back 8 clicks. After pulling 20 miles the heat gun showed warmer than after 40 miles. Makes me wonder if I could tighten another click now. Don't know if they are wearing in or just getting set in better. The drums showed more wear than the shoes when I packed the bearings. If you are backing out too many clicks you won't have any braking power, sounds like you need new drums. Tom M.

 

[danemayer]

You might be interested in my recent experience.

One additional point: if you adjust the brakes too tight, the front shoe won't move far enough to actuate the rear shoe. The braking is severely compromised if operating on 1 shoe.

 

[ChopperBill]

Ya know I had a 1950 Olds that you had to lie on your back and adjust the brakes, then a 54 Chevy, then a 56 Ford. Finally I got a car you just let the brakes do there own thing. I kinda thought that maybe by now you could step on your brakes and stop a trailer without having to jump through a bunch of hoops. Wearing in the brakes to make them work seems a little absurd as you never know when a panic stop is coming up. Guess I don't have to catch up with time I just have to go back in time.

 

[danemayer]

Wearing in the brakes to make them work seems a little absurd as you never know when a panic stop is coming up.

I agree. I spoke with a Dexter engineer who said they're going to revisit the composition of the shoes. They seemed to understand that the extended break-in (50 applications of the trailer brakes at 40mph) leaves us with a serious safety problem.

 

[ChopperBill]

At the dealer for 2 weeks. Said they could find nothing wrong with the brakes. Locked up after pulling the safety pin and their tow motor system stopped it good. Took my truck over and they put their test box on my cable hook up and I could see it was not working with the controller. The found so wire hooked up wrong and after working on it a while got it to work on the test box. He thought maybe the controller was shot for a while. Hooked to the trailer to make sure everything worked and said good to go. Hopped in the rig and took off. Got to the corner stop sign and it didnt stop any better than when I took it in. I am at a loss what to do now. Hit the manual lever and it would take a month of Sundays to bring it to a halt. New controller? Dexter brakes? Some say they arnt much better.

 

[Duramax1]

I suggest that you pull the safety pin and verify that the trailer brakes have locked up then you will know that the problem is with your brake controller and/or truck wiring.

 

[Duramax1]

I agree. I spoke with a Dexter engineer who said they're going to revisit the composition of the shoes. They seemed to understand that the extended break-in (50 applications of the trailer brakes at 40mph) leaves us with a serious safety problem.

This is the first time that I have ever read a post talking about an extended break-in period.

 

[cookie]

Bill, has anyone pulled the drums and looked at the shoes? I just pulled mine off and two of them were contaminated with grease. They have never had grease pumped in through the E-Z Lubes, just failed seals.

Peace
Dave

 

[ChopperBill]

Bill, has anyone pulled the drums and looked at the shoes? I just pulled mine off and two of them were contaminated with grease. They have never had grease pumped in through the E-Z Lubes, just failed seals.

Peace
Dave

Yeah, had it at an independent dealer to check them out . drums out of round. No grease on the shoes.

Oh, dealer said he pulled the safety pin and the brakes locked up (in the shop)

 

[ChopperBill]

Well, took it back to the indy today and found out when they rewired the controller it would work on the manual lever but no brakes with the pedal. Found a bad ground in the wiring (stinking scotch connectors!) Found out there was no power to the brake controler (blue wire) Fixed that and took it for a test drive. Tech said the brakes still arnet that great. Went to adjust them and while under there he said three out of the four were leaking grease into the drums, cant figure why he didnt see that before. It has never been greased since we bought it new a year ago. Sure glad I left it at the dealer for 3 weeks! NOT! Still under warranty but I am sick of the ordeal. The indy owner (friend of mine) are going to work on it and clean every thing up. Might put American made Dexters on. Will cost me a case of beer and a few bucks.

 

[mtnranger]

My first response didn't get posted so I'll say it again. Lippert axles brakes failed me too and it was found to be over greased from the factory. Don't wait have them checked again and if you have to stand over them when you do and report to Lippert that you have a problem. Both parties Heatland and Lippert have told me because of my dealers reluctance to make proper repair they cannot help. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE IF YOU ASK ME

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

My first response didn't get posted so I'll say it again. Lippert axles brakes failed me too and it was found to be over greased from the factory. Don't wait have them checked again and if you have to stand over them when you do and report to Lippert that you have a problem. Both parties Heatland and Lippert have told me because of my dealers reluctance to make proper repair they cannot help. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE IF YOU ASK ME

mtnranger, why did you wait so long after the initial visit to the dealer to take further action? You should have called Heartland the very same day. Now, 14 months later, you still expect warranty?

 

[ChopperBill]

We cleaned the brakes and magnets. All seals had failed and I have never greased it before. Took it home and it didnt seem to be much better. Re-did the burn in procedure and they got a little better but by then they were pretty hot. Took the trailer up to the WY spot and the brake seem to be considerably better. Parked for a month and brought it home. I heard that you need to reset the brake controller for a long period of time to drain the capacitor. Dont know how much truth to that there is. Coming home the brakes seemed to be working much better and seemed to get better and better. Took it to the lot and when I pulled up to the gate I use the manual lever and it skidded the tires. NEVER has done that before! Now the truck even seems to stop better with the trailer attached. Finally we got BRAKES!

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

That's good to hear Chopper. Thanks for the report.