Back brakes overheated-now my front ones: what's happening??

Daveinet wrote:
Brett, I thought the SS braided lines were Teflon, instead of rubber?

To the OP, it would be interesting to see the old calipers, to see if they were rusted.

The mechanic who worked on the back brakes never mentioned what the problem was exactly, only that the calipers, pads, rotors, & seals needed to be replaced. The mechanic who's going to be looking at the front brakes next week already suspects that it's probably rust, as that is a notorious problem here in Florida. The other possibility according to him, because of the fact that both the back and the front brakes overheated only a few weeks apart from each other, is that there's a chance that the master cylinder could be shot. I should know more by the end of next week.

wolfe10 wrote:

bluebarry1964b wrote:

johnsonbert wrote:
There was some discussion going around a few years ago about the lining of the rubber brake lines collapsing and not allowing the fluid pressure to release quickly when the brakes were released on many early 2000 vehicles causing the calipers to build heat. If yours is like an Ambassador 01 that I had, the system is air over hydraulic and 4 wheel discs. If the fluid pressure can not release quick enough, you will start to get heat buildup which can create that problem. Lubricating the caliper pins and slides is also an important maintenance item on that vehicle, especially if it sets for longer periods of time. Hope this may help, Happy Trails Bert

I actually had a brake hose leak & so had new metal ones manufactured for me in Albuquerque, NM. A mechanic I've been talking to figures that I've put enough miles on the RV since getting the metal brake hoses that they should be working properly. I highly recommend to all out there to replace your hoses with metal ones. They're really much more practical.

Because of axle to frame movement (coach mounted on springs) you can NOT use solid metal lines in those areas.

Perhaps you mean rubber lines with braided SS jacket? That is a reasonable upgrade to the OE rubber lines.

I'm pretty lost when it comes to mechanical stuff I'm afraid to say. But the coach has air bags so I don't believe there are any springs involved. When the new hoses were manufactured I was told that they were braided, so maybe they meant as you said--rubber with a braided jacket. The way I understood it, they were metal only, with no rubber. But I honestly don't know. I do know that the mechanic who worked on the back brakes couldn't speak highly enough of the new hoses vs. the old rubber ones.

We just went thru this on our back brakes.. We had the back completely replaced because they were not releasing, Got so hot that it took the seals out of the diff. and axle.. We had diff fluid coming out the wheels.. Well when they replaced they didn't replace the little rubber hoses the go from the steel line to the caliper, so we had the right side start doing the same thing.. We had it replaced with new hoses on both sides and so far it seems to be fixed, knock on wood.. This was a Bosch brake problem that should have been on the recall in '05, but we were missed as you were to I'd say.. We did go with different brakes, I wouldn't let them put Bosch back on.. We went with Meritor.. We haven't touched the front as there's been no problems yet, but we will when new tires are put on this fall before we head South.. Mike Mathews..

Brett, I thought the SS braided lines were Teflon, instead of rubber?

To the OP, it would be interesting to see the old calipers, to see if they were rusted.

bluebarry1964b wrote:

johnsonbert wrote:
There was some discussion going around a few years ago about the lining of the rubber brake lines collapsing and not allowing the fluid pressure to release quickly when the brakes were released on many early 2000 vehicles causing the calipers to build heat. If yours is like an Ambassador 01 that I had, the system is air over hydraulic and 4 wheel discs. If the fluid pressure can not release quick enough, you will start to get heat buildup which can create that problem. Lubricating the caliper pins and slides is also an important maintenance item on that vehicle, especially if it sets for longer periods of time. Hope this may help, Happy Trails Bert

I actually had a brake hose leak & so had new metal ones manufactured for me in Albuquerque, NM. A mechanic I've been talking to figures that I've put enough miles on the RV since getting the metal brake hoses that they should be working properly. I highly recommend to all out there to replace your hoses with metal ones. They're really much more practical.

Because of axle to frame movement (coach mounted on springs) you can NOT use solid metal lines in those areas.

Perhaps you mean rubber lines with braided SS jacket? That is a reasonable upgrade to the OE rubber lines.

johnsonbert wrote:
There was some discussion going around a few years ago about the lining of the rubber brake lines collapsing and not allowing the fluid pressure to release quickly when the brakes were released on many early 2000 vehicles causing the calipers to build heat. If yours is like an Ambassador 01 that I had, the system is air over hydraulic and 4 wheel discs. If the fluid pressure can not release quick enough, you will start to get heat buildup which can create that problem. Lubricating the caliper pins and slides is also an important maintenance item on that vehicle, especially if it sets for longer periods of time. Hope this may help, Happy Trails Bert

I actually had a brake hose leak & so had new metal ones manufactured for me in Albuquerque, NM. A mechanic I've been talking to figures that I've put enough miles on the RV since getting the metal brake hoses that they should be working properly. I highly recommend to all out there to replace your hoses with metal ones. They're really much more practical.

Daveinet wrote:
http://www.automotix.net/autorepair/recalls/4339-recall/?year_key=2003

Hopefully you were not charged for the repair.

I think you're dead-on about what's wrong. I looked up the recall information that you referred me to. Thanks so much for this information. I'm going to give it to the mechanic in hopes that it helps him out. I just hope that changing the calipers, etc, is going to solve the problem as I'm not quite getting how changing the calipers is going to solve the recall issue as to why they're faulty in the first place. Hopefully the new calipers are of a different design. I know that the back brake calipers were no longer available through Monaco & so the mechanic doing the back brakes had to hunt around for a day or two trying to find some that were compatible. I hope this solves the problem.

There was some discussion going around a few years ago about the lining of the rubber brake lines collapsing and not allowing the fluid pressure to release quickly when the brakes were released on many early 2000 vehicles causing the calipers to build heat. If yours is like an Ambassador 01 that I had, the system is air over hydraulic and 4 wheel discs. If the fluid pressure can not release quick enough, you will start to get heat buildup which can create that problem. Lubricating the caliper pins and slides is also an important maintenance item on that vehicle, especially if it sets for longer periods of time. Hope this may help, Happy Trails Bert

bluebarry1964b wrote:

Daveinet wrote:
http://www.automotix.net/autorepair/recalls/4339-recall/?year_key=2003

Hopefully you were not charged for the repair.

Oh, I was charged alright. You see, since Holiday Rambler changed hands they are no longer legally responsible for paying the costs of replacing defective parts. I found that out when the trailing arms were recalled. Gotta love that.

Actually when Navistar got Monaco, it did not just "change hands". Navistar did not buy Monaco Corp. Monaco went bankrupt and Navistar bought the ASSETS.

With the debts Monaco had, no one would buy the company and assume the liabilities as well as assets.

Not great for owners, but a lot better than having no Monaco going forward. Tech support, parts, etc. is better than nothing.

BTW, Monaco has changed hands again, but this time the Corp was bought, so liabilities transfer. http://www.monacocoach.com/monaco/company.html

bluebarry1964b wrote:
Oh, I was charged alright. You see, since Holiday Rambler changed hands they are no longer legally responsible for paying the costs of replacing defective parts. I found that out when the trailing arms were recalled. Gotta love that.

Did you check that out with the NHTSA? It's hard for me to believe a company can get out of recall costs like that. If they could every couple of years they would sell out on paper.