DP Brake Job Cost?

Depends on what's wrong with them. I had to have mine replaced last year at a cost of $10,000. They had gotten wet when we were stuck in a flooded campground and the calipers had rusted. The calipers were $3600 EACH! Insurance paid for almost all of it...Dennis

With a couple of million miles as an over the road truck owner, I don't think a DP would ever need new brakes. They just don't get used hard enough to warrant replacement. Inspect for damage from foreign objects and check your slack adjusters free play. Automatic slacks have been mandatory since back in the '90's. Happy Motoring.

Mine has 104,000 on it and just had the brakes checked....they said it would probably go another 100K------

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Elkhart, Indiana and it rained every day I was there. Pulling out, I noticed minor squeek and shuddering when backing (exactly as you describe). After getting out of there and and a couple hundred miles down the road, no squeeks or shuddering. And it just so happens that I'm headed to Gaffney for my 45,000 service which includes a bunch of brake stuff. My suggestion to you is, if you've been sitting still in humid weather, drive it. And it's also quite possible that your 45,000 service will address anything other than glazing.

PS: I'm not a mechanic but I did watch a mechanic fix a whatchamacallit on TV last night. :) Bottom line... I don't think you need a "brake job" on a 2007 DP.

I read somewhere that the folks at Spartan state that they have never seen the need for a brake job on their DP chassis models.

Sounds to me like you are light on the brakes, hence the possibility of glazing which is causing some of your symptoms.

I would go to a vacant parking lot, calibrate/adjust my automatic slack adjusters and then do about five hard stops.

You may not need a shop after your do the above (hopefully).

prstlk wrote:
07 HR Ambassador, 40k miles.
Starting get some squeel when stopping normally, and a shudder when stopping hard. What does a brake job run for a DP? Any national chains you would suggest?
Thanks in advance.
JW

JW,
Hang on there Partner, before you go digging out the wallet and, prying it open, with only 40K on the clock, unless someone's been running that coach in the Indy 500 and or any of those dumb a$$ Nascar races, you should have a minimum of triple that mileage left on the brakes. If a DP is driven correctly, as in proper use of auxiliary braking, as in Exhaust Brake or, Jake (compression brake), that allows for some serious extended service life of the service brakes.

The fact that you have some "Squealing" and or, chattering is "somewhat" normal for many coaches. Some will never develop those symptoms and some, get them often.

In any case, the very first thing that should be done is, a quality inspection of all your brakes. Not the kind from laying under the coach, I'm talking the removal of the wheels and tires and, the drums or, discs, depending on which you have. You want to get a close up look at everything. Squealing happens because of various issues. Sometimes the brakes get "glazed over" and when that happens, they "Chatter" at a very ultra high frequency and that's the squealing you hear.

You also may have some out of round drums or discs that cause shuttering. There may be contaminates (axle oil w/brake dust etc.) that are in there causing issues when the brakes are applied.

So this is why I say to get a good inspection of them before you decide to shell out what ever someone wants to do a brake job for you. The pictures you see below are of our brakes on our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT. They were take very recently with coach having 62,000, miles on it. As you can see, they are in outstanding shape and will go at a minimum, another 62,000 miles if not a lot more.
Scott

My motorhome is an 04 with over 40k miles, and last time I had it at freightliner they told me I had 75% life left on the brake pads. I was there getting the right front pads replaced because there was seal leak and grease soaked into the pads so I had to get that leak fixed and they replaced those pads. I was going to have them all done since it was there but the guy said there was plenty of life left and said motorhome brake pads usually get over 100k miles. His reasoning was most people use the jake brake so they don't wear the pads as much. I do use my jake brake a lot, even on level ground.

Any large truck repair facility should be able to do a brake job no matter what motorhome and chassis. I don't know the price of a brake job but I would call around and get some worst case scenario estimates.

Paul

I would start by going by a truck stop with a shop and have them adjust the brakes.

Mine work great except very loud when backing. Same question, thanks for starting the thread.