Leaking Dana 80 rear axle

eHoefler wrote:

Geocritter wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Since you do have a lot of rust under your coach, it might be a good idea to do a visual check of your steel brake lines. They can rust out and rupture at the worst possible time. Of course it is a good time to look at the rubber brake hoses also.

I checked over the entire brake system last year when I replaced the systems 20 year old DOT 3 brake fluid with DOT 5.1 brake fluid. The brakes were in surprisingly good shape. However, I do plan to overhaul the entire system next winter when I'm in Arizona. That's when I hope to replace the rear axle seals as well.

Steve

Oil soaked brakes will become sticky. This will lead to the brakes locking up, overheating, and possibly a fire. Oil soaked brakes are less effective and generate more heat than dry brakes.

I’ve had cars with bad rear axle seals that leaked gear lube into the brake drums and have experienced subsequent brake sticking. On one car I’d have to shift into reverse and give it a backwards nudge to release the rear brakes. On my RV I have disc brakes in the rear. Since I drove it over 4,000 miles with no problems I figure it’ll last for basically a flatland trip this summer from Texas to northern Wisconsin and then a return trip to Sierra Vista Arizona via mostly flatland interstates. BTW I have tire minders that will alert me if the tires become overheated via the brakes (like they did in Oregon last year). I’ve already priced out rebuilding the brakes (new hoses and complete caliper assemblies). It’s about $700 for parts and I plan to rebuild the system next winter. I’ll tackle the leaking seal at that time. I’ve been making the rig very road worthy and though I’d love to service every last little thing on my rig in a more expeditious manner it has enough issues that I have to pick and choose my battles.
Steve