Lifespan of brakes on large motorhome

bjbear wrote:
Another question about the coach we are in the process of buying ... a 2006 Monaco Camelot 42DSQ.

It has the original brakes with 72,000 miles. The previous owner who has owned it since new always used the engine brake whenever possible.

My question is how long do brakes normally last and am I going to be looking at a brake job ($$$) soon?

"Your mileage will vary" as the saying goes and from what already has been mentioned here but, if the previous owner was very easy on the brakes, very likely you have over 50% of the life or much better left. The coach you are looking at is very similar to ours and I also try to take care of my brakes by using the 2 stage compression brake on our Ellipse when appropriate. I just checked my linings this past week and we have 75% or better left at 56K miles. The only sure way is to check the linings or have them checked if you are not sure what to look for.

No comparison between gasser with hydraulic brakes and air braked pusher. At 82K my brake pads like almost new. In my experience you should expect to get in excess of 250K miles, the only way you would need a brake job earlier is if a slack-adjuster failed and tightened too much. Not a likely scenario on a well maintained coach if the chassis is greased as required.

I'm at 80K miles with much of it out West. Would need a new pad to accurately compare to as mine still look new. When traveling I go hours without using the brakes... not even the Jake. Brakes that are lightly used can start to squeal and to unglaze them you do a hard stop from speed without using your supplemental braking... may take two hard stops to get them hot enough. An occasional hard stop is actually good for your brakes pads.

You can slide under the rear axle and look... they should be aprox 3/4" thick. Based on your friend's usage I would not worry about it.

Ours has almost 70k on it and they are 95%

WE had 420K on a tandem and changed pads at 250,000. Would recommend Ceramic Pads. Cooler, last longer.

My Freight Liner chassis 40ft DP has 101,000 and brakes look real good. plus I tow a trailer all the time

I just had to have new rear brakes installed on my 1988 40' Prevost. It has about 300,000 miles on the chassis. The front brakes are still OK but I will likely replace them the next time I have the manufacturer do routine maintenance.

As said it depends on the operators. If they have a little bit of sense, they'll last a long time with the retarder.

When we bought our DP out of Colorado I had everything inspected and Freightliner said I should get a hundred thousand more out of them.

Having said that, I've run into two people with DPs up by the Ice Fields in Canada that didn't know they had retarder and were severely over heating their brakes.

Bill

I changed my rear shoes dew to them getting soaked with oil from a leaking seal. Shoes looked brand new.

Mine have 37,000 miles on 'em (and change) and the front brakes will be INSPECTED long about next week.. I may replace the pads (Since we will have 'em off) or, based on this thread, not, Will inspect first, They will be off for 2 or 3 days so I can shoot over to NAPA or B2B and grab new pads if needed.