We took our KZ TT to the dealer to get a few warranty items attended to. Just got a phone call from them saying the brakes are all contaminated with grease inside the drums and all the parts need to be replaced. The lady I spoke didn't think it would be covered under warranty. I've never had the drums off and I've never lubed the Ultru-lube axles. It's looking like it would in the order of $1,000 to fix it....Shouldn't something like this be covered under warranty, esp. on a 7 month old TT? We only did something like 1,500 - 2,000 miles on it which isn't much. Did all the seals go on them in that short a time?What's bothersome with this too is that we specifically ordered Al-Ko brakes because I know that they have been installing brakes called Axletek on their units in 2013. KZ lists Al-Ko brakes in their brochure and the units come with a tag inside listing Dexter brakes and our Owner's manual manual is for Al-Ko brakes. When we asked about this when we first picked up the TT they said it's one of those "subject to change" things that the manufacturer is entitled to do. Some would call that a bait and switch.Maybe if we had gotten the Al-Ko brakes we had in our purchase agreement, this wouldn't have happened. I'm pretty choked and it will be interesting to see what happens now that KZ is owned by Thor. WE will be heading out to our dealer on the weekend for sure and having words. The TT has otherwise been pretty good so far.

200 dollars worth of parts 800 in labor sounds pretty outrageous to me.

I don't understand why the brakes would not be covered just like the other items are.

your contract calls for a different brand that you wrote into the contract? if so I,d stand my ground and the manufacture would be eating the bill, even if I had to pay a att.

The problem is NOT your brakes. The grease is coming from axle seals that are leaking wheel bearing grease. Let me guess, you have axles that were manufactured by Lippert Components? If so, this is a problem that is recurring frequently as reported in multiple forums I've read. If not, I apologize to Lippert for the assumption. This is absolutely a product defect that should be covered under warranty. Do not let them talk you into paying for this yourself. Contact the manufacturer of your rig and pester them for a repair. This is NOT normal wear and tear on the brakes. If your axles are manufactured by Lippert, contact them at www.LCI1.com or 866-524-7821. Finally, this is a safety defect. You should file a complaint with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. If enough similar complaints are lodged, they will evaluate and potentially force a recall. Here is a link for filing a complaint:NHSTA Vehicle Complaint Form.

You might raise this in the TT forum as it is a warranty issue rather than a tech issue really, but even so---I have seen such things raised in the 5er forum before, where the dealer would not do the warranty thing so the owner had to call the trailer company and by-pass the dealer. Interesting results! Sometimes that works.The trailer company can then blame the axle maker, but you don't care about that, you just want justice at your end. In this case it sounds like the dealer isn't being very useful.

Defective brakes on 7 month old TT | Good Sam Community

39 Replies

rjsurfer
Explorer
Dec 10, 2014
Huntindog wrote:
ScottG wrote:
If you absolutely can't get them to cover the repair, take it someplace else because $1K is outrageous. I can see it going as high as $400 but even that is high.
I'll get some heat from those that don't know better (or claim to) but that grease can be easily cleaned from the pads. Brake pads DO NOT absorb grease and using brake cleaner will remove it completely. It's done everyday at large truck shops across the country. Anyone who has actually done this knows it works. Save your flames - I'm not going to debate it.
But I digress.
The cost of pads and labor is no where near that rip-off rate.
Here comes your heat... You can never get it all out of the pads. Grease in pads will forever make them want to grab...
OK so your mind is made up.., Ponder this: Pads are really cheap for TTs. Probably less than 30.00 for 4 wheels. Heck you can get an entire brake assembly for about that. To save this little amount of money, you will likely spend about 10.00 on brake cleaner, and how long doing it? All this for compromised pads? Penny wise and pound foolish.

BTW, I had a rear main seal go out in a Dodge 2500 I had. The dealer did not replace he clutch, when they did the seal. They "cleaned it" and called it good. It chattered horribly. Several trips back to the dealer, and me getting very irate changed their mind, and my clutch. Then it was smooth as silk.

Oh yeah, FYI, clutch and brake material are the same stuff.

Plus one on fact that the brake lining certainly do soak up the grease contrary to what others have said. Once they get soaked that's it they will grab forever even after cleaning.

Bite the bullet and get whole new assemblies, easy to change, OR spend another 600 bucks and go for disc brakes something I wish I had done after dozens of hours working with new seals and soaked linings over the last 8 years.

Ron W
Ron3rd
Explorer III
Dec 09, 2014
myredracer wrote:
We heard back from the dealer and AlKo is covering the cost of all 4 wheels. I would have been surprised if they hadn't because they all sounded in the same shape. The dealer now has to wait a couple of days for parts to arrive...

On the upside of all this, at least we don't have to pay for a brake inspection and bearing repack. :D

Good job, and let us know if they try to feed any more BS.
TucsonJim
Explorer II
Dec 09, 2014
myredracer wrote:
We heard back from the dealer and AlKo is covering the cost of all 4 wheels. I would have been surprised if they hadn't because they all sounded in the same shape. The dealer now has to wait a couple of days for parts to arrive...

On the upside of all this, at least we don't have to pay for a brake inspection and bearing repack. :D

Thanks for keeping us posted on the outcome. This is what I expected. Good for you!
myredracer
Explorer II
Dec 09, 2014
We heard back from the dealer and AlKo is covering the cost of all 4 wheels. I would have been surprised if they hadn't because they all sounded in the same shape. The dealer now has to wait a couple of days for parts to arrive...

On the upside of all this, at least we don't have to pay for a brake inspection and bearing repack. :D
Ron3rd
Explorer III
Dec 09, 2014
Complete brake assemblies with magnets, pads, backing plates etc, can be had for about $40-$80 depending on what you have and each can be bolted on in about 5 minutes once you've got the drums off. Don't know where they come up with $1,000.

BRAKE ASSEMBLIES AT ETRAILER.COM
solismaris
Explorer
Dec 09, 2014
donn0128 wrote:
200 dollars worth of parts 800 in labor sounds pretty outrageous to me.

That's about what it cost me to have my 4 brakes replaced a couple years ago, including the drums. Actually I think it was closer to $1200 parts & labor.
CT51
Explorer
Dec 08, 2014
I have a one month old Coachmen Freedom Express 246RKS. I've had quite a few RV's, and when I get a new one, the first week or two is spent making improvements like new TV bracket, Blue Ray player,porcelain toilet, better mattress etc. When all that was done, I set the load distributing hitch up and took the 30 mile ride to get the whole rig weighed. When I got there, (this being the first time I pulled it, as the dealer is two miles from my house, and I brought it home with a standard ball and shank), I felt all the hubs, and one was very hot. When I got home, I took that wheel and drum off to see what was going on. I had already checked the brake adjustment when I pulled the wheels to have them balanced, so I knew that wasn't the problem. The hub was completely full of grease, and it had gone thru the seal and into the brake assembly. I took it all apart, cleaned everything, repacked the bearing with red high temp grease using a power packer, and put it all back together. Took it for a long ride, and hub is now cool to the touch-no heat whatsoever.

So, it does appear that Lippert is now filling the hubs using the Super Lube spindle. The grease they use is watery. Today, I did the other three wheels, and found one more that the seal had failed. Prior to this, I didn't have a strong feeling about the Super Lube, but now I will never use it again. When whoever filled the hubs did so, I imagine they just pumped them till it came out and filled the grease cup, and no doubt didn't bother to have the wheel rotating while they pumped. I believe the system can work if you pump very slowly while someone spins the wheel, but I don't see the benefit over just having properly packed bearings. In my case, since I wanted to get rid of the cheap black grease, I needed to take everything apart, clean it all, and put it back together. I'm surprised you don't see more bearing failures, knowing this is the way they send them from the factory.
myredracer
Explorer II
Dec 06, 2014
coolbreeze01 wrote:

I'm doubting your dealer is competent enough to do any repairs.

Good luck.

I think what it was is that the temp. service manager hasn't handled it right and didn't do her homework first. Very frustrating and anxiety causing. They've been great otherwise so far. Makes me wonder how often this sort of thing happens out there and owners end up just handing over the cash.
coolbreeze01
Explorer
Dec 06, 2014
myredracer wrote:
As of the end of today, 1/2 of the brakes are going to be warrantied.

After I contacted Al-Ko, I phoned our dealer and told them what they said. She said they would phone, but asked me if I had their number... (!!?) Late in the day the dealer phoned to say that Al-Ko has approved one side of the TT, but they dealer only sent the photos of one side and Al-Ko wants photos of the other side.

Not sure why they didn't contact Al-Ko themselves in the first place and why they didn't send photos in of the other side. I expect Al-Ko will approve the other side since they're apparently the same but won't know for certain now until Monday. I doubt I will ever find out how this happened.

Thanks goducks10 for suggesting to call the axle manufacturer. Things might not have gone as well if I hadn't phoned them.

The way the RV world works never ceases to amaze me.

I'm doubting your dealer is competent enough to do any repairs.

Good luck.
Huntindog
Explorer
Dec 06, 2014
path1 wrote:
ScottG wrote:
Huntindog wrote:
ScottG wrote:
If you absolutely can't get them to cover the repair, take it someplace else because $1K is outrageous. I can see it going as high as $400 but even that is high.
I'll get some heat from those that don't know better (or claim to) but that grease can be easily cleaned from the pads. Brake pads DO NOT absorb grease and using brake cleaner will remove it completely. It's done everyday at large truck shops across the country. Anyone who has actually done this knows it works. Save your flames - I'm not going to debate it.
But I digress.
The cost of pads and labor is no where near that rip-off rate.
Here comes your heat... You can never get it all out of the pads. Grease in pads will forever make them want to grab...
OK so your mind is made up.., Ponder this: Pads are really cheap for TTs. Probably less than 30.00 for 4 wheels. Heck you can get an entire brake assembly for about that. To save this little amount of money, you will likely spend about 10.00 on brake cleaner, and how long doing it? All this for compromised pads? Penny wise and pound foolish.

BTW, I had a rear main seal go out in a Dodge 2500 I had. The dealer did not replace he clutch, when they did the seal. They "cleaned it" and called it good. It chattered horribly. Several trips back to the dealer, and me getting very irate changed their mind, and my clutch. Then it was smooth as silk.

Oh yeah, FYI, clutch and brake material are the same stuff.

Your wrong but it's because you don't have any experience doing this work yourself.
Your trucks clutch was grabby not because it was saturated but because the oil had made it slip somewhat and the disc ended up with hardened spots because of it. It was machining or replacing the disc that stopped the grabbing.
If you haven't actually done as I describe or worked in a heavy equipment shop then you haven't seen what actually occurs.

Follow the money. We had about 60 trucks at work. If one of our vendors screwed something up our company required new. If the in house mechanic screwed something up, Well where's the brake clean?

Umm, I am not wrong. And like you, I will not debate this. As for my experience level.. You are also wrong. That is also beyond debate.

I never use shops, unless the item is still under warranty. And the work there is often so bad that I question the wisdom of that. I often have to redo their work... So saying that you work in a shop... Doesn't necessarily impress me.