My 2002 Suburban 2500 is in the shop today getting an oil change and rear brakes replaced - pads and discs. The mechanic said the brake are wearing unevenly and faster than usual and that this is directly related to towing in the mountains with a heavy tongue weight and a heavy trailer. He seemed to stress the tongue weight more than anything. Front brakes are fine.Obviously towing is going to be harder on the TV. But I towed once in the mountains a few hours each way. I thought I did pretty good shifting down and being easy on the brakes. I don't think they were worn all that much before the trip but I could be wrong.I have 2013 Jayco 32BHDS - pretty heavy.So does tongue weight in general have more to do with the rear brakes wearing than most other factor (besides riding them/slamming on them)?And does having a lighter tongue mean the rear brakes will last longer? Or is the mechanic just eager to sell me brakes?!Replacing rear brakes too often can get expensive quick!

I have a 1200 lb tongue weight and my rears always wore before the fronts. I just replaced the brake lines and also the rear calipers because the bleed screws were frozen and noticed uneven pad wear....fronts are fine yet.I get about 60,000 from a set of brakes...they don't wear out that often unless you tow every day.

Hard to believe when the front brakes do about 70% of the braking.

BurbMan wrote:I have a 1200 lb tongue weight and my rears always wore before the fronts. I just replaced the brake lines and also the rear calipers because the bleed screws were frozen and noticed uneven pad wear....fronts are fine yet.I get about 60,000 from a set of brakes...they don't wear out that often unless you tow every day.How often are you replacing the rears?

Huh? Hard to believe when the front brakes do most of the braking. Its the trailer wieght not the tongue wieght that is causing faster than non-towing brake wear. Don't know if that is related to your precieved sudden brake wearJust as a point of reference I had to replace brakes on my truck at about 80k miles and it tows heavy (18,000#) about 50% of those miles.

empty the fronts do most of the braking, with a heavy tongue weight it allows the rears to do more work before the abs kicks in, and reduces the pressure. I can see how pinweight would cause faster wear. That said, you should be running in a lower gear down the mountains to allow the engine compression to do more of the work, which will make the brakes last longer.

Rear brakes wearing faster because of high tongue weight?

12 Replies

mapguy
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
DirtyOil wrote:
The mechanic said the brake are wearing unevenly and faster than usual

this tells me that you have issues with the calipers. if you have uneven wear as in one side of the rotor is worn more then the other (usually the outer surface, as the pistons are on the "inboard" side of the rotor, the inner pads are stationary where as the outer move in and out as the brake pedal is applied) then the calipers are sticking, either the calipers slides are worn or the pins are corroded and/or gummed up. if the brake pads are worn thinner at the bottom and thicker at the top of both the inner and outer, then bottom piston on the caliper is gummed up or corroded meaning the piston is not returning once brake pedal is released (would be same idea if the tops of each pad is worn more then the bottoms) I would look at replacing the calipers with rebuilds after all truck is over 11 yrs old, time to replace these parts.

Bingo we have a winner sort of....

These era GM disc brakes need regular maintenance. The caliper slide pins need lube regularly -synthetic CRC or Sta-Lube brake pin grease seems to hold up the best for me. The rubber sleeves the caliper pins ride in need replaced if they are torn or ultra dry. The Cliper pin itself needs to be corrosion free too. Brake pads need proper fitting, too. Should be able to push them in/out with your pinky -bet the mechanic had to use a hammer to get them out due to corrosion.

I fit my pads and lube the caliper pins once every year even in the mild Seattle area climate...those in the rust belt need to do this spring and summer for excellent working brakes that last a long time.....
mrgrim007
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
Just got it back. They initially ordered the wrong brakes. He said on the 2500 Suburbans there are two options. Mine happens to be a 1 ton axle he says was a factory option...so that's pretty cool.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Jul 23, 2013
If you have proportioning valve on the rear axle the applies more brake pressure as the load increases that makes sense.
carringb
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
GMs did not get electronic brake biasing until the GMT900s came out, so tongue weight shouldn't really be a factor. He may be confusing the system with a newer GM, or even Ford, since those do modulate rear brake-line pressure based on load by monitoring wheel speed (it uses the ABS computer, but it is not "pulsing" the brakes to accomplish the brake biasing).
RCMAN46
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
a quality proportional trailer brake controller with good trailer brakes that have been set up correctly should have a small effect on the TV brakes regardless of the tongue weight.
powderman426
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
DirtyOil wrote:
The mechanic said the brake are wearing unevenly and faster than usual

this tells me that you have issues with the calipers. if you have uneven wear as in one side of the rotor is worn more then the other (usually the outer surface, as the pistons are on the "inboard" side of the rotor, the inner pads are stationary where as the outer move in and out as the brake pedal is applied) then the calipers are sticking, either the calipers slides are worn or the pins are corroded and/or gummed up. if the brake pads are worn thinner at the bottom and thicker at the top of both the inner and outer, then bottom piston on the caliper is gummed up or corroded meaning the piston is not returning once brake pedal is released (would be same idea if the tops of each pad is worn more then the bottoms) I would look at replacing the calipers with rebuilds after all truck is over 11 yrs old, time to replace these parts.

I wouldn't change the calipers if the brakes are working OK and they probably are as shown by the wear. A good brake mechanic will remove the slide pins, dremel out the holes and reassemble using anti seize compound so the calipers can float and wear evenly.
DirtyOil
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
The mechanic said the brake are wearing unevenly and faster than usual

this tells me that you have issues with the calipers. if you have uneven wear as in one side of the rotor is worn more then the other (usually the outer surface, as the pistons are on the "inboard" side of the rotor, the inner pads are stationary where as the outer move in and out as the brake pedal is applied) then the calipers are sticking, either the calipers slides are worn or the pins are corroded and/or gummed up. if the brake pads are worn thinner at the bottom and thicker at the top of both the inner and outer, then bottom piston on the caliper is gummed up or corroded meaning the piston is not returning once brake pedal is released (would be same idea if the tops of each pad is worn more then the bottoms) I would look at replacing the calipers with rebuilds after all truck is over 11 yrs old, time to replace these parts.
christopherglen
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
empty the fronts do most of the braking, with a heavy tongue weight it allows the rears to do more work before the abs kicks in, and reduces the pressure. I can see how pinweight would cause faster wear.
That said, you should be running in a lower gear down the mountains to allow the engine compression to do more of the work, which will make the brakes last longer.
hmknightnc
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
Huh? Hard to believe when the front brakes do most of the braking. Its the trailer wieght not the tongue wieght that is causing faster than non-towing brake wear. Don't know if that is related to your precieved sudden brake wear

Just as a point of reference I had to replace brakes on my truck at about 80k miles and it tows heavy (18,000#) about 50% of those miles.
mrgrim007
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
BurbMan wrote:
I have a 1200 lb tongue weight and my rears always wore before the fronts. I just replaced the brake lines and also the rear calipers because the bleed screws were frozen and noticed uneven pad wear....fronts are fine yet.

I get about 60,000 from a set of brakes...they don't wear out that often unless you tow every day.

How often are you replacing the rears?