Cooling front brakes

Pads were removed and have approx. 87% pad left.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Why throw money after a non-problem ?

" I just had my brakes checked out and had it flushed with new brake fluid. They said everything looked ok"

If the pads were not removed to verify proper caliper movement etc I have doubts the "checked out" was thorough enough to call it good on an RV.

I'd suggest getting an IR gun and checking brake temps every time you pull into a roadside rest, etc. That will give you a rough idea of normal temps.

I do that and this past summer came off a mountain near Pendleton Oregon and I was at 500 degrees after coming down faster than usual. Normally I'll see 150 to about 300.
Was starting to get just a hint of fading so pulled off the road and let them cool. Had them checked after the trip and all was fine.

Why throw money after a non-problem ?

" I just had my brakes checked out and had it flushed with new brake fluid. They said everything looked ok"

The MH is a 2005 Terra, workhorse with gas engine. I'm very good at not riding my brakes and I do downshift all the time. I just had my brakes checked out and had it flushed with new brake fluid. They said everything looked ok. I was thinking of using a blower to help cool the brake calipers.

Interesting how many Texan's weigh in! No disrespect, just an observation as to how many visit my beautiful state every year. I don't know where a highway grade is 17%, but if you say it is so, it must be so. I know I will never travel up or down it in my MH. Steepest we see is 9% and that is very steep.

OP, from what I can deduce, is in a Chevy powered workhorse. This is good as the Allison has grade braking.

As far as equilibrium, that I don't use and for the coach the OP has at a little more than 20K lbs, I wouldn't think it would be necessary. I would say that there is a spot where you are going too fast. With the tranny in low and you engine RPMs up and slowing the coach, you shouldn't have to touch the brakes very often. For my coach, at 31K + 4.5K of toad for 35.5K total, going down 7-8%, I need to keep my speed at or below 55mph. This is the speed that the Allison's grade braking and exhaust brake work best with little input on the brakes. I came screaming down 285 into Denver and was doing 65-70 downhill with a lot of braking.....the rear drums were smoking and smelling. Not a great scenario! Go slow enough in low gear as you may gain a little speed but not so much you can't use minimal braking. The faster you can go, the more air gong over the discs.....meaning cooler temps. Don't misread that! I mean 20 mph vs 45-50mph. 20 mph is not fast enough to provide a lot of cooling....

And for those that care, if you need a lot of downhill braking, the best way is 1-2 second bursts of brake and 4-5 seconds of cooling. The more you can stand to slow in those 1-2 second brake bursts, the longer the cooling time can be....
Be aware that gas coaches are different than diesels and standard brakes are different than air brakes. Know your coach and get advice from those that share a similar setup.

Let me take a different approach to "what is the correct gear" for descending a grade.

The correct gear is that that KEEPS YOU SPEED IN EQUILIBRIUM-- you are neither speeding up nor slowing down without using your service brakes. If you have a diesel, the same thing applies, but you have both gear AND an exhaust or engine brake to assist.

Even if the road is dead straight for the next 10 miles, the equilibrium speed may be 15 MPH. The heavier the vehicle and the less the braking HP the slower it will be.

We were coming down a very steep 17% grade in the White Mountains. I was in second gear with the exhaust brake on at equilibrium speed--- just over 20 MPH. Dianne was worried that we were going too slowly. Well, around the next corner we came up (very quickly) on a logging truck happily doing his equilibrium speed of about 7 MPH. Blasted by him.

If you have to use the service brakes, get on them firmly enough and long enough to allow you to drop another gear.

And, brake maintenance is critical. If hydraulic brakes (gas or diesel) the brake fluid should be changed every 2-3 years. Brake fluid absorbs moisture to keep the iron parts of the system from rusting. As brake fluid absorbs water, its boiling point goes from around 500 degrees F to 284 degrees F-- BIG DIFFERENCE. Under hard braking, it is easy for brake fluid temperature to exceed 284 degrees F. If that happens, the fluid boils and YOU LOOSE YOUR BRAKES until the fluid temperature allows it to return to a liquid state.

With disk brakes, the caliper slides must be lubricated, or they tend to hang up. This quickly overheats that brake and causes expensive damage.

Since the OP has not returned with specific chassis information, we can't really give more specific recommendations.

Captain_Happy wrote:
If you go up a hill in second gear, come down in second gea, and if you go in 3rd gear, come down in 3rd gear. Out in the western US their are some very steep and very long upgrades. I'm talking miles.

What if the grade going down is a lot steeper than going up?

ArchHoagland wrote:
It helped that there was a CHP weaving back and forth across the lanes to slow down the traffic.

Yikes, that sounds safe...

To the OP, is this a complaint when you are under breaking, or are you seeing heat all the time?

Is the RV your 2005 Fleetwood Terra?