Grease soaked brakes, Will Lippert reimburse me?

[73guna]

In preparation for an upcoming trip I pulled the drum brakes and found all seals leaking and two of the drum brake assemblies completely soaked with grease.
Ive read up on Lippert axles and am aware of the issues people are having.
Im not going to take it anywhere to get repairs completed because I feel its a safety issue to drive this on the street, but will be making the repair myself,
I sent a formal email LCI requesting them to pay for parts associated with repair and am waiting for a reply.
What are the odds they will help me out on this?

[minnow]

myredracer wrote:
Is it Lippert's fault? I thought the get the axle assemblies are all set up and greased and ready to go from their axle supplier/manufacturer. Lippert should take responsibility but in the RV industry you get passed onto the next party down the line.

Lippert is the axle manufacturer and supplies the running gear assemblies to the manufacturers. Lippert greases the bearings on the assemblies.

[time2roll]

73guna wrote:
Well, they are going to pay for all four backing plate brake assemblies and four seals.
I will be making the repair.
Im very happy with how they handled this.

Lippert is very happy not to also pay an additional 200+ for the dealer's labor.

Glad it worked out. I think I would have asked for disk assemblies but no need to push your luck.

[myredracer]

Is it Lippert's fault? I thought the get the axle assemblies are all set up and greased and ready to go from their axle supplier/manufacturer. Lippert should take responsibility but in the RV industry you get passed onto the next party down the line.

[wilber1]

fj12ryder wrote:
I guess you can choose to look at the issue as a glass half full or a glass half empty. You choose half empty. My thought is they could have just blown off the OP while still doing nothing about improving their process. But damage control is better than nothing.

Without the internet and social media they could be blowing people off and no one would be any wiser.

[otrfun]

73guna wrote:
Well, they are going to pay for all four backing plate brake assemblies and four seals.
I will be making the repair.
Im very happy with how they handled this.

Take a close look at the drums, too. Depending how long they were leaking the drums may have worn unevenly due to the grease.

The brakes on our trailer had been less than stellar since new. Dealer said the brakes were working properly. I decided to pull the drums myself and have a peek. I found grease coating all four sets of brake shoes. I took pics of everything and emailed it to my dealer. Dealer contacted Lippert and got an initial approval to replace the seals and backing plate assemblies. Once the dealer got a look at the drums they recommended they be replaced, too. Fortunately, Lippert agreed. FWIW, we had been driving with our brake controller adjusted to maximum to compensate for the grease coated brake shoes. I guess the grease and max'd out brake controller had taken its toll on everything--including the drums.

All said and done, Lippert agreed to to replace everything---seals, entire backing plate assemblies, bearings, and brake drums on all 4 wheels.

Before the repair, the trailer would barely stop with a full 12v of braking voltage (11.5k trailer). After the repair I could lock up the brakes on pavement with only 5-6v; on dirt it only took 2-3v. Massive difference in braking.

Good luck!

[fj12ryder]

I guess you can choose to look at the issue as a glass half full or a glass half empty. You choose half empty. My thought is they could have just blown off the OP while still doing nothing about improving their process. But damage control is better than nothing.

[wilber1]

This is a chronic problem with Lippert axles, they have been delivering axles with leaking seals for several years. I don't know why anyone is happy about the way they are handling it. They aren't handling it, they are just doing damage control.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

73guna wrote:
Well, they are going to pay for all four backing plate brake assemblies and four seals.
I will be making the repair.
Im very happy with how they handled this.

Plus - as a "bonus" - look at all the free advice & 'gee whiz' stories
you (we) received as a result of your post/question!..:W


~

[spoon059]

73guna wrote:
Well, they are going to pay for all four backing plate brake assemblies and four seals.
I will be making the repair.
Im very happy with how they handled this.

Awesome, glad it worked out for you. I've heard a couple stories like this and it was covered by the manufacturer. I'm glad to see/read another story like this.

[73guna]

Well, they are going to pay for all four backing plate brake assemblies and four seals.
I will be making the repair.
Im very happy with how they handled this.

[Mortimer_Brewst]

Gotta love grumpy neighbors. I'd explain to him why your trailer is there and offer him a tour. It might pay off down the road.

[73guna]

They sent me an email today stating they will take care of this for me.
Details to follow.

[dbbls]

One of my brakes was grease soaked 8 months after I purchased my trailer. Was in Goshen for the Heartland Owners Rally and was going to buy a new brake assembly from the Lippert vender display at the rally. Was telling Lippert representing about my problems. He suggested I contact Lippert and gave me the number and person to talk to. Bottom line, Lippert replaced all of my brake assemblys before I left Goshen. They admitted that some brakes were over greased before they left the factory.

[myredracer]

mike-s wrote:

westend wrote:
Are Dexter now part of the LCI universe?

No, they're not. No idea what myredracer was talking about. Dexter/Alco (which are both part of Dexko) is a competitor to LCI. Lippert has their own axle business.

Lippert bought the Dexter frame/chassis division only around 5-6 years ago. Dexter bought Alko and they call the new company Dexko and the deal was finalized in late 2015. When I spoke to Alko in late 2014 the guy on the phone told me about the two companies joining into one before it happened.

Dexko announcement and Al-Ko announcement. Lippert acquires Dexter's chassis and slide-out mechanism division news story here.

Not to worry, a forensic audit would probably show that a Warren Buffet type tycoon probably owns everything to do with RVs. 😞