brake shoes

[dessa1930]

i have about 10k miles towing on my 33 ft tt
thought i would check the brakes and pulled drum of
to my surprise i only one wheel had any brake lining left
i was stopping with only 1 wheel brake

do brake shoes not last that long on a tt

80% of travel is on interstate so i dont use them that much
they have never been overheated or never notice them dragging or running hot when on road

is this normal

[dessa1930]

yes i am planning to order 4 new assemblies tomorrow to replace the worn ones

[dessa1930]

yes i am planning to order 4 new assemblies tomorrow to replace the worn ones

[Vintage465]

dessa1930 wrote:
i have about 10k miles towing on my 33 ft tt
thought i would check the brakes and pulled drum of
to my surprise i only one wheel had any brake lining left
i was stopping with only 1 wheel brake

do brake shoes not last that long on a tt

80% of travel is on interstate so i dont use them that much
they have never been overheated or never notice them dragging or running hot when on road

is this normal

When replacing, I'm thinking you're aware that it is no longer customary to replace shoes. It is actually cheaper to get the whole assembly from from etrailer or Amazon(ugh)than to replace the magnets and shoes.

[Vintage465]

Witht the EZ-Lube system by Dexter, you'll get several thousand more miles out of your shoes because of all the grease on your shoes.....cuts down wear ya know...Just kidding...So in reality I've noticed the Chinese made brake assemblies tend to "chunk-out" more so than the Dexter USA made units. 10k does seem a little low...Ok, a lot low! Can't look right now but it seems you said your coach is a 2002? It may have had Dexter's already....at which point I have no logical explanation for ya'alls...........unless your brakes are way under sized,

[joelc]

Check out e-trailer.com. I got my break sets from them and they were great on the phone too.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

I owned one TT for 32 years. In that time I pulled all over the west coast and mid west. Think big mountains.

I replaced the shoes 1 time and the magnets 3 times.

From what I have seen this is about correct for every trailer I have owned. If you drag your brakes you will wear your shoes and magnets out VERY quickly. Stab braking will save a ton on parts.

[time2roll]

eHoefler wrote:
After having the linings come off the shoes 3 years in a row and taking out the drums the 3rd time, I bit the bullet and installed disc brakes. It was going to be $1300 to replace all the brakes and drums, I bought everything to install disc brakes for $1600. It took less than a day to install, and haven't looked back.

I did the same. Very pleased. Far superior braking and easier maintenance.
If keeping the trailer this is a great value.

[phillyg]

Should be able to get much more than 10,000 miles on drum brakes.

[eHoefler]

After having the linings come off the shoes 3 years in a row and taking out the drums the 3rd time, I bit the bullet and installed disc brakes. It was going to be $1300 to replace all the brakes and drums, I bought everything to install disc brakes for $1600. It took less than a day to install, and haven't looked back.

[dodge_guy]

dessa1930 wrote:
its a 2002 model and i did buy it new
it has manual adjusting brakes
several years since i have checked them as we only camp 1 time a year for a month at a time and its only about 250 mile round trip

Brake material gets brittle as it gets old. So it may have just broken apart while driving/braking over the last few years.

[southernsky]

No that's not normal. I have a 40' fifthwheel and have over 40,000 cross country mls on it and pads still looked good. I just changed over to disk brakes. I would say you're dragging your brakes or you have too much brake in you brake adjustment in your truck if they wore out that quick

[katysdad]

Have seen several where the linings come off the shoe itself then break into small enough pieces to come out of the drum. Most found when checking wheel bearings and not a brake complaint. seems like the bonding agent failed to hold the lining. Some still had the lining loose inside the drum.

[Grit_dog]

dessa1930 wrote:
its a 2002 model and i did buy it new
it has manual adjusting brakes
several years since i have checked them as we only camp 1 time a year for a month at a time and its only about 250 mile round trip

You’re insinuating that last time you checked them they didn’t show a great amount of wear?
But you must’ve noticed they didn’t work right for how long?
Regardless, none of that matters it’s 20 years old and from what you’ve described, no one could say whether that is expected or not.

[dessa1930]

its a 2002 model and i did buy it new
it has manual adjusting brakes
several years since i have checked them as we only camp 1 time a year for a month at a time and its only about 250 mile round trip