New Brakes Requires

stevemorris wrote:
Our 12 yr old KZ Spree has never had new brakes, when we bought used 2 yrs ago, it still had the original tires as it had very rarely been towed anywhere!
We have since towed it well over 20,000 km mostly on the east coast which i would describe as hilly but not mountainous.
Braking performance is fair even with the brake controller on full.

So we decided to replace the braking system with 4 new brake assemblies at our dealers suggest.

Etrailer has 2 brands, there own private lable and dexter originals. etrailer brakes are $100/ pair and dexters are $25 more per pair. canadian dealer prices are double that!

my tendency is toward the dexter originals, but anybody know the difference?

we also want to install a powered aframe jack. suggestions as to weight capacity? right now we have the original handcrank 2000# capacity and its time for a new something, effort required is getting higher and higher(or im just getting old!). tongue weight is around 1000 lbs plus we lift the truck to install our weight bars. so im considering a 3000 lb jack

Just did my KZ this summer at about the same age.

Replaced mine with completes from Princess Auto and id it myself. They are Rockwell units but side by side with the OEM units there was zero difference.

The electric unit and shoes come fully assembled and only need to be wired in to the OEM or in my case I replaced the 16/18ga wire KZ had built the unit with(seriously!) with 12ga primary and ground, new runs from the 7 wire at the front junction box(another KZ disaster). Drums where also Rockwell along with what ever bearing and races where provided.

Did all 4 wheels myself for about $500 in parts and my own sweat equity. Seriously not that hard and then adjusted the drums after assembly.

As for tongue jack also picked up a nice heavy unit at Princess Auto about 5 years ago that lifts a 900lb tongue weight and the rear of a loaded F350 with no problems at all. They are always on sale.