Brake Horror Story

[Mike76251]

Hi all,
Sit back and let me tell you of something that happened to my AS a couple of years ago.

I was going cross-country in a BIG hurry (had 3 days to do it) in October and had fair weather most of the way.
I say most of the way because when I got to Flaggstaff, AZ (high elevation) I hit black ice.
I found my Airstream handled the ice well but NOT the snow.
I went through several snow piles trying to find a place to park it for the night.
I never did find a place to park it (KOA was iced over) so I hit a rest area for a couple of hours of sleep.
When I got up and hit the road again I noticed my brakes didn't work as well.
I couldn't stop until I hit northern California 'cause I was running late.
I parked it in a RV park in N California and crawled underneath,
I found the snow had ripped out all the brake wires but one.
The wires were tucked up nice before I left for the trip but the snow still got them.
I wound up pulling the AS through downtown LA traffic with only one brake working!
That one brake doing all the work had completely wore the pads down to nothing.
I wound up putting all new brake assemblies on all four axles and routed the new brake wires OVER the axles.

Moral of the story........check your brake wires often esp. after snow!

[59toaster]

Now I am dealing with a older coach with a different axle arangment but all our brake wires are in the belly pan. The come through the frame rail and only have about 6 inches of exposed wiring that is still fairly well protected.

Did the wires end up under the coach is some sort of repair?

[trumpwer]

Mine are under the pan also. It used to have the hydralic brakes, PO changed it to electric. They dont hang, but they are under the pan.

[Mike76251]

My brake wires were hanging about three inches under the belly skin.
The old brake wires were too short to let me route them over the axle and I couldn't get solder to stick to the old wires so I couldn't make them any longer.

I thought that would be enough for the trip but it turned out not quite enough.

The new brakes had plenty of wire to let me re-route them so the problem should be fixed.

Just get your wires as high as you can and check them after high weeds, sand, or snow.

[Action]

At most auto parts stores (Auto Zone & Checker) there is a wire loom cover that can be purchased. Usually it comes in 10 foot sections in a varity of colors. Including shiny silver.

You can use it to cover a bundle of wires and offers good protection. Cut to length and slide over the wires.

>>>>>>>>>Action