Moot point now as the parts have been ordered.
But I would avoid that shop in the future.
Bob
🇺🇸
Pretty sure if parts are ordered or not the OP can leave at any time.
Pretty sure the OP who lives in CA and finds himself in Vegas at a repair shop won't be making an effort for all travel East to specifically go through Vegas and stop in and say HI.
For the extra effort in speedy repairs plus the shop is paying for a free night in a hotel, I would be inclined to accept the shop's good graces and have the repair completed. $2100 plus tax for brake repair maybe a lil high but not enough for me personally to get that excited.
Life is more than 2 Gs for a brake job. In 2016 I dropped a similar amount going to Vegas when a wheel bearing let go in Kingman on a 16 year old van I was driving. I was on my way to a convention so rented a car after the van got towed to a shop. New parts were not available so the shop found a used spindle. Got it fixed over the weekend and I picked my van up on Sunday.
Besides it may be possible to have the whole job paid for if they are lucky enough at a gaming spot.
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1966 Mercury Park Lane 4 DR Breezeway 410 4V, C-6, 2.80 - Streamless.
1966 Lincoln 4 door Convertible 462 4V 1971 Ford LTD Convertible 429 4V Phoenix ~ Yeah it's hot however it's a dry heat!
Ugh, well so I had them send me the exact prices and it looks a lot different, or they’re ordering different parts:
4 x Brake Hubs at $250 each, so $1,000
4 x Backing Plates at $220 each, so $880
4h labor at $179
He said he still wants to submit it for warranty but will obv take my money on Monday when I pick it up.
Looks like you have to go ahead.
But for comparison...
Dexter Nevr-Adjust on Amazon for the pair rated 4.8/5: $256.00; $512 for four.
Lippert Nevr-Adjust equivalent on Amazon for one rated 4.8/5: $58.95; $236 for four.
The only difference I could see from visual inspection is that the Lippert guts are tighter. AS dealer in Atlanta sold me the right-side Lippert because they had no Dexter in stock. Charged me more than $100. On the way home I ordered the left side from Amazon. Dexter is assembled in the US. They have an assembly plant near Monticello GA, which was about 15 minutes from where I had the breakdown. I do not know if the components are also made in the US. Lippert is made is China. I ordered the Dexter set for the other axle.
These are the entire brake assemblies. If backing plate = brake assembly they are marking up the brake assemblies by quite a bit.
Gouging you on labor too. Seems I did the second one in 35 minutes (IIRC) in my driveway. Maybe there is a lot of labor involved in ordering the parts, which should already be in inventory. The 12" brakes are pretty common. Could they be turning the drums after receiving them?
Hi, We’ve towed our 2019 FC 28RBT a little over 30k miles; including mountains. When I had the tires changed ( that’s a different subject) the dealer checked the brakes and said they were in great shape. This was my first travel trailer but I’ve towed a lot of heavy construction trailers. I’m wondering if your brake controller setting is too high and the trailer brakes are working too hard to stop TV & trailer. I tow with a 2021 1500 Silverado with max tow plkg, brake controller set on “5” and the rig stops great.
An hour of labor for each drum assy is considered gouging? Or 4 hours total which also includes removing and inspecting
$179 divided by 4 = $44.75 an hour!
Man, that seems reasonable to me
Amazon may cut the price of the hub/drums but this isn't a self-repair being done at home. The OP is some hundreds of miles from home with a trailer that doesn't have brakes
And the vendors Amazon is using are both out of state. Michigan and Florida. Sure for more $ they can be over nighted. However, hotel and food costs at some hundreds of dollars a day for an extra day starts to make the difference pretty
You guys are a tough crowd.
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1966 Mercury Park Lane 4 DR Breezeway 410 4V, C-6, 2.80 - Streamless.
1966 Lincoln 4 door Convertible 462 4V 1971 Ford LTD Convertible 429 4V Phoenix ~ Yeah it's hot however it's a dry heat!
An hour of labor for each drum assy is considered gouging? Or 4 hours total which also includes removing and inspecting
$179 divided by 4 = $44.75 an hour!
Man, that seems reasonable to me
Amazon may cut the price of the hub/drums but this isn't a self-repair being done at home. The OP is some hundreds of miles from home with a trailer that doesn't have brakes
And the vendors Amazon is using are both out of state. Michigan and Florida. Sure for more $ they can be over nighted. However, hotel and food costs at some hundreds of dollars a day for an extra day starts to make the difference pretty
You guys are a tough crowd.
Action
No. $179 total for labor would be a bargain. I wouldn’t do it that.
However, given the use of “at” in the lines regarding parts, I assumed (perhaps erroneously) that it was an hourly rate, which would align with typical hourly rates.
And yes, the prices being quoted carry a “desperation” surcharge. By definition: gouging (overcharge; swindle).
Etrailer’s prices are even better than Amazon’a prices. So it seems that the dealership is sourcing their assemblies from the wrong distributor who could be gouging them. Spit flows downhill. Who does business like that?
I just had the brakes on my 2013 25FB checked at 50,000 miles. I do a lot of miles in flatter lands but live in Colorado and have done plenty of mountain towing, too. I'm a big fan of engine braking in the mountains, so I probably wear the brakes less than some folks.
The mechanic said the shoes were down to about 10% left. I had new loaded backing plates and new drums installed. I used a small independent shop, which did good work. The downside was they did not have a bearing press, so the new hubs were ordered with new bearings. That made my cost higher than yours.
By the way, I test-towed a couple hundred miles and checked the temps with an infrared thermometer. One of the new wheels ran hot, up to 50 degrees F hotter than the other. The shop happily replaced everything on that wheel under warranty. We couldn't figure out which part was bad. The new parts fixed the problem.
That’s a good point. Do you have any advise how to test the brakes on Monday when I pick it up? Would love your thoughts on how the brakes should work differently in slow city traffic vs on a freeway. On my Curt I always had to change the gain substantially. But perhaps this is how I got into this place in the first time? and where do you check the temperature to see they’re all evenly braking?
That’s a good point. Do you have any advise how to test the brakes on Monday when I pick it up? Would love your thoughts on how the brakes should work differently in slow city traffic vs on a freeway. On my Curt I always had to change the gain substantially. But perhaps this is how I got into this place in the first time? and where do you check the temperature to see they’re all evenly braking?
And yes, the prices being quoted carry a “desperation” surcharge. By definition: gouging (overcharge; swindle).
Etrailer’s prices are even better than Amazon’a prices. So it seems that the dealership is sourcing their assemblies from the wrong distributor who could be gouging them. Spit flows downhill. Who does business like that?
In a repair shop time is a factor.
No one is happy the vehicle is sitting in the parking lot taking up space waiting for parts. Pretty sure the parts have been sourced locally or from close by. But that is a guess on my part.
When I was a shop manager at a smaller car dealership close to some vacation destinations, when we did not have a part for repair with a person/family traveling, the speed of the availablility was frequently higher priority than the lowest cost.
As to a test drive for the brakes.
Buy an IR thermometer. (Can be had at Walmart and there are 5 Walmarts in Vegas)
Drive for 100 miles and pull over.
Take a temp reading on each of the 4 hubs.
Compare the results. The temps should be close to each other. If not there is an issue.
Doing this a couple of times on the first trip after thr repair work will tell you a story in rather short order.
Doing this each time you pull over on the tires can tell you more as well.
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1966 Mercury Park Lane 4 DR Breezeway 410 4V, C-6, 2.80 - Streamless.
1966 Lincoln 4 door Convertible 462 4V 1971 Ford LTD Convertible 429 4V Phoenix ~ Yeah it's hot however it's a dry heat!
Then why aren’t the very common 12” drums and brake assemblies in stock? They’re inexpensive. Did they have a run of fifteen trailers pulling through the day before?
I ran a business for 20 years. High end financial services. Fortune 100 clients. This type of behavior would have put us out of business. But maybe there is room for incompetence in the RV world.
My guess is that it will take a while for the brakes to "wear in" after replacement and that there is no good test you can do on Monday. Just make sure the brakes are all responding and that they release when not braking. I did my own brake job the last time and it was several hundred miles before they really "felt right". I doubt if the shop is going to pull it at all.
There is no real point in comparing autoparts prices from Amazon with dealer or shop prices unless you are going to do the work yourself. Part of the shops profit is the markup on the parts.
I think having to adjust the brakes between town and highway is normal. At least it is for me. Adjusting by "feel" probably can lead to one brake wearing fast and cutting to the drum if the other are not braking equally.
One thing I would watch in the immediate future is that all the wires stay connected. That is a hard connection to make, even for a shop. The IR gun will tell you if all the brakes are working. I still do it by feel even with the new IR gun sitting in the door compartment. I am just used to first smelling and then touching the wheels on the way to the rest room. 3 hot wheels and 1 cold after a descent is not a good thing.
IMHO...you need a more reliable brake controller, as in wired. Too many variables in trusting wireless.[/URL]👍
Bob
🇺🇸
Bob, why do you feel this way? I understand it is just your opinion, but in my opinion wireless works really well. Never have I had a wireless connection issue. Occasionally, I have a grounding through the tongue/ball issue but that is not the controllers fault. And they either work or don’t and if they don’t, you know it because the controller shows/tells you that there is no connection (I.e. grounding issue…I really should remove the gorilla tape from the hitch…there to stop banging/rattling from the figment slop).
And just to clarify: you point the IR Thermometer into the round holes of the aluminum wheels?
Any place that is consistent with all locations.
Heat does not warm up different metal and different locations of metal the same.
Heat WILL distribute to all parts that are close to the heat source.
If the hub sticks through the wheel that would be a good spot
If the hubs are covered and you want to shoot through an opening in a wheel, that works.
Know that there are 2 greater generators of heat. (Wheel bearings can generate some heat too. Just not as much as the other two)
Tires and brakes
Pick a spot close to that source and use the same spot on all wheel locations
Get closer to the heat source to understand the impact and make it easy or you won't do it.
It is not the actual temp reading that is key. It is the temp difference in each location. Temps within 5% of each other, all are working the same. One that is 25% (or more) hotter or colder than the other means there is an issue. Too cold, that brake isn't working. Too hot, and that brake is not releasing.
Practice a lot and you will have a better understanding of what is typical and what is not. Traveling on steep grades will generate more heat than level. With enough history you can consistently use this to diagnose issues before the issue gets to trip ending status. Most things when not functioning well will generate heat. (Like a fever in a human)
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1966 Mercury Park Lane 4 DR Breezeway 410 4V, C-6, 2.80 - Streamless.
1966 Lincoln 4 door Convertible 462 4V 1971 Ford LTD Convertible 429 4V Phoenix ~ Yeah it's hot however it's a dry heat!
I’ve been on the greatest American Roadtrip since January, 25,000+ miles so far in a brand new 2021 27F Globetrotter.
I dropped it off for a service at Airstream Las Vegas and I was told I need an entire new set of brake pads and drums. One wheel was down to metal on metal.
We debated if this could be a warranty issue or if that is normal wear and tear for that amount of miles (incl two months of mountain passes in Colorado and Utah)
I'm a member of the IR temp gun users club. The question of what temp is good/bad might be answered in the Dexter doc below. I added a snip of drum temp info, open the doc for complete info. They provide temp ranges for drum, disc and bearings in the doc. But the big ah hah also is are all of my brakes contributing to stopping? A cold drum is not being allowed to play the stopping game vs a warmer-hotter drum.
Braking uses friction to transform kinetic and potential energy of the vehicle into thermal energy via the brake system friction and the cast iron drum or rotor is a good heat accumulator and disperser of this energy.
And shooting the tires with the IR gun while our resident tire experts have better techniques it's better than nothing.
Also the IR gun has uses all over the trailer and TV so it's a good add to the toolbox.
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