I've now had two instances where my left side slack adjusters apparently didn't adjust properly, causing brakes to drag and TPMS to show tire heating.
The first one was last summer, driving to a nearby lake. I thought I smelled brake slowing down near a town, but I was only a few miles from the place I lease a spot, so I continued on, and when I got there, my brother in law was there and helped me back in. When I stop, I see him going to each tire, feeling and smelling. My rear drive axle (driver side) had a hot brake and you could smell it. I watch the TMPS go from I believe it was 85* to 124* over the next 10 minutes or so, once we lost the cooling effect of driving I guess.
Called coach net, (they half failed/half came through) and because it was Labor day weekend, didn't get a tech until I think Monday or Tuesday, but finally one came out and he said all looked good, but he loosened slack adjuster, but didn't want to take brakes apart in field (coach net didn't pay for the tech visit). So, I don't know if it initially was dragging, and then finally auto adjusted itself, or why that one overheated.
When leaving NIRVC a couple weeks ago, with one of the things i was there for was them to check that driver side drive axle brake, I made it 30 minutes down the road, and saw the temp on my driver side tag axle going up. I was watching the temps, because I wanted to make sure I didn't have any more issues with the drive axle. By the time I got to an exit, we could smell brakes in the coach, while traveling at highway speeds. Pulled on to shoulder of the exit, got out, and there was smoke coming out from wheel well. Called NIRVC, and they put me in touch with a mobile tech (great guy, is there a place to post contact info for mobile techs in given areas?). He took pictures of the gap between the brake and drum on right and left side (he checked all the brakes), and on the driver side tag, there was no gap, the brake was locked down against the drum. He adjusted the slack adjuster, and then followed me for about 10 minutes, and then we checked the temp of the brake and tire air temp, and just for good measure, backed off the slack adjuster a bit more, to make sure I made it home with a 7 hour journey left to go.
Anyway, in diesel shop now. They checked and that left tag slack adjuster they said took about 30lbs more on a torque wrench then the others, so they feel the ratcheting mechanism is bad, and the auto adjustment couldn't overcome it. They didn't find the same difficulting adjusting the drive axle, but it had a similar, but not quite as bad failure. So, I'm just having them replace the slack adjusters on both axles. Hopefully Spartan covers at minimum the tag axle, but hopefully the drive as well, as I had a case open with Spartan on that one last year, and I just didn't use the coach between driving back from the lake after labor day, and this trip to NIRVC where they did a number of things, including inspect/adjust the brakes.
Anyway, more of a vent than anything. I'm about to take a couple 2 - 3,000 mile trips over the next couple months, and am hoping brake problems will be behind me after this trip.
The first one was last summer, driving to a nearby lake. I thought I smelled brake slowing down near a town, but I was only a few miles from the place I lease a spot, so I continued on, and when I got there, my brother in law was there and helped me back in. When I stop, I see him going to each tire, feeling and smelling. My rear drive axle (driver side) had a hot brake and you could smell it. I watch the TMPS go from I believe it was 85* to 124* over the next 10 minutes or so, once we lost the cooling effect of driving I guess.
Called coach net, (they half failed/half came through) and because it was Labor day weekend, didn't get a tech until I think Monday or Tuesday, but finally one came out and he said all looked good, but he loosened slack adjuster, but didn't want to take brakes apart in field (coach net didn't pay for the tech visit). So, I don't know if it initially was dragging, and then finally auto adjusted itself, or why that one overheated.
When leaving NIRVC a couple weeks ago, with one of the things i was there for was them to check that driver side drive axle brake, I made it 30 minutes down the road, and saw the temp on my driver side tag axle going up. I was watching the temps, because I wanted to make sure I didn't have any more issues with the drive axle. By the time I got to an exit, we could smell brakes in the coach, while traveling at highway speeds. Pulled on to shoulder of the exit, got out, and there was smoke coming out from wheel well. Called NIRVC, and they put me in touch with a mobile tech (great guy, is there a place to post contact info for mobile techs in given areas?). He took pictures of the gap between the brake and drum on right and left side (he checked all the brakes), and on the driver side tag, there was no gap, the brake was locked down against the drum. He adjusted the slack adjuster, and then followed me for about 10 minutes, and then we checked the temp of the brake and tire air temp, and just for good measure, backed off the slack adjuster a bit more, to make sure I made it home with a 7 hour journey left to go.
Anyway, in diesel shop now. They checked and that left tag slack adjuster they said took about 30lbs more on a torque wrench then the others, so they feel the ratcheting mechanism is bad, and the auto adjustment couldn't overcome it. They didn't find the same difficulting adjusting the drive axle, but it had a similar, but not quite as bad failure. So, I'm just having them replace the slack adjusters on both axles. Hopefully Spartan covers at minimum the tag axle, but hopefully the drive as well, as I had a case open with Spartan on that one last year, and I just didn't use the coach between driving back from the lake after labor day, and this trip to NIRVC where they did a number of things, including inspect/adjust the brakes.
Anyway, more of a vent than anything. I'm about to take a couple 2 - 3,000 mile trips over the next couple months, and am hoping brake problems will be behind me after this trip.
