how long should brakes last?

[party of 5]

I took my trailer into the shop to have the wheel bearing repacked and wanted to have to brakes check as it did not see to be stopping like it was. The shop said the brakes were adjsusted correctly and but there were not stopping correctly as there was grease on the them from being overpacked. (I have never had bearing repacked). The shop also said the brakes are about 50% worn. I have no more than 1500 miles on trailer. Does this sound right??

[Montana Sky]

party of 5,
With having 1500 miles on your coach that you towed it makes me think of two things. The first being that transport company that towed your coach to your dealer had their brake controller set extremely high, I have heard a few guys doing this to have the trailer brakes do the work. This saves their truck brakes which when replaced is paid out of their own pockets. Second thing I would check is my own brake controller, when I first had mine installed the setting was cranked as high as it would go. I did not know otherwise and within the first 2 weeks of towing the brakes squeeled horribly. I had my dealership re-adjust everything and now works very well. As far as having grease on the brakes I would have your dealerhip investigate this, something must be wrong if you have never done a bearing repack. Just a thought to look into...

[Montana_738]

I think the grease is your problem, sounds like someone is over shooting grease into your buddy bearings. Also like Montana sky said check your brake controller.

Bill

[cargary]

Party of five:
Just another thought on the grease problem. You said this problem came on later and the brakes did work ok at first - correct? Well, just a thought, but the brakes could have been overpacked from the factory and as used, the brake grease heats up and finds it way to the brake shoes. This might explain why it didn't occur at first but later on did. The only other thing that I can think of that might have caused grease to get to the brake pads is a bad seal. Good luck in the future. As for the adnormal brake pad wear, it could be having the brake controler set too high or maybe the grease on the pads picked up dirt and dust and that combination caused the abnormal wear.
Gary and Carole

[sreigle]

They should last a lot longer than that. We had ours checked at about the 20,000 mile mark. The dealer said the linings were still about half. But we had heat stress cracks because I had the Prodigy cranked down too much so back off (what he told me). He replaced the linings at that time and repacked the bearings. We've put another 20,000 on since then so I'll probably have them checked again this summer.

If you use the grease zerk on the hub, put no more than two squirts of grease per year. No matter how many miles you put on it. Long story but that's what I was told by our dealer and now am convinced he is correct. Too much in those zerks is the "usual" reason for getting grease on the linings.

Good luck.