Very short brake life

[MichaelS78]

I have a 2022 21NE that was overdue for wheel bearings re-packed. Took it to Les Schwab today because the trailer and RV places were all booked up. I told them I was also hoping that they could help with the reason why the driver side rear tire always wanted to lock up first so I couldn't turn up the brake controller as much as I would like to. I was shocked though when Les Schwab called back and said the brakes were all pitted and chunked up and I needed completely new brakes all around. Trailer is only 3 years old with 12,000 miles on it. Not sure how they failed this bad where huge chunks popped off and the magnet started grinding into the hub?

They are quoting me $1700 which is a lot of money so I went down the street to a trailer/RV place and asked for a second opinion and showed them pics and quote. They said this all felt accurate to them as far as parts that needed replaced and they would have even been a little more expensive with labor. So not complaining about Les Schwab. I just want to understand what happened or what I've done wrong so I can avoid this short of brake life. Was thinking at least 5 years life and or more like 50,000 miles instead of only 12,000.

Les Schwab did mention it looks like moisture was involved so maybe this happened because I park it on the side of the house in the open. The first year I used a cover through the winter but it got ripped and I haven't used it the last 2 years. I could also use be using tire covers?

Also this trailer was picked up right after Escape started using the Dexter Nev-R-Adjust axles so I was confused and thought they were manual brakes. I did try to adjust after towing back from first trip and might have tightened up too much. They still spun with a little bit of a grinding noise like I thought you were supposed to look for. I also tried to break in the brakes using the method of holding the controller down to heat up the brakes. I'm wondering if this might have led to early failure? The brakes have never felt strong since I picked up the trailer so really scratching my head here on what is going on. $1700 is too much money to pay out every few camping seasons.

Any help appreciated thanks.

 

[Donna D.]

Wow, that first pick looks like you went 4wheeling through the mud with your trailer!

 

[JohnK-ESC]

MichaelS78, I can't tell you what exactly happened here but I do know from your photos and more than a decade of experience that this is not normal for a 3 year old trailer. Not a definitive conclusion on my part, but some if not all of this damage does appear to me mechanically and/or operationally induced. The Les Schwab quote may be reasonable for the work to be performed at this point, but you should not be seeing this kind of damage nor should you expect to need to replace well adjusted brakes under normal use every three years. (Emphasis on the words "well adjusted" and "normal"). So if you spend the $1700 with Les Schwab at this juncture, under normal use you should not need to expect to spend another $1700 three years from now.

Whatever happened is now water under the bridge since the trailer is not covered by warranty. From your account you have the skill to adjust brakes, so I'm thinking you also have the ability to unbolt these old ones and bolt on new fully assembled Dexter self adjusting brakes and reconnect them electrically. That can be done for considerably less than half of what Les Schwab is quoting you. If you decide to go this route, my first suggestion would be to go really easy on the initial manual adjustment, subsequent brake controller adjustment, and brake break-in procedure. My second suggestion would be to travel mainly on well maintained, preferably paved roads (normal use) which you may already have done.

John

 

[rcsb]

I installed new self-adjusting brakes on my 07 Casita in 2018 that I bought from Red Neck trailer parts & during a brake inspection in 2019 the brake shoes were starting to fail (fall apart) as friction material was separating from the brake shoe. I called Red Neck for some advice & he said they were seeing multiple self-adjusting brake failures just like mine. he recommended replacing the brakes with the standard adjustable brake assemblies, which I did do. It seems the self-adjusting brakes adjust themselves too tight when backing up.

Both Casitas & Escapes use the same Dexter 3500 lb axles & Dexter brake parts.

I sold my 07 Casita in May 2024 & never had any more issues since installing the manually adjusted brakes after 2019, I owned my Casita since 2016. My 2021 E21C has manually adjusted brakes too.

 

[MVA]

Michael,

I considered replacing the brakes & drums with self-adjusting brakes on our trailer. After seeing numerous reviews of significant wear issues, I decided to stay with the "old" standby manual adjusted brakes that were original on our trailer.

 

[Janettefu]

Glad you brought this up Michael because I too was confused about the short brake life. Like you I have a 2022, but 19. Delivered December 2022 and I have used it only very close to home since that time. Very conservatively, no crazy roads. Maybe towed ~1500 miles total. I got my bearings repacked back in March 2025 by RV shop. They did brake inspection as part of the package. They noted I only had 75% brake life left!!! No damage of any sort.

Does anyone have an estimate of what it would cost for me to have a shop switch over to the manual adjusted brakes?

 

[MichaelS78]

Thank you for the input. Les Schwab ended up putting manual brakes on which I was not aware they were doing but its probably for the best. The manager mentioned they should hold up longer. After reading people's feedback above I googled more and it does look like the auto adjusting brakes have a higher chance of failure.

I will go easy on these new brakes and skip any kind of extra break in method other than just driving slow

I don't feel I was rough on the previous brakes but clearly something happened that caused them to fail severely.

Also when I need new brakes I will probably install my own as JohnK suggests.

 

[MichaelS78]

Glad you brought this up Michael because I too was confused about the short brake life. Like you I have a 2022, but 19. Delivered December 2022 and I have used it only very close to home since that time. Very conservatively, no crazy roads. Maybe towed ~1500 miles total. I got my bearings repacked back in March 2025 by RV shop. They did brake inspection as part of the package. They noted I only had 75% brake life left!!! No damage of any sort.

Does anyone have an estimate of what it would cost for me to have a shop switch over to the manual adjusted brakes?

The quote above from Les Schwab is for the manual adjusted brakes so its probably in the ball park for price to have them installed. They did add new ball bearings which weren't needed so you could probably save there.

And JohnK mentioned someone could install their own for half that price though. Maybe check Etrailer.com

 

[MichaelS78]

Wow, that first pick looks like you went 4wheeling through the mud with your trailer!

To be clear this trailer has mainly been used close to home traveling 4hrs or less round trip. We have taken about 4 longer trips of about 1000 miles or less round trip. No boondocking, mud, deep puddles etc. The roads have all been well paved and well maintained. I don't remember hitting any deep pot holes etc.

I did use the break in method where they say to hold down the brake controller to heat up the brakes and set them but I only did this for a short period of time on a side street and not on the highway like some do.

I also attempted to adjust them after 1st trip thinking they were manual adjust so its possible I accidently tightened them a bit too much.

And as mentioned above the trailer is stored outside and had a couple mild seattle area winters without a cover.

Just wanted to clarify all of this so anyone reading this thread doesn't see your first comment and think this was the result of mud bogging with the trailer.

 

[Northerngirl]

I have a 2022 21NE that was overdue for wheel bearings re-packed. Took it to Les Schwab today because the trailer and RV places were all booked up. I told them I was also hoping that they could help with the reason why the driver side rear tire always wanted to lock up first so I couldn't turn up the brake controller as much as I would like to. I was shocked though when Les Schwab called back and said the brakes were all pitted and chunked up and I needed completely new brakes all around. Trailer is only 3 years old with 12,000 miles on it. Not sure how they failed this bad where huge chunks popped off and the magnet started grinding into the hub?

They are quoting me $1700 which is a lot of money so I went down the street to a trailer/RV place and asked for a second opinion and showed them pics and quote. They said this all felt accurate to them as far as parts that needed replaced and they would have even been a little more expensive with labor. So not complaining about Les Schwab. I just want to understand what happened or what I've done wrong so I can avoid this short of brake life. Was thinking at least 5 years life and or more like 50,000 miles instead of only 12,000.

Les Schwab did mention it looks like moisture was involved so maybe this happened because I park it on the side of the house in the open. The first year I used a cover through the winter but it got ripped and I haven't used it the last 2 years. I could also use be using tire covers?

Also this trailer was picked up right after Escape started using the Dexter Nev-R-Adjust axles so I was confused and thought they were manual brakes. I did try to adjust after towing back from first trip and might have tightened up too much. They still spun with a little bit of a grinding noise like I thought you were supposed to look for. I also tried to break in the brakes using the method of holding the controller down to heat up the brakes. I'm wondering if this might have led to early failure? The brakes have never felt strong since I picked up the trailer so really scratching my head here on what is going on. $1700 is too much money to pay out every few camping seasons.

Any help appreciated thanks. View attachment 1114230View attachment 1114231View attachment 1114232View attachment 1114233

Something similar just happened to us. We just had our brakes completely redone. In fact they were totally shot and the technician had told us that it had not been properly wired and that the emergency break caught on fire when they tried to activate it. The thing is is we have not had these brakes adjusted worked on so it’s a puzzle. Ours is a 2022 NE same as yours.

 

[Perry Butler]

My trailer guy (he only works on flatbed, utility, or some camping trailers) will NOT install Dexter self-adjusting brakes, unless you're willing to accept no warranty. He has examples of these self-adjusting brakes performing as yours did. Dexters are not even close to the quality of today's auto brakes.

Brakes should only need adjusting every 10-20,000 miles or when I have the bearing checked/greased.

Food for thought,

Perry

 

[Northerngirl]

We’re going to Escape back today and find out whether they put the same type of brakes back in or not. Thank you for this

 

[CE Vogel]

I do recommend you perform the Break In process. I have manual adjust Dexter brakes on my 10,000 lb trailer, and they were weak when new, even after adjustment. I deliberately dragged them a couple of times coming down hills in the mountains and now they work much better. I only dragged them 5-10 seconds each time, with lots of cool down time between drags. The idea is to heat the brake lining enough to conform to the drums, without scorching the brake lining.

 

[PeggyB]

Glad you brought this up Michael because I too was confused about the short brake life. Like you I have a 2022, but 19. Delivered December 2022 and I have used it only very close to home since that time. Very conservatively, no crazy roads. Maybe towed ~1500 miles total. I got my bearings repacked back in March 2025 by RV shop. They did brake inspection as part of the package. They noted I only had 75% brake life left!!! No damage of any sort.

Does anyone have an estimate of what it would cost for me to have a shop switch over to the manual adjusted brakes?

I've had a very similar experience. I have a 2022 21NE with conservative use (albeit more mileage than yours). Just had bearings repacked and brakes had 70% life left. I was quite surprised! Will look into manually adjusted brakes. Thanks for posting!

 

[GinoandLinda]

I do recommend you perform the Break In process. I have manual adjust Dexter brakes on my 10,000 lb trailer, and they were weak when new, even after adjustment. I deliberately dragged them a couple of times coming down hills in the mountains and now they work much better. I only dragged them 5-10 seconds each time, with lots of cool down time between drags. The idea is to heat the brake lining enough to conform to the drums, without scorching the brake lining.

Yup. The process is called (or at least in the motorcycle industry we called it) "running in" brakes. Very common in the motorcycle industry and almost unheard of in the auto industry even though studies have shown brakes that are "run in" properly perform better than brakes that are not, no matter what they are on.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

Yup. The process is called (or at least in the motorcycle industry we called it) "running in" brakes. Very common in the motorcycle industry and almost unheard of in the auto industry even though studies have shown brakes that are "run in" properly perform better than brakes that are not, no matter what they are on.

my mechanics, both the shop I take my wife's Mercedes to, and the shop I take my Ford Expedition to, heat cycle my auto brakes when they do pads-and-rotors, its part of their test drive. So, I don't think its unheard of in the auto industry. Most important part is NOT stopping with the pads on the rotors during those first few heat cycles as you want to bake the volatile compounds out of the pads without depositing them on the rotors.

 

[Northerngirl]

I do recommend you perform the Break In process. I have manual adjust Dexter brakes on my 10,000 lb trailer, and they were weak when new, even after adjustment. I deliberately dragged them a couple of times coming down hills in the mountains and now they work much better. I only dragged them 5-10 seconds each time, with lots of cool down time between drags. The idea is to heat the brake lining enough to conform to the drums, without scorching the brake lining.

Thank you

 

[Janettefu]

We’re going to Escape back today and find out whether they put the same type of brakes back in or not. Thank you for this

Please let us know what they say. Thanks.

 

[Northerngirl]

We will for sure. Tomorrow is a holiday and we arrived home last night. Will see what they say Tuesday