Brakes not hanging up - rear axle issue

[jetar]

I have posted here before on a problem I had with my rear brakes hanging up on my 01, 74328. I thought I had Bosch pin slide brakes. I had them lubed and the wheels pulled several times to try to find the problem. But my rear left wheels continued to smoke and heat up. As might be expected I was very careful using the brakes.

This summer I went to Henderson's in Grants Pass, OR. I was very impressed with their service, attitude and quality of the work. They worked on the brakes and this is what they found.
1. I do not have Bosch 73mm pin slide brakes although I have the manual for them with my coach manuals! I have Dayton fixed caliper brakes. So much for the lube I had done and paid for.
2. The brake pad was saturated with oil and this caused the smoking and maybe excess heat.
3. What I did have is a leaking rear axle seal which spread the fluid onto the brake pad and inside rear wheel which caused a dirt buildup on the ABS indicators resulting in an ABS sensor malfunction.

I was told that since replacing the rear axle seal is a messy, somewhat difficult job that mechanics do not frequently wish to do. Maybe that is why this problem was never found when my wheels were pulled.

I hope my experience is helpful to others. PS I had about 90,000 miles when this started and had it fixed at about 105,000 miles.

[takepride]

Do you suppose the Dayton fixed brakes were WRV's "repair" for the sticking Bosch brakes? Or maybe they were OEM after Bosch and before the Meritors were standard.

[jetar]

I have owned the Coach since it was new, although it sat on the lot for a year. I am not aware that it had any brake recall fixes certainly not since I have owned it and I believe that WRV just changed brake suppliers for awhile, which was not an unusual move for WRV. I am also not the only one to have these brakes at about this production time.

[takepride]

jetar:

I saw that, too on another thread. No big surprise, eh?