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hoboscratch · 05-16-2007, 09:47 AM

Ok, kind of a strange scenario. A buddy of mine has a friend who left his Itasca Sundancer in my buddy's driveway due to a brake problem. The rv was used for tailgating in our college town and according to the owner, runs perfect except for the brakes. Apparantly you have to mash down on the brake pedal really hard and even then it doesnt stop worth a ****.

My question: Is this a typical hydraulic brake setup on these rv's? I have about 15 yrs of experience with hydraulic brake systems and have installed them from scratch in project cars, or just replaced a part here and there.

Now I haven't personally looked at it but I've been asked to. I'm here to see if there is anything extra I need to know about these systems. Thanks in advance?

Aaron

hoboscratch · 05-16-2007, 09:47 AM

Ok, kind of a strange scenario. A buddy of mine has a friend who left his Itasca Sundancer in my buddy's driveway due to a brake problem. The rv was used for tailgating in our college town and according to the owner, runs perfect except for the brakes. Apparantly you have to mash down on the brake pedal really hard and even then it doesnt stop worth a ****.

My question: Is this a typical hydraulic brake setup on these rv's? I have about 15 yrs of experience with hydraulic brake systems and have installed them from scratch in project cars, or just replaced a part here and there.

Now I haven't personally looked at it but I've been asked to. I'm here to see if there is anything extra I need to know about these systems. Thanks in advance?

Aaron

Retired and Happy · 05-16-2007, 04:31 PM

From my recent experience losing most of my brakes and watching the repair, there is nothing particularly different about an RV system, especially from that era. Sounds like there may be some bad fluid in the system, or maybe sticking calipers? Just guessing. Oh, the master cylinder is usually hard to get to, especially to fill.

I expect you'll hear from some more knowledgeable people here, but welcome to the forum. Please post later with the results and any more questions you may have.

Mine lost a right rear caliper seal which took out all the fluid. The caliper overheated from the pad being worn down, and the backing plate was digging into the rotor. I have a tag axle, so I had a little bit of electric brake still available.

hoboscratch · 05-18-2007, 04:59 AM

thanks for the reply. I'm looking at it after work tonight. I'll post the results.

Dsouthw524 · 05-19-2007, 02:25 AM

You will find that there is a brake booster that is probably not working. Other than that, I suspect that the rear brake adjusters are frozen in place. the problem with the self adjusters on MHs is that few people want to back up and slam on the brakes to adjust the brakes. The adjusters tend to rust in place.

All the above assumes that the driver is accounting for the size of the vehicle.