Community Forums

rutny · 07-28-2007, 04:27 PM

First trip in the mountains of British Columbia... drove the DP on the famous Coquihalla... not in a hurry to do it again!... 20km uphill, nasty crosswinds mixed with nasty headwinds, followed by 20 km downhill... I geared down to 4th on those nasty hills, engine brake was a Godsend on the downhills.

Backed into a 12ft wide campsite... On the first try!!... VERY Proud!!...

Day 1: Encountered closed highway due to an accident, took an alternate hwy, where we sat for 3 hours due to a fatal accident... in short, a 3 hour drive took 8 hours... folowed by a "CRUNCH" when my husband pulled into a gas station... he wiped out the driver's backside, major paint and dent damage to 2 storage compartments, with only a scratch in a third... that'll be expensive, I'm sure!... who fixes that stuff? My RV dealer? Any autobody shop that handles big rigs?

Day 2: found out that the "slow leak" in a tire was a nail... got that fixed!!

My husband drives this MH way too fast, loves to tailgate, and is fond of the brakes... the brakes were making this nasty squealing noise after a while... I imagine they were hot!... is this squealing normal? It doesn't seem to take very much braking to get them to squeal in city traffic, weather outside was hot too. Should we get them checked?

BTW, awning dump worked perfectly fine, we took this site's advice and did not extend it quite fully, and it rained alot!!

rutny · 07-28-2007, 04:27 PM

First trip in the mountains of British Columbia... drove the DP on the famous Coquihalla... not in a hurry to do it again!... 20km uphill, nasty crosswinds mixed with nasty headwinds, followed by 20 km downhill... I geared down to 4th on those nasty hills, engine brake was a Godsend on the downhills.

Backed into a 12ft wide campsite... On the first try!!... VERY Proud!!...

Day 1: Encountered closed highway due to an accident, took an alternate hwy, where we sat for 3 hours due to a fatal accident... in short, a 3 hour drive took 8 hours... folowed by a "CRUNCH" when my husband pulled into a gas station... he wiped out the driver's backside, major paint and dent damage to 2 storage compartments, with only a scratch in a third... that'll be expensive, I'm sure!... who fixes that stuff? My RV dealer? Any autobody shop that handles big rigs?

Day 2: found out that the "slow leak" in a tire was a nail... got that fixed!!

My husband drives this MH way too fast, loves to tailgate, and is fond of the brakes... the brakes were making this nasty squealing noise after a while... I imagine they were hot!... is this squealing normal? It doesn't seem to take very much braking to get them to squeal in city traffic, weather outside was hot too. Should we get them checked?

BTW, awning dump worked perfectly fine, we took this site's advice and did not extend it quite fully, and it rained alot!!

"007" · 07-28-2007, 06:46 PM

If your brakes get hot enough and fluid boils, you may not have any brakes

when your following that close, crunch time.

Howard Leap · 07-29-2007, 01:43 AM

OMG! Tailgating in a 39 foot 15 ton Motorhome is asking for trouble! Riding the brakes may cause them to fade or fail... not a good combination.

JMHO.

John_Canfield · 07-29-2007, 02:25 AM

If he drives your coach like he drives a car, then he is setting you two up for a potential disaster. When I'm in a car, I follow about two seconds behind the car in front. In the coach, I follow four to five seconds behind due to the significantly longer stopping distance.

Freightliner chassis has some issues with squealing brakes, so I wouldn't be too worried. I think 007 (Hi Roger!) forgot that you have air brakes, so no fluid to boil.

Proper grade management is to usually descend the grade you climbed it. In other words, if you were in 4th gear at the top, then descend in 4th gear. We found out on a very long (and wet) grade going into Haines, Alaska that 4th gear was not effective for us - I should have been in 3rd. It is also important to only apply the brakes in short bursts of maybe five seconds and let them cool for 30 seconds. If you brakes actually got hot, you would smell them - it's an unmistakable odor.

Our new awning also works - hooray! We watched it dump water in some recent rains. We found that ours needs to be fully extended to give it enough of an angle to work properly.

jk_and_dog · 07-31-2007, 03:25 PM

I have the 2007 36 G Journey. I think we have the same chassis. My breaks also will squell when in city traffic after a short period of time. Especially when I apply them sofely a number of times.

I always keep the exhaust brake active to help breaking. There are times that i do make sudden stops such as quick stop lights or someone cutting in front. When this happens the breaks will smell but i don't think i've smoked them. I really didn't think i was applying too hard when they started to smell.