Meritor Rear Brake Roller Pin Lubrication

[vettenuts]

I have been going through the maintenance procedures on our new to us 2015 Tiffin Phaeton and one of the scheduled maintenance items is the Meritor Roller Pin that rides on the S cam in the rear drum brakes. This lubrication requires the brake drum removal and release of the spring loaded parking brake, a major job that I don't have the equipment to take on. Freightliner has this in the maintenance schedule for every six months, which is hard to believe for this amount of effort. I pulled the Meritor service manual for the brakes and it states: "When you disassemble the brake, or when necessary, lubricate the anchor pins and rollers where these parts touch the brake shoes."


There is no mention of lubrication every six months and it seems to contrast the Freightliner requirement. How is everyone else handling this lubrication requirement?

[CountryB]

The S-cam roller cradle is lightly lubed when the brakes are replaced. There is no need to do anything between brake jobs.

Freightliner's service recommendation is for a commercial truck that runs tens of thousands of miles a year. A Coach may go many years between brake jobs - it is a waste of time and money to disassemble just to lube the S-cam roller.

There may be grease fittings for the S-cam bushings. If so, a pump or two of grease every year is all that is needed (and nothing needs to be disassembled to do that).

[vettenuts]

Originally Posted by CountryB

The S-cam roller cradle is lightly lubed when the brakes are replaced. There is no need to do anything between brake jobs.

Freightliner's service recommendation is for a commercial truck that runs tens of thousands of miles a year. A Coach may go many years between brake jobs - it is a waste of time and money to disassemble just to lube the S-cam roller.

There may be grease fittings for the S-cam bushings. If so, a pump or two of grease every year is all that is needed (and nothing needs to be disassembled to do that).

I guess these are my thoughts as well. A typical car brake installation is only lubed during brake change, and that seems to be reflected in the Meritor service manual as well.


I have not found a grease fitting to date.

[Skip426]

Originally Posted by vettenuts

I have not found a grease fitting to date.

The grease fitting on the , drum brake activation shaft ( S cam shaft ) , is usually 1/2 way between the the auto slack adjuster and the brake backing plate.

[Pigman1]

Originally Posted by vettenuts

I have been going through the maintenance procedures on our new to us 2015 Tiffin Phaeton and one of the scheduled maintenance items is the Meritor Roller Pin that rides on the S cam in the rear drum brakes. This lubrication requires the brake drum removal and release of the spring loaded parking brake, a major job that I don't have the equipment to take on. Freightliner has this in the maintenance schedule for every six months, which is hard to believe for this amount of effort. I pulled the Meritor service manual for the brakes and it states: "When you disassemble the brake, or when necessary, lubricate the anchor pins and rollers where these parts touch the brake shoes."

There is no mention of lubrication every six months and it seems to contrast the Freightliner requirement. How is everyone else handling this lubrication requirement?

The six months is definitely an overkill. There used to be a 5000 mile note there too. I've been maintaining my former 2008 Tiffin Bus for the 75,000 miles we drove it and for the 110,000 miles we have on our 2013 Bus and based on what I've seen, I clean and lube the "S" cams and rollers at 15,000-20,000 miles. Much beyond that I see a lot of brake dust and residual lube build up on the surfaces and enough general gunk that I'm concerned about overall brake function. As a result of my schedule I have not had any problems with brakes NOT releasing after the RV has been parked for an extended period, but I personally have dealt with a number of RV'ers who had this problem and who had not had the cams and rollers cleaned and lubed on any reasonable schedule. As an added benefit, removing the drums has allowed me to closely examine shoes, clips, springs and other minor parts and as a result has allowed me to replace a few minor parts before I damaged items that were larger and more expensive.



For those interested, I use an ultra-high temperature brake grease easily found at NAPA. By using it sparingly my brake parts, cams, pivots, rollers and slip points, and all ensure the brakes work well all the time.

[twinboat]

Although many will disagree, you should be greasing the S cam shaft fitting until you see grease pushing out next to the slack adjusters.

Some think that the grease will push out to the brake shoes. It can, but If it does, then the seals and bushings have failed from lack of grease and need to be fixed anyway.

We all have seen the water storm under trucks running down the highways. The same is happening under your RV and that water will get in everything.

Besides lubrication the grease also purges water from the S cam tubes.

[Bigd9]

A lot of times owners will complain that is seems like one wheel's brake will 'thump' on a second after the other wheels brakes are activated. I have found if the "S" cam and associated roller are cleaned and the roller to brake shoe contact points lubed with a dry lubricant (so it doesn't attract brake dust) the delay will disappear.

If you do remove the rear drums, you will need to release the parking brake to get the drum off. If the air pressure leaks down while you are working on the brakes you could suddenly experience the brake activation when the pressure drops down to around 60 psi. If you are going to take time working on the rear brakes, caging them would be best.

[vettenuts]

Originally Posted by Skip426

The grease fitting on the , drum brake activation shaft ( S cam shaft ) , is usually 1/2 way between the the auto slack adjuster and the brake backing plate.

Found it yesterday when I crawled under to clean the slack adjusters. There was a lot of grease and crud on them. Most disturbing was the crud on the zerk fitting and the chassis was recently greased. Hopefully they cleaned the fittings. Plan now is to thoroughly clean every zerk fitting on the coach and then put a yellow cap on so I can find them easier on my back. Once again, not sure I trust anyone to do a proper job greasing the chassis.

[Pigman1]

Originally Posted by twinboat

Although many will disagree, you should be greasing the S cam shaft fitting until you see grease pushing out next to the slack adjusters.

Some think that the grease will push out to the brake shoes. It can, but If it does, then the seals and bushings have failed from lack of grease and need to be fixed anyway.

We all have seen the water storm under trucks running down the highways. The same is happening under your RV and that water will get in everything.

Besides lubrication the grease also purges water from the S cam tubes.Attachment 295148s

Unfortunately, unless you pull the drums, you'll never know if that seal failed and you've been pumping grease all over the brake shoes. If you pull the drums to clean and re-lube the S cams, rollers and pivots you may note the seal failure in time to avoid having a complete brake rebuild due to soaking the shoes with chassis grease.

[Dutch Star Don]

Originally Posted by vettenuts

Found it yesterday when I crawled under to clean the slack adjusters. There was a lot of grease and crud on them. Most disturbing was the crud on the zerk fitting and the chassis was recently greased. Hopefully they cleaned the fittings. Plan now is to thoroughly clean every zerk fitting on the coach and then put a yellow cap on so I can find them easier on my back. Once again, not sure I trust anyone to do a proper job greasing the chassis.

Often in your chassis manual there will be a page showing all of the chassis lubrication points. I like to copy that page and then laminate it. This way, you have a copy you can take under the coach with you, to make sure you get to all the zerks.

[vettenuts]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Often in your chassis manual there will be a page showing all of the chassis lubrication points. I like to copy that page and then laminate it. This way, you have a copy you can take under the coach with you, to make sure you get to all the zerks.

I have been going around under the chassis finding each zerk fitting noted in the manual. Only two I haven’t found are the upper U-joint and slip joint on the steering shaft. However, I read these were eliminated in later chassis’s so I’m going to call Freightliner before removing the steering column rubber cover to confirm.

[Tankd]

My upper steering column u-joint has a plug where the zerk would go. Never messed with it being under the boot. I have read some msgs that it was removed. I can't remember if the slip joint has one. Guess thats a trip across the yard to find out.
--John--

Originally Posted by vettenuts

I have been going around under the chassis finding each zerk fitting noted in the manual. Only two I haven’t found are the upper U-joint and slip joint on the steering shaft. However, I read these were eliminated in later chassis’s so I’m going to call Freightliner before removing the steering column rubber cover to confirm.

[vettenuts]

Originally Posted by Tankd

My upper steering column u-joint has a plug where the zerk would go. Never messed with it being under the boot. I have read some msgs that it was removed. I can't remember if the slip joint has one. Guess thats a trip across the yard to find out.
--John--

Spoke to Freightliner this morning, told them that I couldn’t feel the slip joint zerk, rather it felt like small bolt head. He told me if the slip joint zerk wasn’t there, it would also be eliminated in the upper u-joint as well. I would be interested in what you find.

[Tankd]

Here's what I got.
Pics:
Yoke slip. After I saw the slip, I remembered I took out the 'plug/bolt with 4 sided head' and installed a zerk. Top yoke will keep the plug
Slack adjuster tube zerk
Grease/water exit at the actuator, hopefully no water

--John--

Originally Posted by vettenuts

Spoke to Freightliner this morning, told them that I couldn’t feel the slip joint zerk, rather it felt like small bolt head. He told me if the slip joint zerk wasn’t there, it would also be eliminated in the upper u-joint as well. I would be interested in what you find.