Recommendation For So Cal Brake Shop

Does anyone have a recommendation for a shop to get brakes/wheel bearings replaced in the Pasadena, Glendale, Los Angeles area? We had a great trailer guy who made house calls ....but he's sadly opened up a shop in Long Beach.

 

Talk to Cary about this --- the campinn is slightly different because of its weight and loading than a standard utility trailer or boat. He has said that he's had problems with "typical" trailer shops and what they do Perhaps he has a recommendation.

I played "trailer shop roulette" and took mine to a trailer shop to simply have the brakes adjusted. The shop sold towable RV's, so I assumed they knew how to adjust brakes...boy was I wrong.

From the time I left their shop (just 50 miles or so away) the brakes burned through a set of pads, resulting in the steel backers destroying the drums destroying them. This whole mess then "bound up" and spun the internals in the drum, so the magnets were torn off as well.

By the time I made a 50 mile trip home, the insides of my brakes had more in common with an etch-a-scetch (metal powder) than trailer brakes. When it was all said and done, I had to have ANOTHER shop completely rebuild the assembly. $800 as I recall.

 

How many miles should the brakes last?

 

How long brakes last will vary greatly from customer to customer depending on how they adjust their brake controller (one reason we really love the Autowbrake brake controller) and how many miles of interstate driving with little braking per mile.

If I had to put a number on it based on miles I would say 75K miles.

Keep in mind too with trailer brakes when they need service it is not a case of throwing new shoes in it, the whole brake assembly is replaced as a complete unit.

As Sweeney indicated, we at Camp-Inn do not trust "trailer shops" to do this type of work, especially wheel bearings. However, if you are a point that the brake units need replacing you might have to go to a RV place because the auto shops might not have experience with these trailer brake assemblies. The auto shops are still the best choice though for wheel bearing work.

Cary

 

Thanks Cary. I’m easy on brakes and can often go a lot further than most. I consider using them as wasting energy and would rather coast as much as possible. I also have the trailer brakes turned way down.