CARAVAN & RV SERVICE

Caravan & RV Service

Regular maintenance on your brakes and bearings is important. We recommend a 10,000 kilometres or yearly service to remove lining dust, lubricate the metal to metal friction points on the backing plate and adjust the position of the linings to ensure maximum efficiency of their operation in relation to the movement of the magnet lever arm. The wheel bearings should be washed out, inspected for wear, and if ok repacked with new grease and new hub seals. This is also an opportunity to inspect components for signs of wear.

The magnet depending upon its type will have some wear level indicator in its face. An on road oval magnet usually has a series impressions in it which similarly acts as a tell sign on magnet life. The difficulty with these wear patterns is that they may not be uniform or regular across the magnet face. Yet any wear down beyond the indicator levels means that the operation of the magnets will cease as soon as the brake drum contacts the electric coil beneath the magnet surface. When you consider that you are inspecting the brakes with a view to the next 10,000 kilometres usually a conservative judgement is the best one here.

If a magnet is replaced the brake drum face may require machining. The old magnet will have worn into the drum. Machining will allow the new magnet to contact the full magnet surface of the drum and work correctly straight away.

Brake linings also deserve analysis for compound levels and integrity. Have a close look for cracks, they are not always easy to see. If only one shoe of the pair is damaged or worn, we strongly recommend replacing them both.  We have done workshop trials on this, the outcome is that it is much better with a new set rather than one new and one slightly worn shoe on the same wheel.

Chassis and suspension inspections are carried out at the same time, make sure the undercarriage is safe and reliable for the next 10’000 kilometres.