↓ Episode 97 – Drum Brakes vs Disc Brakes for your Trailer

That'll be coming May 6th and that's going to be a live stream. So we'll have more information on that as we get closer on where we're going to do it and how you can log on. So I want to give everybody a word of caution, many RV years, well, many people in general, shop on Amazon. Amazon.com has a tremendous amount of RV parts on there.

And you need to be cautious of buying some of them because they're knockoffs, they're not original equipment. And some of them have a very, very low quality threshold. Do you think about this? If the thermostat for let's say a Dometic air conditioner is normally about 80 or $90. And you can get one on Amazon for $17.

To me, there's something wrong with that. And you know, I've actually spent the money and I've bought some of these things that are knockoffs that people tell me about. And they're junk. You know, I bought some toilet valves, five out of five were bad, and you know, the company will send you a new ones, but when five out of five are bad, what's the point.

And you have to be careful, and I'm not saying everything on Amazon is bad, but you need to be cautious. And I highly recommend not shopping there and supporting your local RV stores or your, or RV only websites. Quite often, you can get stuff in the same time, depending on where you're at. I know if you're in certain areas, you can get the same or the next day where I'm at in Montana, they say it's two days and it's not.

It's four days to get anything. And they say us for two days though, at 9,000, what lures people in, or the minute you put it in your cart, the shipping time changes and you have to be cautious. And I'm not saying Amazon is the worst place in the world, but I'd prefer everybody to support the RV industry.

You know, you own an RV and eventually, if you quit supporting the stores, there won't be any customer service. You know, buying stuff on Amazon is great to return, but once it's out of their 30-day window or whatever the window is that they have. You know, it's pretty hard to get stuff warrantied buying it on Amazon.

Cause where do you go? When you buy it from a local RV store, even a website that sells RV only products, you're going to get much better service. So that's just a word of caution. Not saying not to shop there. Just be cautious. Now come to July in Montana, we are pushing that still. We want to see everybody.

The Bitterroot Valley in July and visit our store. We want to meet you. We want to see who you are and you can see who we are, meet us. And Montana's an awesome place. And July's a great month to be in Montana. There's tons of stuff to do. Like I said before, we're working on it. We're trying to get, um, all the places to go compiled re slowly going to get it on the website.

It takes some time, but we'll start getting that done pretty quick here. And they were always behind here because it's only a couple of us running the show and it takes a lot to do, but we get it done eventually. So be patient with us and heck break out your own map. Look at Montana and see if it's where you want to go break out a map of the U S see where you can stop along the way.

And May 6th is our hundredth episode. As I said, we'll be doing that live and we're going to figure out where we're going to do it. And we're looking at YouTube. That seems to be the one. And if that's the case, that'll be pretty easy. You just go to our channel on YouTube, but I'll let you know. So living the RV life is what you are doing.

You own an RV, even though some say you have to be a full-timer to live the. I disagree with that. If you own an RV you're, you can live the RV lifestyle. Cause whenever you get in that RV, you've changed your lifestyle to live that way. So now you own an RV, it might be your full-time house or your vacation getaway pad, either way.

You have to have certain information to do certain. For example, now, you know where this is going. This is always related to RV parts and accessories, and what's best for you, how you can get things done. So for example, if your refrigerator quits working and you're positive, you've tested it out and it needs a new circuit board.

So you jump in your car, you run down to the RV store. And you tell the guy at the parts counter, I need a new circuit board. And he says, what's the model of the F are you? And he says, well, actually you say, I need a new circuit board. Then of course he has to say, what does that for your water heater, your refrigerator, your furnace, your air conditioner, you know?

And you say, no, it's from my refrigerator is okay. What's the model of your refrigerator? You say? I don't know. So right there, the conversation just about is. Because if you don't know the model number, he can't look it up. And please do not say that this is a standard RV part, that every RV has them. You know, I've come to realize the only thing standard on RVs.

And you've probably heard me say this before is the tires and the color of them. They're black. You know, there are some things that are common, but when it comes to refrigerators or there's two different brands to Medica nor cold, and there's hundreds of models. And, you know, to ask a guy to, you know, how is he going to figure that out?

It can be pretty difficult. And some dealerships, if you bring in your VIN number, they can look it up. If they sell new RVs, they might be able to look it up if they sell that brand. So that could give you an edge, but keep this in mind, if the refrigerator's older and has been replaced at some time. Then the information that dealership would have, or what's in their system would be inaccurate.

So it's always best to get the model number off of the appliance. The owner's manuals might have model numbers in them, but quite often they're not complete, or the manual covers a broad spectrum of models, but not all the parts can be. So always get the model number off of the appliance or the component.

If it's an awning, a water pump is for sure that way and, you know, take pictures too. So you go to the store, he asked for the model number, and of course, you're going to have to go home if you don't have it. Even if you have the circuit board, sometimes that that can kind of help depending on the store.

If they have a big selection of, let's say refrigerator, circuit boards, and the guy wants to go in the back and open them all up and come. Or if he can identify yours if it's a real popular model and they sell a lot of circuit boards for it, then Hey, might not be a problem, but just go with the model number and you can bring the circuit board to, if you're replacing it, you might as well take it out.

That way you can match it up. Cause some refrigerators, you know, when you look them up, there are two different, three different models of circuit boards form, depending on that particular refrigerator. So go into the store. Prepared is really what I'm getting to getting that here. And you know, another way to do this, you know, most everybody has a smartphone take a picture of everything in your yard.

You know, if you just walk around at one day and you started to snapping pictures of model numbers or things that don't have model numbers, like let's say a screen door latch. There are a lot of different screen door latches and they all kind of look the same, but they're not. So if you take a picture of the screen door latch, you take a picture of your water inlets.

You take a picture of the model number on the stove, the refrigerator. And your arm then just get them kind of organized in your phone, make a folder for them. Or if you use iCloud, you, and you can make a folder in the cloud, there's different ways to organize it on your phone. Pitchers save so much time, especially when they contain a model number.

Always have the model number, if you can. It makes it so much easier. Cause not everyone can look it up by year, make and model. And even then it can be very inaccurate. So what I'm doing is I've made a list and I'm going to put it on our website. It probably is in a couple of different places, probably under living the RV lifestyle and maybe under do it yourself.

Repairs is going to be a list of everything that you should take a picture of or have a model number for. And like a tire, you know, it doesn't necessarily have a model number, but it has a tire size, like a 2 0 5 75 15. So you want to know those things and it's handy. Believe me, I have a lot of stuff on my phone.

I walk into a store and boom, I'm prepared. You know, I can show the guy a picture, let's say, uh, something for my house. Or I'm calling us, calling around, looking for a part for a furnace. You know, my own furnace. I've got the model number in front of me, you know, it makes it easy. All right. So go to the website, the smart RV or.com go to the living RV lifestyle section and click on, model number checklist.

And it'll all be there. Okay, guys, how many of you are driving a trailer? Pulling a trailer and it has drum brakes. Raise your hands. All right. I can see everybody out there. There were a lot of you that are doing that, right? Probably about 98% of you are using drums. You know, drum brakes are basically a hundred-year-old technical.

You're the truck you're driving to pull the trailer might, but the trailer itself doesn't so you're back to the five, 600 breaking pounds. Okay. That's not a lot, you know, it might work for you depending on where you're at, where you live. Maybe there's times you've thought about it. Can I do something better?

And there is something you can do better, but drum brakes. Here's the problem. Before I get into what the solution is, we have to talk about the problem. So with drum brakes, You are constantly having to adjust the brake controller while you're towing the trailer. Have you noticed that? I certainly do. I'll be honest.

My trailer has drum brakes. I haven't switched it over to disc brakes. I'm thinking about selling the trailer. So there's no point in putting the money into that right now. So the brake can, or the brake controller needs to be adjusted in the brake controllers. What activates the trailer, brakes, you know, you got it on your dash.

Some trucks come with them built-in now, but also, you know, you have to adjust the brake controller, but what's happening out at the trailer. Well, do you have a tandem axle or a single axle? The brakes are, are getting older. The magnet, some cells are getting older. They become less effective as they heat up.

They're grabbing strength can change. So, you know, the magnet, it's a, you know, usually a round or oval-shaped magnet. And when you activate your brake pedal, that magnet gets pushed out and it grabs onto the brake. On the side of the brake drum, there's a smooth surface. So the magnet hasn't had has to have enough strength to grab the side of the drum and then it gets pushed or pulled array.

You want to look at that and it expands the brake pads or the brake shoes, excuse me, brake shoe. And so that magnet can become less effective. You know, if a grease seal fails is going to have grease on the brake shoes and the drums, and then that won't work at all. So the brake shoes are going to need to be adjusted regularly to get them out closer to the brake drums and the brake shoes themselves, you know, they start to wear out as you use them, and then they have to be adjusted again because of that.

So there's things happening there. There's a lot of moving parts in a brake drum as brakes heat up. They become less effective. You know, in fact, you can lose the attire ability to slow or stop the VA. All types of brake shoes or pads, even on disc brakes can overheat, but it's more likely to happen with drum brakes on a trailer.

You know, going down Hills is the greatest failure of trailer brakes. Now I know from experience what it's like to lose your brakes, going down a hill. Now I wasn't pulling a travel trailer, but I was pulling a 14 foot dump trailer filled with trees. And it's not a good experience. You know, I put brand new brakes on my truck, or I actually put brand new rotors and pads.

You know, these are high-performance ones and something went really wrong with the pads and they would not stop the truck. And it was horrible. So I was having to use the trailer brakes and it took about three miles to finally get stopped. And it was scary. You know, you're trying to slow down without burning up the trailer.

Brakes has ultimately the trailer brakes was what was working, but they were drum brakes and those things were smoking hot when they're done. I haven't taken the wheels apart yet, but I know I'm going to have to do some replace the, at least the shoes, maybe not the drums, but at least the shoes, you know, that's how hot it got.

So you don't want to lose brakes on a hill, man. It is scary. And depending on how much traffic there is, it can be, you know, all bets are off. You might not make it home that day. So the advantage of having disc brakes now over drum brakes is, for one thing, they're going to stop the vehicle, but they don't need to be adjusted because they're hydraulic.

And let me emphasize that as hydraulic. So you have an electric signal that goes to a master cylinder on the tongue of the. That, when it gets that signal, it puts, it turns into hydraulic. At that point, it's electric over hydraulic is what they call it, but the disc brakes are hydraulic. So they work well and they don't have to be adjusted just like on your car.

If you, if you only have front disc brakes, they never need to be adjusted. If you have four-wheel disc brakes, technically they never have to be adjusted. And then with that being the case, you don't have to adjust the brake controller. You can just leave it alone. And the stopping power can increase by 50%.

Weigh the costs. You know, you're looking at least $2,000 to do this depending on your trailer, the size of the axles, and so forth. So you're going to start out about $2,000 minimum, but you know, the money's well worth it. If you have it if you can budget that it is well worth it. Now, it also depends on how much you use your trailer, and where you're at.

I mean, if you use your trailer twice a year and you get maybe a month's worth of usage, probably not worth putting on dis brakes, unless you just absolutely feel you need to have that. Maybe there's an area where you go all the time, steep Hills, and you're just tired of sweating that out every time it's a white-knuckle drive.

Well, dis brakes might be a solution. You know, I have a friend who put a Jake brake on his Dodge truck because of one grade here in Montana. In fact, it's the grade where my brakes went out, but he put a Jake brake on there that costs them almost $3,000. And all he did was for basically one hill. There's one thing you have to be sure of when you do this, now, if you're going to do it yourself, you want to get a complete kit, do not buy parts and pieces and try to piece this thing together yourself.

This dis break stuff has been kind of a black hole and oddly enough, Dexter axle owns the two companies that make disc brakes. You know, they bought them over the span of some yeah. Dexter axle can barely even give you information on this. I spent, well, this has been two years in the making before I was brave enough to speak out on this, because it was so confusing and such a mess.

You know, I'd talk to suppliers that we have. Now, these guys supply the RV industry, you know, they sell everything under the sun and when it comes to dis brakes, well, you know, we can piece together a kit for you. You just need to tell us what you have and we can probably get that done. Yeah, we might get some things, right.

Might get some things wrong. It's like, no, won't work. You know, it's got to be right every time. Because if you piece it together, you're going to be missing things. You're going to be uncertain about what you're getting. You're not going to have a good warranty. You're not going to have good instructions.

You're not going to have somebody backing you on how to do it. If they don't sell a complete kit, walk away from it. Now, this is where a company comes in. Performance trailer braking is performance trailer, braking.com. If you go to their website and you order anything, you make sure you talk to them and tell them, Eric at the smart RV year sent you to them.

Okay. I don't get any money for the. But I want them to know that I'm sending people their way. So please tell them that because these guys have it together and ask for Michael, he'll probably answer the phone. This guy has got all the information. He knows the history of disc brakes in the RV industry.

They're a small family-owned business. They love what they do. They live for what they do. That's the kind of company you want to deal with. If you have a problem, they're going to help you. If you have a warranty, they can handle it. And in fact, their warranty is pretty cool because let's say you have a, you buy one of their systems and this Dexter, you know, Dexter makes whichever brand they have or you end up and it changes.

That if a caliper goes bad and it's under warranty, they just send you a new one. They don't have to get an okay from Dexter or they don't send you to Dexter to do a warranty. They take care of you. So they are authorized by Dexter to do that. And that's a huge thing because that's not very common in the RV industry.

Okay. So that's a plus and also the brake pads that come with them are all ceramic and that's the latest technology. So you're, you're right up to speed with the technical. But performance trailer, braking.com. Tell them Eric at the smart RV or podcast sent you to them. Even if you just buy online, you figure out what you need.

Put it in the comments box, let them know. Like I said, I don't get anything for that. I just want them to know the people I talked to and the people that I want to give this great information to are letting them know that. Okay. Because, you know, I feel like we have a connection and I want them to understand that.

And then they can have that connection with you too is for great service. Because if you guys go with them, you get everything in the kit and you'll recommend them to other people because these guys have it together. And like I said, you know, this is two years in the making, and I've given up on it for a long time.

Believe me, I wasn't working on this every day for two years, but I just gave up on this. I said this thing just as a black. And after talking to people at Dexter and just distributors and trying to chase this down, it took a long time to piece this thing together, but dis brakes are the thing for you to go to if you have a need for them.

Make the switch, it's going to be worth it. And I will have a link to the performancetrailerbraking.com in this episode, number 97 on the smart RV or dot.com. I will also have information about them. And there's also a page now that we've put up called products we recommend, and I'll be honest with you.

Some of those products, if you'd like him, battery cables, USA, we get a small commission. If you, uh, T follow that. And buy something through them where safe GPS, the same thing, you follow the link and use the promo code and save 10%. You know, we get a, uh, a small commission. It's not much, but you know anything to help fund the show pays off.

So that's why we're pushing it. But there are only things we recommend. If we don't recommend it, it's not going to be on our website. In fact, I'll come out and say it. I think you know that by now if you've been listening to the show for any length of time, I'm just going to say what I think about products.

Eric: All right. So we're coming up to the next segment of our show, which is the Next Stop. And Alexis is on the show with us today and she's the one who writes up all the articles for the Next Stop. And she puts them on the website. Does all that. So she's our in-house destination guru for RV. So arches national park is on the menu today and is located in Utah.

Eric; I'm sure all of you know that, but Alexis, why does arches national park have the name or have that name?

Alexis: Yeah. Um, I would say I would check out balanced rock. That one is incredible. It stands at 128 feet and it kind of looks like it's teetering. And then there's a tower arch, which is a huge arch 92 feet tall. So you've got to check out that one. It's just amazing. And there's even one called spectacles because it could look like a giant pair of glasses.

Eric: Well, that sounds pretty cool. So there are three things there. Well, besides all the arches, so that makes the trip very worthwhile. I liked that. So now I've heard that arches national park is kind of in no man's land. So does that mean? Viewing stars at night would be better than other places, you know, I'm so glad you brought that up.

Alexis: Yeah. It's, it's known for its dark night skies. They have virtually zero light pollution, um, making the park just ideal for that kind of thing. And you know, you can go out and stargaze on your own or you can go with a ranger. It's pretty great. Okay. So a ranger probably be able to take y'all and cools places where you can really see stuff in certain formations.

Eric: So that'd be nice. That sounds pretty good. Now, what about eating? You know, you do all this exercise, hiking and stuff. I'm going to say you got food there.

Alexis: Yeah. They've got some good places to grab some grub. Um, there's ones like they've got Thai food, arches, Thai glorious corner cafe. And there's always Jax’s’.

Eric: The Jax’s is the old standby now glorious cafe cafes always sound good and little small towns. They have. Flavor with their food. I always like going to a cafe in a little town someplace, so that sounds pretty good. So there's food and plenty to do there. Now. What about bringing my RV there? Are there RV parks places just for me to go to?

Alexis: Yeah. You know, there are, there's just a plethora of places. I mean, all you'd have to do is type it into Google and so many places would pop up. So. All right. So are there any RV parks there with resort in their name? Yeah. Portal RV resort is a really good option. They have several amenities, you know, for you.

Alexis There's also more rustic ones like seven miles RV park, pretty much just a place to park your RV.

Eric: Okay, cool. because resort in the name, you know, has a little bit more, you know, so if you like that resort flavor, there you go. So it has something for everybody. It sounds like. So now. I'm going to plan my trip. When should I go?

Alexis:That's a great question. I mean, anytime you go, you're just going to be blown away by how beautiful it is there. But I think the best months to go would probably be April through may, whether it was.

Eric: All right. Very good. So the wintertime would probably be a little colder than fall. It would probably be chillier.

So one avoid that unless you liked that type of weather and obviously there's less people. So that might be good. So, Hey, that sounds good. So I'm glad we talked about this nice little a tease for everybody to go to the website or to spur their imagination on and to get out on the road and use your RV.

So that was a nice little adventure into the arches national park. You know, many RVs out there. And what made me think of this as the sunshine, you know, earning down on Utah, have many RVs have slide out on in fabrics that are failing. They're falling apart, they're getting old and I'm sure you own an RV that has a slide out on it with a slide-out on him.

So if you need a fabric, you've got to check out what we make at sun pro MFG dot. There's going to be a link on our website, under products we recommend. And in this episode, number 97 with a promo code that you'll save 10%. So if you go to the smart RV or.com and use the promo code, which off the top of my head, I think it's this.

Our veer and you get 10% off, but go to this website, the smart RV or.com under episode 97. And it'll be there, the link and the promo code. You don't necessarily have to use the link, but you have to use the promo code. The sun pro manufacturing site out audience have a three or five-year warranty depending on the fabric and all the information is there.

And of course, if you have a question you can call and talk to us, we will walk you through the entire process of replacing. Slide out on awning fabric with a nice quality one, much better than what came on it from the factory. Okay. So now our V envy, there's nothing better than having an RV where people are looking at it and they just love what they see.

You have someone over for dinner, lunch, and they just love your RV, or there's something about it. That's just really cool. And I guess I liked that because I've always had certain vehicles that have always kind of stood out. There's something about them, you know, people. And not that they're super hot.

You just do it your way. You know, you make it kind of cool. You do it, how you want to do it. Well, actually got me on this. I was going through the cabinets in my trailer the other day, and I was looking at the plates and utensils. I think, man, what a train wreck? This is, we used to have all matching stuff, announced like, you know, it looks like we stole it all from different restaurants.

As we traveled around the country, we didn't do that, but you know, and that's an matches. It ain't looked good together. I know miss. Dinnerware and stuff is kind of a trend and looks cool, but not in this case, I'm thinking we got to do something about this. Even if we sell the RV, we're going to get a new one and we got to have nice looking stuff and it's not.

We have to do it to keep up with anybody or anything. It's just, it looks nicer. You feel nicer about it. And when you're eating on a plates at all looked together, it looks nice. So what I'm getting at here is when it comes to your dinner, where utensils cups, plates, bowls, gosh blankets, there is so much RV related.

Product out there, our merchandise, it's unbelievable. Like there's a company called camp, camp casual, and then cam co makes life at the camp ground. So they have all sorts of products that are RV related, blankets, mugs, plates, bowls, you name it there's so much. And it just looks so cool. Cause you know, when you're out eating you're in your RV.

And, you know, you have someone over, everything looks nice, that matches has got that RV theme, you know, different things on it. And it's, it's nice looking. And a lot of that stuff you can mix and match brands. Cause it's not going to matter because it's all RV themed and talk about living the RV lifestyle.

When you have that, you know, it really says something because it makes you more aware of what you're doing and how much you enjoy it, because it's fun. It's making memories. And that's, what's important making those memories. This is all part of the package. You know, you take some pictures, someone's, you know, maybe out underneath the awning eating and you want to get a picture of it.

Maybe it's your kids. There you go. You got this RV dinner where right in front of you, that's part of the RV lifestyle, not just how cute it was to get that. But it all makes us RV lifestyle package come together and there's gobs of this stuff. I mean, you can go to RV stores and buy it, which is what I always recommend.

Or you can go online and buy it. I mean, there's tons of it. And you can get pictures for the wall that are RV related clocks. I mean, you get everything is cool. So check that out. That's just another aspect of RV. You know, the, the plates and stuff sometimes are put away in the cabinet and you don't see them until you bring them out.

But when you bring them out, they make a statement that you enjoy the RV lifestyle. It's who you are. It's what you enjoy. And it's an awesome memory maker or part of the memories when you're making them. So check out your local RV store, see if they have in stock or see what they can get. It doesn't matter if they have in stock, they can always order this stuff and believe me, they get.

Just as quick as Amazon in most cases and probably a better price, Amazon does not always have the lowest price and they don't always get to you the quickest. So yeah, I know. I don't want to keep going on about Amazon. Like I said, they do have some good products. There just, that's my opinion about supporting the RV industry.

One final thing here where safe GPS trackers for RVs are an awesome little tool that you can get for your RV. To help protect it. When it's in storage, parked on your property, a storage facility at a dealership, wherever it might be. And if you go to the smart RV or.com under the tab that says. Click on the products we recommend and you'll find a link to where saved GPS trackers and a promo code that saves you 10%.

If you purchase anything, using that link in promo code. So do that. If you want to help protect your RV or give a little more protection whilst in storage or not being used hacky, when you're out RV and. You never know when someone might decide to try to steal your RV, so do that and you can save 10%.

All right. So I want to thank everybody today for listening to the show. Episode number 97, we're coming up on that 100 episode. Like I said, I'll let you know when we get closer, where we're going to have that episode live stream. So this is Eric Stark at the smart RV or podcast. It has been great hanging out with you today.

If I don't see on the road. Less connected to smart RV or.com.