After a great week at Huntington Beach State Park, we were in the crowd trying to make its way up 544 to Conway. About ¾ of the way, I notice that we were pulling to the right. Since the Workhorse has always tracked very well, the pull was even more noticeable. There was no place to pull over because of the road construction. After a little bit, the pull disappeared. However, as we neared 501, we began to smell what both Sarah and I thought was a hot electrical odor. The pull returned as we made the cloverleaf turn from 544 to 501. I pulled into a K-Mart shopping center. The hot electrical smell was more prominent outside. An inspection did not reveal the source except that the smell was stronger near the right front wheel.
I called Coach-Net. They advised us not to drive any further and that they would arrange a tow Monday morning to a Workhorse facility. Sarah took the dogs and drove back home in the CRV toad. I spent the night in the K-Mart parking lot.
The next morning, Coach-Net called around 7:30 to make sure everything was OK and to tell me that as soon as businesses opened, they would arrange for the rig to be towed to a shop. At 9, they called to say a tow truck was on the way and that it would tow me to Whiteville, NC, about 50 miles. By 10, I was riding in the tow truck and our DAWGHAUS was following behind.
Around 11, we pulled into John Donoghue Automotive, a GM dealer selling Chevies, Pontiacs, Buicks, and probable other GM brands. Whiteville is a small town, population of a little more than 5000; John Donoghue Automotive looked like it belonged in a small town.
The technician, Jason, who was assigned the task of diagnosing the problem, quickly determined that the right front brakes had locked up. He called Workhorse. Yes, they had heard of this problem. In fact, they had a service bulletin. The calipers were poorly designed – Their words were, “The wrong ones were used on many of this vintage chassis.” They wanted the tech to check to see if there was a coarse grain or a fine grain. It was coarse grain – the wrong ones. They would all have to be replace, not just the right front. Oh, and according to Workhorse, John Donoghue could not do the work, they are not an authorized service facility. The rig would have to be towed a couple hours further (and further from home) to Wilmington, NC.
I called Coach-Net. They couldn’t understand why, John Donoghue Automotive is an authorize ‘sublet’ service facility. Coach-Net would call Workhorse and get back in touch. Coach-Net called me back to say the work would be done at John Donoghue Automotive. Coach-Net called John Donoghue Automotive and told them who to call at Workhorse. Jason called Workhorse and talked to Bob, the person he had been instructed to talk with. Bob acted as if he knew nothing of what was going on, but finally said that yes, Workhorse would pay to have all of the calipers replaced, new pads for the right front and perhaps a new rotor for the right front. But, the calipers were on backorder, it would two to three weeks. I spent the night in the back lot at John Donoghue Automotive in Whiteville, NC.
This morning, I winterized the RV, rented a car – It’s not easy to rent a one-way car in Whiteville. Packed the car with our ‘stuff’ from the RV and drove the 200 miles home. Before I left John Donoghue Automotive, there had been one more conversation with Workhorse – they would try to expedite the shipment of the necessary parts.
Unpacking at home, it was determined that I had done a good job of packing with one exception, my shoes and boots were still at John Donoghue Automotive.
Had the same problem w/ 2000 Work Horse Fleetwood Flair.
I purchased unit and drove home 20 miles rear caliper sized up
and proceeded to heat profusely. Replaced caliper and brake shoes
@ 280.00. In August while vacationing in NY state, the right front
wheel started to smell w/ high heat condition, however condition
cleared up w/o any futher problem. Looks like I need to check out
all my brake assys.
My real question is where and how do I find any part recall from
Work Horse..........maybe, I also have bad brake linings.
PS. had one heck of a time getting Work Horse to cross ref
part numbers to GM numbers (caliper). I wonder why!
To my knowledge, there is not a recall on the calipers, just a service bulletin. What the actual bulletin said, I wasn't told. The tech simply said that it is a problem that Workhorse is aware of and that on certain models, the wrong parts were used. He mentioned something about 'slides' and looking for coarse grooves as opposed to fine grooves - (I said 'grain' in the previous post, but that just my ignorance about the inner workings and secret mechanisms of brake assemblies.)
In our situation, Coach-net had to pay the $210 towing fee and Workhorse has to pay the brake work - RV is still under warranty.
All of us with vintage (meaning OLDER) rigs need to beware of sticking calipers (which can be the piston and/or the slide mechanism stuck) and the usually ignored brake hoses. Those flexible lines can fail in a way that they do not burst or leak, but can become in effect a one-way valve. Brake apply pressure gets by the restriction just fine, but the relaxed caliper can't get the fluid back past it when the brake is released. I've started replacing them on older vehicles as a matter of course when doing brake work.
God Bless, jd
2003 Jayco Escapade 31A on 2002 Ford E450 V10 4R100
Sorry to hear about your troubles. You may want to try U-Haul if you ever need to rent one way transportation in the future. I've found they have a lot of dealers in small, out of the way towns and one way trips are not a problem. Also, loading or unloading a Toyota box truck is very easy compared to packing a car.
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