Titan disc brake install tips and tricks

**vonzoog** · 04-01-2018, 09:20 AM

You got that right. People will discuss weight issues until they are blue in the face, but feel that spending money on proper brakes is not something they want to do or talk about.

The irony is that the weight debate is base upon the issue of safety. They haven't a clue on how much safety they achieve with disc brakes.

**Cate&Rob** · 04-01-2018, 10:41 AM

The disc brakes will work really well from new, but this will continue to get better as the dacromet finish wears off the discs and as the pads wear to an exact fit to the disc surface. This is all normal and you will probably find yourself dialling back the gain a few times, over the first thousand miles or so.

I agree that there is no better way to spend a couple of thousand dollars on "safety" than to upgrade to disc brakes.

Rob

**Jerryr** · 04-01-2018, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by Cate&Rob

The disc brakes will work really well from new, but this will continue to get better as the dacromet finish wears off the discs and as the pads wear to an exact fit to the disc surface. This is all normal and you will probably find yourself dialling back the gain a few times, over the first thousand miles or so.

I agree that there is no better way to spend a couple of thousand dollars on "safety" than to upgrade to disc brakes.

Rob

Amen! Unless you have experienced the difference of disc vs drum brakes on an RV you won’t believe it. Just about everyone who installs disc brakes posts WOW, AMAZING or a similar reaction after first time you take it on the road.

**Nuffsaid** · 04-01-2018, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by Jerryr

Amen! Unless you have experienced the difference of disc vs drum brakes on an RV you won’t believe it. Just about everyone who installs disc brakes posts WOW, AMAZING or a similar reaction after first time you take it on the road.

Now I am thinking about upgrading my old alumascape, and I just installed all new drum brakes. Even when drum brakes are new, they still suffer from brake fade.

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**SouthTX** · 04-01-2018, 05:24 PM

The difference really is impressive. I'm surprised that someone hasn't done some before and after disk brake tests to quantify the difference.

Not the kind of thing I would expect the RV manufacturers (who already know this) to fund.

**Nuffsaid** · 04-01-2018, 06:36 PM

It makes you wonder if the RV manufacturers even have to prove that a given model has adequate brakes to be able to stop in a given distance. I can tell you that mine failed from the time I picked it up at the dealership. Gain set to 10 manual application of brakes had almost no effect!!!!! Service manager's response, the brakes need to brake in. So now the service manager must think I am really stupid that a trip from Indiana to Denver would not have been enough to seat the brakes.

**J&G garage** · 04-02-2018, 08:26 AM

I'm not very hard on the brakes so it took about 3000 miles for my new Dexter drum brakes to break in completely. I had the controller set to 10 initially and slowly had to back it down to where it is now set at 6. It took a lot longer than I expected and prompted me to examine the operation and electrical system of the brakes as I thought there may be a problem. I just needed to be patient I guess.

**Nuffsaid** · 04-02-2018, 06:19 PM

On my 2001 Holiday Rambler Alumascape that fully loaded weighs 11,500 lbs the drum brakes, same size 12x2 were adequate. Not so for the Solitude though at 13,500 lightly loaded.

**Jerryr** · 04-02-2018, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by J&G garage

I'm not very hard on the brakes so it took about 3000 miles for my new Dexter drum brakes to break in completely. I had the controller set to 10 initially and slowly had to back it down to where it is now set at 6. It took a lot longer than I expected and prompted me to examine the operation and electrical system of the brakes as I thought there may be a problem. I just needed to be patient I guess.

It’s amazing that one would be expected to tow a trailer with poor performing brakes for 3000 mile before they became effective.

**SouthTX** · 04-02-2018, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Nuffsaid

On my 2001 Holiday Rambler Alumascape that fully loaded weighs 11,500 lbs the drum brakes, same size 12x2 were adequate. Not so for the Solitude though at 13,500 lightly loaded.

That's interesting. Would you attribute that to hydraulic vs electro magnetic actuation?