How long do your brakes last?

That sounds excessive for sure. I used to work on logging trucks on the west coast. Trailer brakes would last roughly a year to 18 months and truck brakes could go as long as 4 years. All depending on the driver. Having never been around highway trucks much I'd imagine they should last longer, not much mud and 10% hills out on the pavement. You're also not flying down the mountain at 50 mph either so who knows?

 

Highway trucks will last alot longer then city trucks.

On that note. My last job didn't last long either. It was local but all highway.

If the drums don't get changed. The brakes will never wear down completely. Drums wear down. The diameter gets wider. The brakes cam over. New drums also stop a ton better then worn out drums. They're not warped.

 

What could be wrong on the truck to wear the trailer brakes faster? I just checked all the adjusters and they were even, I pulled them tighter a little bit. As I said my old truck would not wear the brakes on this trailer this fast, in fact twice the time / milage. Is there a valve that regulates that?

 

If the truck has crappy braking and the trailer has good braking. The trailer will wear down faster.

I drove a dump truck that struggled to stop unless the trailer was hooked up. The company didn’t want to put new brakes and drums on it since they were trading the truck in for a brand new truck.

 

Truck rear brakes do most of the stopping, unlike a car. Front’s usually last almost twice as long as rears. I’ve gotten as high as 400k on a set of rear shoes. 350k seems more likely. That’s using Q plus shoes. Same with new drive tires. No name or any name Chinese tires about 25% less than good brand name,

 

My 2006 volvo 780 rear brakes lasted 1.1 million steer went 1.2 million.. that's factory installed BUT the truck was ordered with heavy mountain brakes... thicker wider than stock

 

Yeah, I mean. I know brakes on the truck last way longer but still this seems out of norm to only do 50k on the trailer brakes. Truck has factory brakes it’s a Haldex drum brake system. It has 170k miles and since I’ve had it I went thru 3 sets of trailer brakes.

 

Definitely something wrong. My trailer brakes don’t last as long as Truck brakes. Maybe 65-70% if I had to guess. Still at least 200-250k.

 

definitely sounds like your brakes balance is way heavy on the trailer

 

That was most likely not your issue. Most trucks from early 90’s up have reduced braking unless the trailer brake is pushed in. There is a way to plum around i don’t remember exactly. You can just plug the red line if you don’t have a pintle hitch or if you do you can plug a glad hand. Push both valves in and you’ll be amazed at the difference. Course then you gotta have an hour argument with a dump truck driver who swears you only need to push the red…