Need Reese SC friction pads?

LanCoPA · 09-12-2013, 03:32 PM

We were at the Hershey RV show today and stopped by the Reese booth. He asked how I liked the SC hitch. I told him I like it except the friction pads are getting worn. He said there's lifetime warranty on all that and he's sending me some new ones! I had looked around online for them, but didn't find a place to buy just the pads, without buying the whole hanger assembly. It seemed strange that I would have to spend $30-40 for a hanger when all I need is the pads. So now they are coming for free!

LanCoPA · 09-16-2013, 01:21 PM

I got two hanger assemblies in the mail today. He said he was just sending the pads but I got the hangers too. So maybe I'll just take the new pads off the new hangers and put them on the old hangers on the trailer. At least it was free!

**JohnB** · 09-17-2013, 10:30 AM

Reese has been good this way on warranty. Good to see them step up like they should.

As far as the wear, since you have a brand new set of pads now, can you measure the worn ones and the new ones and what is the amount of wear? The hitch cannot be that old, curious on what the wear actually is. Any idea on how many towing miles you have on it and what weight rating WD bars do you have?

Your T-1950 is not that heavy. According to the Reese site, you can get up to 1,500# WD bars and the same pads are for all sizes from 600 to 1,500# tongue weights. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the SC hitch
Weight Distribution - Reese

I see Reese now has pads for the SC hitch listed. Do not know if yours look like this as they had a few vintages in the early days of this hitch
Weight Distribution - Reese

Thanks

John

LanCoPA · 09-17-2013, 02:08 PM

We store the trailer away from home so when I go over there to work on it, I'll try to get some pics and measurements for you.

There's actually a good bit of wear left on them I think, but comparing the new with the old will tell the story. I am thinking they have less than 3000 miles of use.

One thing that happened: When I installed my hitch, I had the frame hanger brackets to far back from the hitch. I thought I was within the maximum measurements, but I am not sure now. (It was all new to me at the time, and my knowledge is still elemetary). At any rate, the trunnion bars were not extending out from the frame brackets very far at all, just the ends of the bars were resting on the friction pads. I was making a sharp, slight-uphill turn into a driveway and one of the trunnion bars kicked out of the frame bracket. In the process, it chipped out a chunk of the friction pads too. After that I moved the frame brackets in closer to the coupler and all is well.

One other thought I have is that there are holes in the ends of the trunnion bars. When I had my frame brackets out too far, I think that part of the bar that had the holes was the part that was contacting the friction pads. I wonder if those holes could have acted a bit like a file as they moved back and forth on the friction pads. Perhaps this could have caused premature wear too? Don't know, was just wondering about that this afternoon.

**JohnB** · 09-21-2013, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LanCoPA

When I had my frame brackets out too far, I think that part of the bar that had the holes was the part that was contacting the friction pads. I wonder if those holes could have acted a bit like a file as they moved back and forth on the friction pads. Perhaps this could have caused premature wear too? Don't know, was just wondering about that this afternoon.

When you get to looking at the brake pads, look for the area where the holes in the bars are and if it wore a groove in that area. I agree a punched hole in the WD bar that has a good burr edge of the hole can turn into a file and grind away at the pad. However it would only be in the center area where the hole is normally as the burr is generally localized to the hole. The hole effect would not wear evenly across the entire pad as the hole does not toauch the entire surface. Just something to look for when you go investigating.

LanCoPA · 09-28-2013, 11:57 AM

I am new at posting pics here so we'll see how this goes!

Here's the new and the old. The first one has what I would call normal wear, and there is a good bit of life left there. The other side (the one that the end of the trunnion bar dug into) is very worn. This is shown in the 2nd and 3rd pic. No doubt when it chipped off the chunk of pad, the bar no longer rested completely flat on the pad in places so it wore it out much more quickly.

I think you would need a screw extractor to get those machine screws out of the bracket to change the pads. I didn't have one so just replaced the whole hanger. Anyway, glad to have new pads installed now, and it will no doubt work better than before.

**JohnB** · 10-02-2013, 08:02 PM

Roy, thanks for posting. Interesting to see.