First trip with my new Rpod 178-a few questions

1-I think I have a dragging passenger side brake. My 2012 Nissan Xterra seemed to be laboring more than it should, even on the flats. The wheel was much hotter than the other side. Is this an easy adjustment or more of a dealer issue?

2-How do you turn on the porch light by the door? No switches anywhere seemed to turn it on. It would make sense that the unlabeled on/off switch on the control panel by the door would be it, but it did not come on. 

3- Is it safe to mount anything such as a spice or utensil rack on the kitchenette side walls as they are part of the slide out? If so, how long of screws are you using, to make sure they are not too long. 

4-Tips on maximizing storage. It sounds funny, but where do people keep their toilet paper in a wet bathroom. 

5-Has anyone replaced the exterior speakers? I thought they were awful. The interior ones are ok, but outside ones were tinny and distorted. If so, what did you use?  I have a nice Bluetooth speaker, but could not get it to pair up with Jensen stereo. Is the Bluetooth for input only and not output? 

Thanks for all of your expertise on this forum. 

Your's may be different, but my 2014 178 came with Dexter Nev-R-Adjust brakes:

It's a bit of a pain to loosen them if they were over adjusted as the self adjusting mechanism needs to be disengaged with a separate tool or small screw driver. If you are not comfortable doing it, I would suggest taking advantage of your warranty.

When I took delivery of my 2014 178 in the fall of 2013, I was completely unfamiliar with trailer brakes and brake controllers. I believe my brakes were too tight to begin with and my unfamiliarity with the (Voyager) brake controller did lead to some premature wear of the brake shoes, magnet and drums. I did swap out for a Prodigy P3 controller, which is much more intuitive.

I recently pulled the drums, repacked bearings and inspected everything, noting some pretty radical uneven magnet and drum wear from magnet. After putting everything back together and test driving, the brakes felt fine, temperatures were good (measured with IR) and figured I was good for another season.

Upon returning from a recent 400 mile round trip, as soon as I got out of my TV at home, I smelled that tell tale hot smell. I grabbed my IR and noted that my driver side drum was @ 185. Passenger side @ 120. Arghhh! I had already decided if I had a problem I would just replace the brake and drum assembly. The parts are surprisingly cheap @ about $110.00 per wheel.

Here's a good twist...

Just for grins I called Protective. I have the Protective XtraRide platinum 6 year extended warranty. Wish I would have thought of this a while ago! They said the brakes and all associated parts are all covered under my plan. They told me where to take it pretty close by. I'm taking it there tomorrow. The shop owner said no problem, they have worked with Protective before and they will take care of any problem. Cool! I don't have to get greasy again!

That's a lot more than you asked for, but I wouldn't mess around with your brakes. If you're not sure, take them to a reputable shop and have them checked.

Have fun!

Fred

That said, I like taking things apart and trying to figure out how they work.  The whole self adjusting mechanism looks a little funky to me. I did watch a ton of You Tube videos and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, so I figure I'm a espert now! 

Not ready to put disk brakes on the pod just yet until the water rises a lot more. If you did have to replace assembly and drums, my guess is you would go for the non auto adjusting assembly?

Maybe we should move this discussion?

fred

Edited to add: Don't want to alarm anyone. Especially new buyers. My Pod has performed wonderfully and taken us all over the US. We probably have an unusual number of miles on ours for a 2014. Just trying to keep it going for another unusual number of miles!

Check this out... Libra 10" x 2-1/4" Trailer Electric Brake Assembly one pair - 21003B