i thought i might share a recent experience with my own trailer brakes ,
wich might be of helpto someone else with similar symptoms.
over the last year i have been passivly hunting an irregular problem with my
trailer's brakes. most of the time they either did or did not work. but
late last year they began to surge like i had a broken wire "making and
breaking " contact. the surge was rather violent only during aplication of
the brakes in the tow vehicle and the brake controller. this was the
symptom.....now allow me to explain the process wich led me to the repair.
over the last year i had cut apart the harness on the trailer expecting to
find a broken wire. i did find a broken wire at one of the brake backing
plates for the magnets. that was good to find but not the cause. i took
apart the trailer's plug to find some set screws and their terminals were
rusted so i replaced the plug. once again good to do but not the cause. i
then took apart the tow vehicle's recepticle and again found rusted
terminals. and again replaced it , but still not the cause of the problem.
up to this point i had always had found my problems in these areas. but
nothing so far. i also replaced the circut breaker for the hot side of the
brake controller as it (being under the hood) had become very corroded. i
pulled off the wires to try directly power the controller to eliminate the
possibility of malfunctioning breaker( wich has happened once ). upon
pulling off one of the wires the terminal pulled out of the breaker! i
thought "great i finally founf the culprit!" but once again....just another
component enhancement with no results. so now we are into cold and snow
(wich did not last very long ) here. so off we go to asheville n.c. the
day after christmas to deliver a car. the darn brakes are still acting up
and i still am a bit confused(read that fed up) as to where is my gremlin!
after fooling around with the brake gain and finding no happy setting i
sumise it must be in the break controller (sealed unit so i cannot safely
dissect it to see if i find a broken wire) . the controller was 15 years
old. i have had many customers and friends tell me they had to replace
their controllers evry few years. so ....you guessed it......i replaced
the controller. and now i'm really angry with myself realising it was not
the culprit either! so now after a spirited trip to just south of albany
new york , i decide i have had enough! i'm going to go home and rip all 4
drums off the trailer and inspect what was going on at each individual
wheel. BINGO! 3 out of 4 magnets shot and all 4 wheels lining were to the
rivets. i would have never suspected these to be the culprits. knowing
they are a wear item and do need occasional replacement . but the magnets
made their "huming" sound upon aplication , and the darn brakes did work
intermittantly. so i now have replaced the magnets and am waiting for the
brake reliner to return my shoes and my complete system overhaul will be
over! and it had better work now! lol!
btw, my trailer was built in 1969 using cut down mobile home axles and
structural steel. and my rims are 14.5" rims too. it turns out my kelsey
hayes 12"X2" shoes were discontinued years ago and their current listing
12"X2" shoe is a difrent design wich will not work. napa had the magnets
over night.
hopefully this might encourage some of you to inspect your trailers before
heading out this season! or might assist you in diagnosing your symptoms
without a total systen upgrade! evrything i took apart showed signs of
needing attention but was functioning untill i pulled the 4 drum/hub
assemblies. so i do not feel too bad about replacing evrything that i did.
with all this having been said and done, i will be ready to head to sebring
with the saab in tow in early march with functioning brakes. now i bet the
weather gets nasty right around the time i get the relined shoes
back..............just before we are ready to head south.........(that would
be just my luck! snow and i'm on the ground outside installing and
adjusting trailer brakes! )
the van "the lust bus" is all ready and so is the saab! now it's just that
darn pesty trailer......lol!
chuck.
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