Posted 2007-07-27 8:20 AM (#64476) Subject: trailer brake repair question
Regular
Posts: 56 Location: va
My trailer has dexter torque flex with the grease fitting on the end. Yesterday as I was lucky enough to be pulling back into my driveway after a 200 mile haul, the left front wheel made a heck of a screeh and started to grind.When I pulled the drum what was left of a spring and the brake adjuster fell out. From the looks of it it had been lose in the drum for some time as it was pretty ground up. It has cut a groove in the side of the drum lucky not where the magnet sits. Maybe 3/16 deep. Question will that groove cause me problems? And why did the adjuster come apart? Any advice will be appreciated. David in hot dusty drought stricken Va.
Posted 2007-07-27 12:53 PM (#64489 - in reply to #64476) Subject: RE: trailer brake repair question
Location: Texas
David- I would go to Dexteraxle.com and find the brake parts you need. They have good "exploded" views of all their brakes and parts lists. You can order directly from them. I have always found them to be very helpful and easy to deal with. You can ask about the drum damage and they will tell you what to do with it. For what it's worth, I have had their axles for a long time and never had one come apart, so I think it is an isolated incident.
Posted 2007-07-27 5:31 PM (#64502 - in reply to #64476) Subject: RE: trailer brake repair question
Expert
Posts: 2958 Location: North Carolina
Originally written by david on 2007-07-27 7:20 AM
My trailer has dexter torque flex with the grease fitting on the end. Yesterday as I was lucky enough to be pulling back into my driveway after a 200 mile haul, the left front wheel made a heck of a screeh and started to grind.When I pulled the drum what was left of a spring and the brake adjuster fell out. From the looks of it it had been lose in the drum for some time as it was pretty ground up. It has cut a groove in the side of the drum lucky not where the magnet sits. Maybe 3/16 deep. Question will that groove cause me problems? And why did the adjuster come apart? Any advice will be appreciated. David in hot dusty drought stricken Va.
3/16ths is a significant groove. Seems to me the wall of the brake drum is only about 1/4 inch thick so you've cut through 75% of the drum. I would get a second opinion on the condition of the drum before you reuse it. Don't take the musings of internet mechanics.
A cause of the adjuster falling apart is not adjusting the brake shoes for wear. As the drum & shoes wear they open the clearance between the adjuster and the brake shoe. If you don't take up the clearance space, enough space develops to allow the adjuster to disengage from the brake shoe... And fall off into the brake drum.
Posted 2007-07-27 9:05 PM (#64511 - in reply to #64502) Subject: RE: trailer brake repair question
Expert
Posts: 2828 Location: Southern New Mexico
If you don't take up the clearance space, enough space develops to allow the adjuster to disengage from the brake shoe... And fall off into the brake drum.
Posted 2007-07-28 9:06 AM (#64523 - in reply to #64476) Subject: RE: trailer brake repair question
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 333
I have found from taking my trailer to two different places for bearing packing and brake adjustment, that sometimes the place does not do what you ask. The last time I took my 1994 trailer (bought in 2005 used) for its third bearing job, the person told me that the bearings still were packed in their original grease and that the brakes had never been adjusted!!!!
So, I am now going to the third person exclusively, because I asked each of the other businesses to adjust the brakes, of which they didn't do that, either.
I am not sure if some of the places just plain didn't know how to adjust the brakes, or since they didn't check/repack my bearings they just didn't do that, either.
I now feel better on this trip from SW Ohio to Ann Arbor MI that my trailer is ship shape. Last year I went to west of Chicago thinking my trailer was serviced and ready to go. Oh, I also got USRider this year, thanks to the great reviews on this list!!!!
Posted 2007-07-28 10:34 AM (#64530 - in reply to #64511) Subject: RE: trailer brake repair question
Expert
Posts: 2958 Location: North Carolina
Originally written by Terri on 2007-07-27 8:05 PM
If you don't take up the clearance space, enough space develops to allow the adjuster to disengage from the brake shoe... And fall off into the brake drum.
How in the world do you do that??
Terri ... On the back of the brake drum... the stationary plate, there is a rubber plug. Removing this plug allows a flat bladed tool (a screw driver works) to turn the adjuster screw to take up the slack formed by brake shoe/drum wear.
trailer brake repair question
.jpg)