This story begins once i offered to haul my friend's Aerostar van for him. He lives at the top of an exceptionally steep gravel hill.
We drove the van on your trailer, strapped it down tight, set the weight distributing hitch yet i headed down from the side hill. It was all going well until I hit the brakes.
Basically there are none. Only the fronts on the Suburban were locking. I pushed the important red button on our handmade trailer brake controller giving them the full 13.7 volts but nothing. Well almost nothing. I had been still taking place way more quickly than I wanted to!
The trailer brakes need to have locked up solid while the red button is pushed making everything at the very least slide straight - as an alternative the trailer trying to pass the Suburban. Point out the cart until the horse!
How load was pushing around that Suburban, I have been really glad I had not tried to tow having little Jeep Cherokee.
Once that job has been done I backed the trailer into the shop to move my first investigate those trailer brakes. We have owned this trailer for nearly twenty-five many I've never seen contained in the brake drums there. I assume it is about time.
My inspection of the first drum showed me a bit precisely electric trailer brakes work. There is an electromagnet that pulls against the around the drum. The friction of your magnet contrary to the drum moves one shoe that in turn moves the opposite shoe that has a cam action.
Pretty simple. But I hasn't see anything wrong. The shoes looked fine, the drum was fine apart from some scoring in which the magnet rubbed. I have power towards the magnet and it also appeared to pull OK. But, the friction of a typical magnet the actual drum was obviously insufficient to function the shoes.
I could not figure out the way a magnet could go bad, but remember that this is what it seemed. Opt for some Internet research.
I ultimately found a site nevertheless magnet failure was common on electric trailer brakes. So I went buying trailer brake magnets. Most places wanted a lot more for the magnet than I can buy the whole backing assembly for. To have one with a local parts store I would personally pay more than I really could buy two backing assemblies for. And new magnets are included in the backing plate assemblies.
Just while i was ready to give up ask for new assemblies, I began to use Auto Safety House. They could dip into the stash work only with their web site, however they have affordable prices.
I stumbled upon a few new drums on e bay yet i was the one person who bid so I got both for the cost price of a. Later the look ahead to Danny - my UPS driver - of bringing these to me. Naturally the drums and magnets arrived on different days so he need to visit with dog Smash twice.
Upon closer inspection of the trailer brakes, I discovered that I still didn't discover how they worked. Something just have not look right relating to the way the cams worked. It sure seemed like they'd be stronger in reverse. And this trailer has always been difficult to make a copy while the brakes hard work right.
An instant look at the Dexter Brakes internet page confirmed my suspicions. The rear axle given on my trailer was installed backwards.
I began the bearings hasn't really care if and when they were spinning backwards, i really elected to easily swap the brake assemblies left to right.
Having them off made installing the magnets and routing the not really little green wires somewhat easier. I stumbled upon that some lubricant made getting them throughout the grommets a whole lot easier.
Dexter Magnets are identified by the wire color. The appropirate one for my 3500lb axles is the green wire. Nice they haven t changed that in 25 years.
The magnets are held in by spring clips that are very hard for getting off. I used a compact screwdriver and a pry bar and bent them slightly to obtain them off. The new magnets was included with new clips anyway.
I loaded the new bearings with axle grease and installed the new brake drums. They are not Dexter brand however the fit tolerable.
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The wiring is was pretty electric trailer brakes not difficult to reconnect since there is no polarity on the magnets. Just connect one wire into the brake controller power lead and maybe to ground. Dexter recommends managing a separate ground wire but I just grounded it to the trailer frame the same as it was in fact electric trailer brakes done before.
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