This story begins once i offered to haul my friend's Aerostar van for your husband. He lives first in the a very steep gravel hill.
We drove the van in the trailer, strapped it down tight, set the load distributing hitch but i headed down the hill. It is all going well until I hit the brakes.
Basically there were none. Only the fronts at the Suburban were locking. I pushed the big red button on my hand-crafted trailer brake controller providing them with the complete 13.7 volts but nothing. Well next to nothing. I d been still happening way more quickly than I really wanted to!
The trailer brakes require to have locked up solid while the red button is pushed making everything not less than slide straight - instead of the trailer trying to pass the Suburban. Point out the cart prior to a horse!
The way in which load was pushing around that Suburban, I was really glad I actually had not tried to tow by using little Jeep Cherokee.
Once that job was done I backed the trailer into your shop to trust my first look at those trailer brakes. I have owned this trailer for nearly twenty-five many I've never seen included in the brake drums for it. I assume it is about time.
My inspection of the very first drum showed me a bit about how electric trailer brakes work. There's an electromagnet that pulls on the across the drum. The friction of a typical magnet contrary to the drum moves one shoe that in turn moves another shoe with a cam action.
Pretty simple. However i did not see anything wrong. The shoes looked fine, the drum was fine except some scoring wherein the magnet rubbed. I loaded power towards the magnet it also seem to pull OK. But, the friction of many magnet against the drum was obviously insufficient to function the shoes.
Which i could not figure out the way a magnet could go bad, but that is what it seemed. Time for some Internet research.
I finally found a service on the other hand magnet failure was common on electric trailer brakes. And 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 obtain one on a local parts store I usually be required to pay greater than I really could buy two backing assemblies for. And new magnets are included in the backing plate assemblies.
Just when I was ready to give up inquire about new assemblies, I began to use Auto Safety House. They could dip into the stash work on their web site, however have cheap prices.
I found a pair of new drums on e bay yet i was the only person who bid and so i got both for the price of the. Later the look ahead to Danny - my UPS driver - of bringing them to me. Naturally the drums and magnets arrived on different days so he need to visit having dog Smash twice.
Upon closer inspection of the trailer brakes, I have found which i still have not learn how they worked. Something just hasn't look right relating to the way the cams worked. It sure looked like they will not be stronger in reverse. And such trailer has always been challenging to make a copy when the brakes are performing right.
An immediate focus on the Dexter Brakes blog confirmed my suspicions. The rear axle on our trailer was installed backwards.
I decided the bearings did not really care on condition that they were spinning backwards, so I elected to merely swap the brake assemblies left to right.
Having them off made installing the magnets and routing the not exactly little green wires somewhat easier. I found that some lubricant made getting them throughout the grommets a whole lot easier.
Dexter Magnets are identified from the wire color. The appropirate one for my 3500lb axles would be the green wire. Nice they haven t changed that in 25 years.
The magnets are held in by spring clips which are really difficult to get off. I used a screwdriver and a pry bar and bent them slightly for getting them off. The brand new magnets came with new clips anyway.
I loaded the new bearings with axle grease and installed the brand new brake drums. They are not Dexter brand still the fit alright.
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The wiring is was pretty electric trailer brakes simple to reconnect since there is no polarity at the magnets. Just connect one wire into the brake controller power lead one to ground. Dexter recommends powered by separate ground wire however i just grounded it into the trailer frame like it had been electric trailer brakes done before.
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