Brake Drum Scraping

First you need to confirm what was reported. How fast were you traveling at the time? If highway speed, I doubt that noise could be determined. Were you maneuvering in a camp ground? If so, that's not totally uncommon at creeping speed; it could have been any number of those squeeking noises trailers make when maneuvering.

Could be worn brake shoes, something broken inside the brake drum (spring, pin, etc.) It could be a broken bearing. Maybe a good thing to do is jack up that side of the trailer and spin the wheels and listen, but then it might only make noise if there is a load on the wheel.

I do believe you have some work to do.

I was driving 63 mph on I 85 south at the time.

I had a similar situation when we had our fiver. But in addition to noise I had excessive heat radiating from the wheel- especially towards the hub and around the metal wheel center. Removing the brake drum revealed the shoe liner had shattered and was binding the brake drum and the shattered liner material and was making a heck of a mess.

I limped slowly into a shop - about 30 miles further and replaced the entire drum assembly.

Well........

You need to jack up wheel one at a time and sin wheel listen for sounds with and without brakes being applied.

Then you probably need to manually adjust brakes due to worn shoes

And you may even have to pull drums and inspect internals

Could be the Magnets rubbing on the drum rotor like they are designed to do. The magnets have a spring behind them to keep them positioned properly so when you apply the brakes, the electric magnets get energized, grab onto the drum rotor and apply the brakes. jack up the wheels one at a time and spin the wheel and listen. if you hear noising, just pull the drum and take a look. Visual inspection is about the only way to tell.

othertonka wrote:
Could be the Magnets rubbing on the drum rotor like they are designed to do. The magnets have a spring behind them to keep them positioned properly so when you apply the brakes, the electric magnets get energized, grab onto the drum rotor and apply the brakes. jack up the wheels one at a time and spin the wheel and listen. if you hear noising, just pull the drum and take a look. Visual inspection is about the only way to tell.

I agreee that the only way to find out for sure is to pull the drum, if you do pull the drum on any wheel please replace the seal. I didn't and had to put up with grease leaking into the drum. The seals are a cheap easy replacement. If you do need brake shoes or a magnet by the loaded backing plates they are cheaper than piece parting. Check etrailer.com for prices.

I took the fifth wheel to Campers Inn of Atlanta. Technician removed the tires and cap, had never lube axles so had to remove clip, torque nut and never lube hub. All brake pads are ok. The front off door side magnet was missing clip to hold on magnet. In stalled new clip. They tested all brakes and adjusted, tested ok. Now I am $460.00 lighter, but I have peace of mind.

Whew !!! $460 for a clip and maybe a couple hours work ? Even at $100/hr for mechanic time and a cheap part, you got charged double. :(

Water-Bug wrote:
Whew !!! $460 for a clip and maybe a couple hours work ? Even at $100/hr for mechanic time and a cheap part, you got charged double. :(

I agree way overboard on the labor. But peace of mind is worth something especially when going down the road at seventy with your fiver in tow.