I have a 2019 Keystone Avalanche fifth wheel with Dexter 7000 lb axles drum brakes. Does anyone know if they are self adjusting or if I need to manually adjust them? If they are self adjusting do they work like the old drum brakes on cars that adjusts when you back up and apply them? Thanks for the advice

It may be hard to tell by looking at outside of hubs, but seems like some had two adjusting holes. You do not need to back up, they will adjust going forward. May be some info on axle placard.Jerry

Best answer I can give is 'maybe'. You'll just have to consult your manual or pull a drum and look. Pretty sure most are manually adjusted, mine are.

My guess, and strictly a guess, is that yours are self-adjusting brakes. Mine on a 2010 Fuzion with 7,000 lb. axles are self-adjusting, so you stand a good chance of it. And yes, they self-adjust while moving forward, backward, but not sideways.You can get the axles specs off the tag on the axle, submit that info to Dexter, and they will tell you the specifics of your axle, which may include references to self-adjusting brakes. Mine did not, so I found out when I pulled a hub and checked.

Not a big deal to pull one hub. Easy to see the self adjust cable then.Jerry

Crawl underneath and take a look at the backing plate:If you see a couple of oval rubber bungs at the bottom of the backingplate then they are not self-adjusting. If there are no bungs then yourbrakes are self-adjusting.They self adjust going forward.

Electric brakes self adjusting? | Good Sam Community

Rwake901
Explorer
Jul 23, 2019
Took a good look with a flashlight in the two slots in backing plate. There is no adjusting wheel so I assume this means they are self adjusting?
JRscooby
Explorer II
Jul 20, 2019
Old-Biscuit wrote:
Roger10378 wrote:
I have to disagree with the last part. I have never seen a brake that you have to hold the lever off the star wheel to tighten the brake adjustment. You only need to hold it to slacken the adjustment. The reason for the two holes is that they use the same backing plate stamping for both the right and left brake, so the star wheel will be behind the one hole on the right and the other hole on the left.

Semantics......

To adjust one tightens star wheel until tire can not be rotated by hand THEN backs off star wheel until tire rotates with slight drag.
Hard to do with auto adjust lever engaged.

Hard to disengage auto lever without 2 holes cause you can't get 2 tools thru one hole at same time.

Semantics.......

No, it is not semantics. The 2 holes are so the star wheel can be reached no matter which side the backing plate is mounted. I never had any issue sticking a rod thru the same hole as the brake spoon.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jul 20, 2019
Roger10378 wrote:
I have to disagree with the last part. I have never seen a brake that you have to hold the lever off the star wheel to tighten the brake adjustment. You only need to hold it to slacken the adjustment. The reason for the two holes is that they use the same backing plate stamping for both the right and left brake, so the star wheel will be behind the one hole on the right and the other hole on the left.

Semantics......

To adjust one tightens star wheel until tire can not be rotated by hand THEN backs off star wheel until tire rotates with slight drag.
Hard to do with auto adjust lever engaged.

Hard to disengage auto lever without 2 holes cause you can't get 2 tools thru one hole at same time.

Semantics.......
Roger10378
Explorer II
Jul 20, 2019
I have to disagree with the last part. I have never seen a brake that you have to hold the lever off the star wheel to tighten the brake adjustment. You only need to hold it to slacken the adjustment. The reason for the two holes is that they use the same backing plate stamping for both the right and left brake, so the star wheel will be behind the one hole on the right and the other hole on the left.
Roger10378
Explorer II
Jul 20, 2019
Old-Biscuit wrote:
Dexter self-adjusting do so when going forward and braking

Dexter self-adjusting (as others) can be and should be manually adjusted when new or whenever hub is pulled

Dexter self-adjusting as days of old use a cable from brake shoe pivot to adjuster lever on star wheel. Lever engages teeth on star wheel so to manually adjust you have to push lever out of teethe and away from star wheel then rotate star wheel while holding lever out if the way-----hence 2 open slots on bottom of backing plate
B_O__Plenty
Explorer II
Jul 20, 2019
Just look for a white tag an the backside of an axle. Should be 2 on there. One with axle numbers the other with brake info.
B.O.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Jul 20, 2019
enblethen wrote:
I do not believe they are self adjusting. Here is what could be your axle information.
Dexter
Or this manual
Dexter sprung axles
The one Dexter manual link shows self-adjusting brakes for 7,000 lb. axles, and the other one doesn't go in to much detail.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jul 20, 2019
Dexter self-adjusting do so when going forward and braking

Dexter self-adjusting (as others) can be and should be manually adjusted when new or whenever hub is pulled

Dexter self-adjusting as days of old use a cable from brake shoe pivot to adjuster lever on star wheel. Lever engages teeth on star wheel so to manually adjust you have to push lever out of teethe and away from star wheel then rotate star wheel while holding lever out if the way-----hence 2 open slots on bottom of backing plate
enblethen
Nomad
Jul 20, 2019
I do not believe they are self adjusting. Here is what could be your axle information.
Dexter
Or this manual
Dexter sprung axles
MFL
Nomad II
Jul 19, 2019
Often times self adjusting trailer brakes need to be manually adjusted the first time, when new.

Jerry