Hello all. I live in Delaware and recently took my 2006 Keystone Outback in to renew the registration for the year. In DE we are required to have an inspection performed on all road worthy vehicles. Last year everything checked out fine but this year when I brought it through the inspection pit, it failed due to the brakes being unbalanced. According to the printout that the technician gave me, the left side brakes were supplying 300 lbs of stopping power while the right side was only supplying around 65 lbs. He told me that they typically like to see the brakes a little more balanced than this.Prior to this happening, the right side brakes did have a high pitched squeal whenever I tried to brake at slow speeds, typically less that 25 mph. This is something I was going to get looked at next spring. My questions are, could this be due to the brake controller in the truck not supplying the same power to each brake? If I were to adjust the brake controller could this fix the balancing problem or could the problem actually be in the electric drum brakes themselves? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. --Jerry

Jerrys5thWheel wrote: My questions are, could this be due to the brake controller in the truck not supplying the same power to each brake? If I were to adjust the brake controller could this fix the balancing problem or could the problem actually be in the electric drum brakes themselves? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. --JerryNo, the brake controller supplies the same power to all of the trailer brakes.1. Take hubs off and inspect brakes and repack bearings2. Adjust brakes3. Check wiring and all connections under trailer

Your brake controller sends 1 signal to all trailer brakes.Most likely causes are the right side brakes need adjusting, the right side has grease on the pads or a poor connection on the 5er in the right side wiring.Guessing the test was done by applying brakes then testing to see how much force was needed to turn the wheel?

To just get past the inspection I would go the quick route and just adjust the brakes as per the you tube video below. You should have the same amount of slight drag all the way around.Video LinkGood luck

I agree with the adjustment. Really easy to do, and a brake adjustment tool is cheap. I adjusted my 2007 5er brakes last year and it made a world of difference.Texas also requires an annual inspection. But all they do is check the tires and check the lights. Takes longer to do the paperwork than the inspection.

BB_TX wrote:I agree with the adjustment. Really easy to do, and a brake adjustment tool is cheap. I adjusted my 2007 5er brakes last year and it made a world of difference.Texas also requires an annual inspection. But all they do is check the tires and check the lights. Takes longer to do the paperwork than the inspection.They are required to ride with you & do a brake test per all the inspection stations near me.

Failed Inspection | Good Sam Community

22 Replies

cimac
Explorer
Sep 26, 2016
TxGearhead wrote:
cimac wrote:
I also live outside the Houston area and never had them ride with me until this year. Was told it is required be they had not been doing it but were almost cited for not doing it so now they ride.

They told me at the inspection place on hwy 90 in Dayton to pull in the driveway next door. They checked the lights and tires. No ride. I think that was in June.
I've got to buy 4 new brakes for mine.
I'm 6 miles east of you.

That is the same inspection station I went to in August. She got in trouble for not doing it.
Jerrys5thWheel
Explorer
Sep 26, 2016
Thank you to everyone for the responses. I went ahead and adjusted the trailer brakes like in the video that Tiger02 posted and that worked good enough to pass the inspection. There is still some squealing, although not as bad. I will get that taken care of next spring. As far as who did the inspection; each DMV in DE has an inspection pit that you have to drive all roadworthy vehicles through prior to going inside the actual DMV with passing inspection results that they print out for you. I'm not sure how the brake inspection is completed but I know that when I jam on the brakes both the truck and trailer are over a set of grates that somehow measure the breaking force of each wheel.

Once again, thanks to everyone who replied. This was very helpful and kept my wife nice and happy which was actually my biggest concern, haha. --Jerry
TxGearhead
Explorer II
Sep 26, 2016
aruba5er wrote:
isn't it funny how cars got rid of manual adjusting brakes in the 60's and here we are 50+ years later and still fooling around with the old way on rv's that cost more than a car. And disc brakes were invented a long time ago and still not used exclusively in rv's. (hardly any)

Makes you wonder why some RV manufacturer doesn't build in upgrades. I would pay a little extra for disc brakes, heavy duty frame, decent tires, and a refrigerator that works.
But we keep buying the current junk.
aruba5er
Explorer
Sep 26, 2016
isn't it funny how cars got rid of manual adjusting brakes in the 60's and here we are 50+ years later and still fooling around with the old way on rv's that cost more than a car. And disc brakes were invented a long time ago and still not used exclusively in rv's. (hardly any)
Bob_Vaughn
Explorer
Sep 26, 2016
So did they place the trailer on a dyno meter type rollers then spin the wheels and apply the brakes from the cab??
ACZL
Explorer
Sep 25, 2016
NJRVer wrote:
Never heard of having to have a trailer inspected.

NY is one.

Slownsy, Was asking who did the inspection for if it was a RV dealer, they should've ben better able to tell OP what the problem was and where as they should see it more often than just some shumk at a inspection station.
RustyJC
Explorer
Sep 25, 2016
NJRVer wrote:
Never heard of having to have a trailer inspected.

It varies by state. In Texas, trailers over 4500 lbs GVWR (with exceptions for farm trailers and others as stated by law) must undergo an annual safety inspection. Without this inspection and proof of insurance coverage, one cannot renew his registration.

Rusty
NJRVer
Explorer
Sep 25, 2016
Never heard of having to have a trailer inspected.
Slownsy
Explorer
Sep 25, 2016
Who cares who did it they did a great job and if brakes don't work they have to be fixed for every ones sake.
Frank.
ACZL
Explorer
Sep 25, 2016
What is the amount to electric current to each brake? Like others, I'd opt for poor power to right side. Who did the inspection? RV dealer or regular garage?

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Failed Inspection

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