TT brake sticking, any experience with this problem

I had a similar problem with my Jayco and it was a broken brake spring. I pulled the drum off and pieces of the spring came out.

Three of my seals went bad and Lippert paid for all new backing plate assemblies, bearings and races and were almost ready to pay for new drums because I couldnt get brakes to seat, but they finally did.

Seal failure, broken, bent, or dirty brake hardware, adjustment too tight or adjuster shaft shifted, shoe failure, drum out-of-round.

If your trailer is new and the hubs have never been pulled, you owe it to yourself to pull them and inspect everything. While the hardware is exposed, clean and lubricate the brake hardware.

Lynnmor wrote:
Until they produce brake drums with a close tolerance on run out, I don't want self adjusters. The brakes cannot self adjust properly if the drum does not run true. It is one possibility that may have caused the OP's issue.

????? How can you manually adjust them if you have that much run out? You have the same thing as far as shoes and the drum in relation to run out on either. The shoes do not know if that star wheel was turned by you with a spoon or the adjusting cam, and the adjuster is not going to just keep cranking on it to lcok up no matter what the run out is, thats not how they're designed.

These threads / forums leave me scratching my head. I have had Dexter EZ lube on 4 different recreational trailers, and on so many equipment trailers we have lost count. We have yet to blow a seal and contaminate the brakes. We have also not had any issues with Dexter self adjusting brakes when we have had those. Our equipment trailers get thousands of miles of use yearly, and its hard use. The lube feature and self adjusting brakes are on hundreds of thousands of trailers shipped yearly. One would think all you would see along the roads are broken down trailers with locked up wheels due toself adjusting brakes, or grease spewed everywhere, from reading some of these boards LOL.

Now if you're sporting Lippert axles with their greasing system, which is "Super lube", "EZ lube" is a Dexter trademark, then good luck due to Lippert's use of the cheapest single lip seals they can find, just like all the other trash they peddle. Lots of info on that over at the Grand Design boards and some others, so much so that Grand design stopped using them.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Until they produce brake drums with a close tolerance on run out, I don't want self adjusters. The brakes cannot self adjust properly if the drum does not run true. It is one possibility that may have caused the OP's issue.

????? How can you manually adjust them if you have that much run out? You have the same thing as far as shoes and the drum in relation to run out on either. The shoes do not know if that star wheel was turned by you with a spoon or the adjusting cam, and the adjuster is not going to just keep cranking on it to lcok up no matter what the run out is, thats not how they're designed.

When you manual adjust, you simply stop when the high spot starts grabbing, self adjusters will adjust if it moves a certain amount. That is how they are designed. If the amount of play is reached at one portion of the drum the adjustment takes place and grabbing can result.

Good luck with all that wasted grease in the hub, I'm sure that it will know to stay in there and off the brakes.

Self adjusting brakes and grease fittings on hubs are, in my worthless opinion, just sales gimmicks.

"Self adjusting brakes and grease fittings on hubs are, in my worthless opinion, just sales gimmicks."

Glad the auto industry didn't feel that way about self-adjusting brakes.

And I have a triple axle toyhauler. I have no desire to spend a couple afternoons checking/adjusting brakes and pulling wheels to lube them when there are alternatives that work just fine.

I wanted to revisit my topic to share with everyone what I found out this past weekend. Mother Nature finally gave me a chance to get in there and investigate. What I found was a bit of a surprise, keeping in mind that my TT is less than a year old and very low miles. The arm that holds the magnet, that moves and pushes the brake pads out to make contact with the drum, the bushing in that arm is worn out and oval shaped causing way too much play in the entire arm. When the brakes are applied and then released the arm would then get stuck on the brake pad assembly preventing the brakes from being completely released. After some searching I actually found a YouTube video concerning this problem on a high mileage utility trailer. Other than that everything else was still in new condition and dry of grease.

Next I contacted Lippert (LCI) and made a warranty claim with them. To my surprise this went much better than I ever expected. I explained my problem to the Customer Service Rep, who told me that this was only the second time he had ever heard of this on a new TT. After provided him with the necessary information about my TT he sent it over to the Parts Department and had them send me two entire brake and hub assemblies, everything included, no questions asked. He suggested that I change everything on both ends of the same axle that way braking would be matched. So my first experience with Lippert was a pleasant one and my problem should soon be fixed, giving me back my peace of mind. Hope this helps someone in the future.

azdryheat wrote:
And don't forget to manually adjust your brakes every 3,000 miles per Dexter.

Why don't rv trailer manufacturers equip our trailers with self-adjusting brakes? Checking Dexter's website I find there is a $3 difference in retail list price (single brake) between non and self adjusting brakes.

Wait, auto brakes go 40-60k miles routinely without adjustment but Dexter wants you to do it every 3k miles?!? Yeah, auto adjusters aren't a gimmick based on that, they're a necessity. I didn't buy a trailer to be pulling off the wheels 3x a year to mess with the brakes, I bought it to enjoy my free time in the outdoors.

afidel wrote:

azdryheat wrote:
And don't forget to manually adjust your brakes every 3,000 miles per Dexter.

Why don't rv trailer manufacturers equip our trailers with self-adjusting brakes? Checking Dexter's website I find there is a $3 difference in retail list price (single brake) between non and self adjusting brakes.

Wait, auto brakes go 40-60k miles routinely without adjustment but Dexter wants you to do it every 3k miles?!? Yeah, auto adjusters aren't a gimmick based on that, they're a necessity. I didn't buy a trailer to be pulling off the wheels 3x a year to mess with the brakes, I bought it to enjoy my free time in the outdoors.

You would do well to learn how trailer brakes work, before the enjoyment of free time comes to an abrupt end.