Brake Upgrade

well dexter 3500 ales are way off the budget, so I'm stuck with optimizing the 7 inch brakes. or finding a bearing that will fit between the spindle and the 10 inch drum/hub

funny thing is that the manufacturers' brochure says that the tt came with 10 inch brakes

I've had snowmobile and camping trailers with the 7" brakes for 39 years. They are nothing but trouble. One issue that has been the most frequent is the clip that holds the magnet comes off. While you would think that there is not enough room for the magnet to come off the post, they will. My solution was to silver solder the clip in place. To do this, place a large washer over the magnet to protect it, and push the magnet back exposing the clip.

I had adjusters where the teeth would just crumble and those parts are no longer sold separately. I made my own adjusters from stainless steel. Lube the threads with anti-seize.

I have tried brands other than Dexter, but had magnet wires break off first trip. There is no good answer that I have found. Over 30 years ago, the brake shoes had riveted linings and generally were made better. They worked well, but there was only 1/32 of lining above the rivets and needed replaced every time you looked at them.

well a new update, one of the magnets wasn't doing anything, vom shows infinite resistence, so its burnt out

got a new magnet, wired it up with new cable from the junction box. now both brakes on the drivers side have a good solid connection and I get a solid "clunk" when I power the breakaway system with two brakes energized

so now I have both driver's side brakes fed by a new 12 ga cable, now I'm going to run a new cable from the junction box to the curb side brakes

I'm stripping and soldering all splices, i'll cover them with heat shrink stuff when its done, ive also added a return wire from every wheel, this will eliminate any grounding issues

ive had the entire system apart, right down to the shoes off the backing plates.

10 inch brake/drums use a different spindle than the 7 inch so bearings are not compatible

Have you pulled the hubs?

I heard back from dexter, apparently that axle wasn't available with 10 inch brakes.

but husky has brakes that would appear to fit ok

Best bet is to call Dexter directly and ask if the 10" brakes can be fitted to your axle. If not, you're looking at a new 3500# axle.