New brakes are hopping

[tomthyme]

Well, I had some new brakes installed on my rig. They are electric drums on a 16k carriage cameo. On the way home from the shop today, I had to stop quickly. The rig started hopping like crazy. I backed down the gain and it got a little better. I eventually backed off almost 50%.

So, was the hopping caused by too much gain and my brakes locking up? Or was it something else?

Thanks so much folks!

[Maine-iacs]

tomthyme wrote:
All I know is that I spent $1100 and now it at least tries to stop way better than before. I'm guessing the hopping is not where I want to be, but after adjusting down to 6.5 from 10, things are getting better.

Tom

It's getting to be time to do the brakes on my rig. Is $1,100. a low, average or high price? Hoping for lots of folks to chime in here.

[Denny___Jami]

After 12 years and around 90K miles our Dexter HD (12.1/4 x 3 3/8 shoes) they were wore out and it was cheaper to change to disk but I did it myself, $1750 for all the parts and material for 8K 13" disks.

Denny

[tomthyme]

Thanks Denny for the info! That is very helpful.

Yeah - disc brakes are definitely preferred but we needed to cap the spending on this round. I look forward to moving to disk brakes in the next couple of years.

Thanks again for your help.

Tom

[Denny___Jami]

tomthyme wrote:

45Ricochet wrote:
Glad to see you found the problem since your last thread. Just wondering what was your brake problem?

Well, from what I'm told by our dear friends at CW, I burned through 4 magnet/brake backings and 2 of 4 drums in about 5,000 miles. I looked at the 2 drums that had to be replaced, and there were serious grooves in the drum inner wall. I also looked at the backing plate (as if I knew what I was doing) but wasn't sure what was wrong there.

All I know is that I spent $1100 and now it at least tries to stop way better than before. I'm guessing the hopping is not where I want to be, but after adjusting down to 6.5 from 10, things are getting better.



I still need to check the suspension before our Memorial Day trip.

But we just got her out of the body shop, moved ot 17.5 inch wheels/tires, replaced the brakes, had her detailed and can't wait to get out in her.

Dang....this is fun....pricey, but fun.....

Thanks guys!
Tom

The groves where the magnets ride on the drums will cause excess magnet wear and damage the arm they ride on. You will also get poor braking and maybe some surging until the magnet wears into the groves in the drum. With my Dexter HD brakes and grooved areas where my magnets ride I used up a few magnets but never had the problems you were describing. Not seeing them mounted on the axles best guess would be something was mounted wrong the first time.

I solved my grooved drums by converting to Kodiak disk brakes instead of throwing money at outdated mechanical nightmares called electric brakes.

Denny

[Denny___Jami]

tomthyme wrote:

Denny & Jami wrote:

Sounds like the primary and secondary shoes are reversed.

Denny

Soooooo, which should be the primary and which should be the secondary? Is it a front/rear axle thing.....based on physics, that would makes sense.....

The front shoe is the secondary and normally has a smaller surface, the rear shoe dose 90% of the braking. When the magnet moves the front shoe out it contacts the drum first pushing the back shoe hard against the drum. If you look at the backing plate you will see that the top of the back shoe is solid against the pin were the front shoe pivots out with the arm. The solid shoe dose the braking going forward, if the shoes are reversed it will a case a chatter. If they replaced the hole backing plate and got right and left sides reversed that will also cause all sorts of problems, the magnet arm should be to the front.

Denny

[tomthyme]

45Ricochet wrote:
Glad to see you found the problem since your last thread. Just wondering what was your brake problem?

Well, from what I'm told by our dear friends at CW, I burned through 4 magnet/brake backings and 2 of 4 drums in about 5,000 miles. I looked at the 2 drums that had to be replaced, and there were serious grooves in the drum inner wall. I also looked at the backing plate (as if I knew what I was doing) but wasn't sure what was wrong there.

All I know is that I spent $1100 and now it at least tries to stop way better than before. I'm guessing the hopping is not where I want to be, but after adjusting down to 6.5 from 10, things are getting better.

I still need to check the suspension before our Memorial Day trip.

But we just got her out of the body shop, moved ot 17.5 inch wheels/tires, replaced the brakes, had her detailed and can't wait to get out in her.

Dang....this is fun....pricey, but fun.....

Thanks guys!
Tom

[RCMAN46]

New brakes do not have full contact with the brake drums.

After a couple hundred miles with the gain set low they will wear in and you should be able to increase the gain to about where it was before the brake replacement.

[tomthyme]

Denny & Jami wrote:

Sounds like the primary and secondary shoes are reversed.

Denny

Soooooo, which should be the primary and which should be the secondary? Is it a front/rear axle thing.....based on physics, that would makes sense.....

[Denny___Jami]

tomthyme wrote:
Well, I had some new brakes installed on my rig. They are electric drums on a 16k carriage cameo. On the way home from the shop today, I had to stop quickly. The rig started hopping like crazy. I backed down the gain and it got a little better. I eventually backed off almost 50%.

So, was the hopping caused by too much gain and my brakes locking up? Or was it something else?

Thanks so much folks!

Sounds like the primary and secondary shoes are reversed.

Denny

[laknox]

45Ricochet wrote:
Glad to see you found the problem since your last thread. Just wondering what was your brake problem?
And yes I agree, to much gain. You should be pulling right about 6 volts with the new brake backs.

Oh yeah a broken shackle and a nice upgrade to wet bolts on the left.

A "spring hangar" is the solid piece that's welded to the frame that holds the top of the "spring shackle". 🙂 "Spring perch" is where the spring pack attaches to the axle.

Lyle

[45Ricochet]

Glad to see you found the problem since your last thread. Just wondering what was your brake problem?
And yes I agree, to much gain. You should be pulling right about 6 volts with the new brake backs.

Oh yeah a broken shackle and a nice upgrade to wet bolts on the left.

[tomthyme]

Thanks all! Now I just have to figure out what a shackle is....lol....:)

[SkiSmuggs]

Sounds like you got all the good advice you need, other than to read up on how to set the gain.

[DennisVR]

I would say it was the gain. You had it set for the old brakes and it was set to high for the new ones. I would agree with the above poster to check all the suspension parts also. I inspected mine and found broken shackles.