2014 Dutchmen Travel Trailer Brake Adjustment

[billcard]

Hi.

I performed a search of the forum but couldn't find anything that spoke directly to this question so I hope you don't mind my posting it.

My intent is to do full-time RVing when I retire in about five years so I bought my truck and travel trailer last month so I had time to pay them off.

So this is my first experience with a travel trailer in a long, long time. I'm admittedly a neophyte.

The trailer is a 2014 Dutchmen 202RBS that was supposedly brand new. However, I found lots of rust on the frame, suspension, and wheels and very sloppy silicon treatments on the "roof." I could deal with those (assumed it must have been that the trailer just sat in their lot for ages) but here's the real problem: Combo brakes.

My truck has the standard Ford tow/haul kit. I can set the gain easily using the dash control (pinching the two parts together and using the + and - buttons to make adjustments.

Additionally, the truck has a two assist "pressure" setting for which I can select low, medium, and high.

The owners manual says to set the gain to 5 as the default starting position and the pressure to low to begin testing the brakes, which I did. Took the rig up to about 25-30mph and applied the control pincers: No indication of any trailer braking.

Investigation showed that one of the pair of female pins in the trailer electrical coupling were bent to the side so I straightened them and insured that the coupling had no other issues, cleaned the contacts, then re-coupled the truck and trailer and tried again.

Now I could feel some drag on the rig when I applied the truck's pincers but still not what I'd expect. I adjusted the gain up to 8 and the rig still demonstrated minimal braking when I pinched the control.

I'm assuming the pressure setting on "low" means that I'll need to use minimal pressure on the truck brakes to activate the trailer brakes so I've left that setting on low.

Called Dutchmen to see if light brakes are normal: Definitely not, they said; take it to a Dutchmen-authorized dealer for diagnosis.

Looked online for instructions on adjusting the brakes myself and there are a lot of them that tell how to adjust them via the star gear/wheel.

Raised one wheel as instructed and popped off the two bottom dust covers and searched for the star wheel. No wheel. Spring, yes. Silver guide for the spring, yes. No star wheel. Didn't check another wheel because I'd been told, when I called around for a service appointment to adjust the brakes, that modern trailers don't have the star gear anymore. They're electronic and use magnets.

Well, all of the instruction that I saw for electric trailer brakes indicated that there were magnets, yes, but still indicated that there was a star-wheel and the means to adjust the actual brake shoes. That also seems logical to me since even electric brakes shouldn't completely bypass the mechanical braking system (but I could be way off on that).

So all of this is to ask you about your experience with electric trailer brakes:

1. Should I be finding a star-gear in my trailer's brakes? (Dual axle)

2. Would it be an actual star shape like brakes have had for so many decades or am I just not seeing it because its appearance is foreign to me?

3. Should I be able to adjust the brake shoes myself and save myself the money and time that I'd have spent on having the dealer do my adjustments? Or should I leave that to the dealer?

4. If yes to the previous questions, if I cannot find a star-gear in the wheel, what do you suggest? Pulling the wheel and opening the drum? I hate to do that for fear of contamination and I am a novice so have some trepidation but, if that's all that can be done, then I'll give it a try.

Any guidance you might offer will be extremely appreciated!

Thanks!

bc

[AlbertaNewbie]

Also, low on the gain adjustment means low power to brakes, if you put it to medium you'll get more trailer braking power and likely lower gain.

[billcard]

What an adventure and learning experience!

Based on what you folks taught me, I determined to track down whether or not my rig had electric brakes and where the star wheel would be on those brakes.

Dutchmen's customer service didn't know much about the trailer at all but I finally found out the three axle manufacturers that might have provided the axles for my trailer.

Since almost everything else on the trailer is Lippert Components so I tried contacting them directly. They needed the serial number on the axle (didn't even know they had such a thing) which I went home to get and then called them back with and, after some intense cross-referencing, they were able to tell me what axle type my specific, individual trailer had. Whahoo!

10" electric brakes, self-adjusting, with star wheels offset so far on the images provided that no wonder I couldn't see them through the adjustment holes on the drum.

They were forward-adjusting but no one even knew what that meant. However, I did download the manual for the axles and, while that didn't tell me what forward-adjusting meant (I assume it's supposed to adjust as you drive forward), I did read that, BEFORE adjusting the brakes, I needed to "seat" them by performing 20 fast brake applications in which I'd slow down 20mph each time.

For good measure, I took the rig to a church parking lot near home and backed it up several times in case forward-self-adjusting brakes are still adjusted by backing up) and then towed the rig to a long stretch of highway and performed many seating brake sequences and, by the time I had the trailer back home, I had brakes sufficient to be able to reduce my truck's gain to the default 6 setting.

So I'm good, but I've still purchased an offset brake adjustment tool (what the manual said I'd need to reach the star wheel) and will adjust the brakes manually just to be sure they're all set properly when I'm winterizing the rig.

Oh, and the manual indicated that, to adjust the brakes, I'd have to use two tools or two screwdrivers or a combo of each to lift the self-adjuster off of the star wheel.

Amazing what you can learn when you actually find the manufacturer and download the actual user manual where everything is explained in detail!

While I was on the Lippert Components site I also downloaded manuals for the electric stabilizing jacks and the power tongue jack.

So, thank again to all of you as the combination of your helpful suggestions and graphics and links resulted in my being able to know enough to dig deep enough to find the resource I needed.

Appreciatecha!

[billcard]

You folks are absolutely terrific!!! Thank you so much!

So I wonder if I do have self-adjusting brakes since the spring is much thinner and longer than the one shown in the image and it's stand-alone, not wrapped around anything.

And/or it could be that I just didn't look far enough to one side.

I'll hook up and back up some this evening to see if the self-adjustment works and then I'll pop off the dust covers again and check a couple of the wheels to see if there are differences which could suggest worn or broken parts. I couldn't see any rust through the adjustment slots but they aren't very big and my flashlight wasn't that bright. Worth checking.

So thank you again for your prompt feedback. Now I have some things to do to possibly alleviate the problem. I'll report back.

I'd subscribed to this thread but never got any notices so would never have known of your replies had I not thought to check back just now. Glad I did!

Appreciatecha!

bc

[Carb_Cleaner]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
ALL drum brakes have an adjustor.......even ones that are self adjusting.

Well. Right you are. I learned something about trailer brakes, today.

[westend]

The star wheel is probably offset from the center of the hole. Here is a diagram of a typical brake assembly. The star wheel is located on part #7, adjuster assembly.

[Old-Biscuit]

ALL drum brakes have an adjustor.......even ones that are self adjusting.
Some adjustors are harder to get at due to position of spring that holds primary and secondary shoes against adjustor.

Use a strong flashlight on narrow beam...shine it thru one of the slots so you can see where to engage adjustor

Some self-adjusting brakes adjust going forward...some backwards...some either direction.

With all the rust that is evident on that 5vr I would at least pull one drum off and inspect components........shoes/magnets could be rusted up.

[Carb_Cleaner]

Are you sure they're not self-adjusting brakes? Back the trailer up a few times and see if they get tighter.
Maybe this'll help. Springs, but no adjusting wheel:
http://www.etrailer.com/question-13954.html

[the_bear_II]

Yes they have a star just like drum brakes on a car. There is a magnet but you can use the star to adjust the brakes. By the way you need to use the star to pull the shoes in in order to remove the drum. There is a lip that won't allow the drum to come off unless the brakes shoes have been adjusted in.

You can do it yourself. The star will be a little off center of the hole so you'll need an offset adjusting tool.

You want the brake shoe to just barely rub the drum as you spin the tire. You'll hear "Shoe Shoe Shoe.." as you spin the tire.

If you adjust the brakes and still aren't getting a strong brake feel you may need an aftermarket controller. Some folks have had problems with the factory supplied untis.