Brakes Broken On The Road

Gdetrailer wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
No accidents, no world ending crash, no one killed or maimed, no ambulance chasing lawyers chasing me down.

Getting away with something and it being a good idea are different things.

Do you go 1 MPH over the speed limit?

That is also not a good idea and I suspect that you and pretty much everyone else reading this forum (including myself)has been guilty of at least one time doing that in your, theirs and my lifetime.

Ironically, studies show the safest speed is going about 5mph above the average but since everyone can't go faster than the average...without changing the average, keeping pace with traffic if your best bet.

But in reality having a faulty brake and going a couple mph above the speed limit are very different things.

As mentioned in my first post, depends greatly on when and where you are driving.

Gdetrailer wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
No accidents, no world ending crash, no one killed or maimed, no ambulance chasing lawyers chasing me down.

Getting away with something and it being a good idea are different things.

Do you go 1 MPH over the speed limit?

That is also not a good idea and I suspect that you and pretty much everyone else reading this forum (including myself)has been guilty of at least one time doing that in your, theirs and my lifetime.

Every day you are able to wake up ABOVE the ground, you are "cheating" death or "getting one over death" each time.

There was also a time where vehicles had no seat belts, no air bags, no ABS, no blackbox nanny to tattle tell on you if you went 1 MPH over the speed limit.. heck as a kid, I rode on my parents lap in vehicles which had all steel dashes and yes, lived to tell the tale of it.

One trailer brake down out of four does not constitute an emergency, it does mean one needs to adjust/adapt their driving style to the situation and drive more cautious. The vehicles brakes unless you are severely way overloaded to start with are sufficient to handle the vehicle weight plus some of the weight of the trailer.. You simply will not be able to stop as fast and it will take longer distance to stop.. Keeping the towing speed LOW (IE under the speed limit) reduces the stopping distance even with partially impaired trailer brakes.

There ARE times where making repairs to full brakes is not safe or possible. OP has a real oddball and would need to find a trailer dealer that deals with Lippert 4,400 lb axles.. Most trailer shops deal with Dexter or the more popular Lippert 3,500 or Lippert 5,000 lb axles and will have those parts in stock.. That 4,400 lb axle is a pretty specific need and OP most likely will need to order and wait on the parts.

My case, it wasn't safe to pull off on the side of a highway on the berm with vehicles zooming past at 70MPH-80MPH till I figured out if it was wiring or failed part inside the drum.. People routinely get KILLED changing tires on the side of the road daily..

No brakes at all on the trailer would be entirely different conversation and is not the case of the OPs situation.

Oh the humanity.......

Everyone will be happy to know that I found a replacement backing plate will all the braking components at a RV Parts Warehouse on Monday morning. Got it installed and all is good.

The interesting thing is that between the four guys that worked there not one had seen or heard of this happening before.

Here are some pics

Grit dog wrote:
Not speaking about the OP in this thread. Legit question and concern

agree.. and considering the first response was telling him to remove or change his post for liability reasons....????:S

valhalla360 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
No accidents, no world ending crash, no one killed or maimed, no ambulance chasing lawyers chasing me down.

Getting away with something and it being a good idea are different things.

Do you go 1 MPH over the speed limit?

That is also not a good idea and I suspect that you and pretty much everyone else reading this forum (including myself)has been guilty of at least one time doing that in your, theirs and my lifetime.

Every day you are able to wake up ABOVE the ground, you are "cheating" death or "getting one over death" each time.

There was also a time where vehicles had no seat belts, no air bags, no ABS, no blackbox nanny to tattle tell on you if you went 1 MPH over the speed limit.. heck as a kid, I rode on my parents lap in vehicles which had all steel dashes and yes, lived to tell the tale of it.

One trailer brake down out of four does not constitute an emergency, it does mean one needs to adjust/adapt their driving style to the situation and drive more cautious. The vehicles brakes unless you are severely way overloaded to start with are sufficient to handle the vehicle weight plus some of the weight of the trailer.. You simply will not be able to stop as fast and it will take longer distance to stop.. Keeping the towing speed LOW (IE under the speed limit) reduces the stopping distance even with partially impaired trailer brakes.

There ARE times where making repairs to full brakes is not safe or possible. OP has a real oddball and would need to find a trailer dealer that deals with Lippert 4,400 lb axles.. Most trailer shops deal with Dexter or the more popular Lippert 3,500 or Lippert 5,000 lb axles and will have those parts in stock.. That 4,400 lb axle is a pretty specific need and OP most likely will need to order and wait on the parts.

My case, it wasn't safe to pull off on the side of a highway on the berm with vehicles zooming past at 70MPH-80MPH till I figured out if it was wiring or failed part inside the drum.. People routinely get KILLED changing tires on the side of the road daily..

No brakes at all on the trailer would be entirely different conversation and is not the case of the OPs situation.

Gdetrailer wrote:
No accidents, no world ending crash, no one killed or maimed, no ambulance chasing lawyers chasing me down.

Getting away with something and it being a good idea are different things.

Looks like you have a real oddball.

From what I have been reading 4400 lb Lippert axle parts do not and will not interchange with 3,500 lb axle parts and parts for Dexter will not work either.

Found some Lippert backing plates HERE at Amazon. Sadly that is a complete kit with drums making it a very expensive repair.

You can check with Southwest Wheel (the vendor in the Amazon link) to see if they have just the backing plates.

Another source is Etrailer, but all I could find was self adjusting backing plates for $400..

No matter where you buy them, it is very good practice to replace both sides of the same axle. This keeps your braking much more even.

As far as running without parts on the bad backing plate goes, it is your choice and your business. Way too many over the toppers here.. I have had several times a wire to a magnet break during a trip and was not able to pull off the road and troubleshoot.. Felt the trailer tug to the side which still had two brakes working. No accidents, no world ending crash, no one killed or maimed, no ambulance chasing lawyers chasing me down.

If you proceed, you most likely will feel the trailer pull or tug to the side which has two brakes working if you have your brakes setup well. So basically be prepared for that odd feel on the steering wheel and try not to over compensate which could create a bob and weave situation each time the brakes are applied and released..

The biggest hazard with only three brakes in operation is if you must make emergency maneuvers which may require stomping on the brakes at high speed then releasing them fast can pull you off the road or across the road into oncoming traffic.

For the above reason, it can make sense to disable the brake on the opposite side on the same axle.

Since you would only have half the braking power you will need to take your time, drive a bit slower, anticipate that you will need to stop at every stop light and stop sign well ahead of your normal stopping distance. Leave much more room for the impatient drivers as those are the ones that will ultimately pull a bone head stunt that you might not be able to prevent.

Not speaking about the OP in this thread. Legit question and concern

PButler96 wrote:

cptqueeg wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
^^^^ WHAT ????? :h. :h

Liability in case he wrecks.

Oh brother.....

ROFLMAO.

Apparently a couple of the folks here got abducted by aliens yesterday, as evidenced by the dumb responses or questions that make no sense…lol.
It happens.

Where will you be towing and when?

Rural flatland, I would be more tempted to just go slow and leave lots of space in front of you.

Twisty turny mountain roads or rush hour major city driving...get the brakes fixed.