brake shoes

I find that unusual. Did you buy the trailer new to know the brakes only have 10K miles on them? I find the self-adjusting version run warmer as the shoe is always rubbing and have replaced mine with manual adjust versions.

You did not say how old the trailer is but an awful lot of trailers have been produced with manually adjusted brakes and then lots more with reverse adjusting brakes. The newer forward adjusting brakes tend to be better but a yearly check when you repack the bearings and put a new seal in can give you an insight into how well adjusted your brakes are. You seem to have one that was adjusted too loose compared to the others and that is why it still has material left.
When was the last time you checked them?

its a 2002 model and i did buy it new
it has manual adjusting brakes
several years since i have checked them as we only camp 1 time a year for a month at a time and its only about 250 mile round trip

dessa1930 wrote:
its a 2002 model and i did buy it new
it has manual adjusting brakes
several years since i have checked them as we only camp 1 time a year for a month at a time and its only about 250 mile round trip

You’re insinuating that last time you checked them they didn’t show a great amount of wear?
But you must’ve noticed they didn’t work right for how long?
Regardless, none of that matters it’s 20 years old and from what you’ve described, no one could say whether that is expected or not.

Have seen several where the linings come off the shoe itself then break into small enough pieces to come out of the drum. Most found when checking wheel bearings and not a brake complaint. seems like the bonding agent failed to hold the lining. Some still had the lining loose inside the drum.

No that's not normal. I have a 40' fifthwheel and have over 40,000 cross country mls on it and pads still looked good. I just changed over to disk brakes. I would say you're dragging your brakes or you have too much brake in you brake adjustment in your truck if they wore out that quick

dessa1930 wrote:
its a 2002 model and i did buy it new
it has manual adjusting brakes
several years since i have checked them as we only camp 1 time a year for a month at a time and its only about 250 mile round trip

Brake material gets brittle as it gets old. So it may have just broken apart while driving/braking over the last few years.

After having the linings come off the shoes 3 years in a row and taking out the drums the 3rd time, I bit the bullet and installed disc brakes. It was going to be $1300 to replace all the brakes and drums, I bought everything to install disc brakes for $1600. It took less than a day to install, and haven't looked back.

Should be able to get much more than 10,000 miles on drum brakes.

eHoefler wrote:
After having the linings come off the shoes 3 years in a row and taking out the drums the 3rd time, I bit the bullet and installed disc brakes. It was going to be $1300 to replace all the brakes and drums, I bought everything to install disc brakes for $1600. It took less than a day to install, and haven't looked back.

I did the same. Very pleased. Far superior braking and easier maintenance.
If keeping the trailer this is a great value.