replacing brakes on 1 of 4 wheels?

[TundraTower]

Relatively new 5,400 # Dexter axles and drums on our TT, have less than 2,000 miles.

I developed had a grease leak on one wheel and that brake locked up so much it ruined a tire in 350 miles. I took it apart and replaced the grease seal, and cleaned shoes and drum with red-label brake cleaner, then laquer thinner, then more brake cleaner. Just took it for a test drive today and that one wheel is still grabbing.

SO, looks like I need to replace the shoes on that one wheel. I've never replaced brake shoes on just one side of an axle, but given how new the axles are I can't see why not. The other side of this axle is doing fine.

I know the braking on that axle will be uneven for awhile until the new shoes on one side conform to the radius of the drum, but I was thinking about using a belt sander to try to shape the new shoes to hasten that wear-in.

Anyone ever tried just replacing brakes on one side of an axle? Any reason not to?

Am I missing anything else to stop the grabbing/sliding on this side?

Thanks

[BarneyS]

JaneSiver wrote:
Trailer brakes not locking up. Advice on what to test next?
Snip.... Tested again: still no lock-up. Leaving for a major trip over the Sierras in 4 days. What should I test next?

A lot depends on what the weight of your trailer is and the surface you are towing it on. A light trailer on gravel or wet surface may very well lock up the brakes but a heavy trailer on dry pavement probably will not - especially if they are drum brakes like come on most new trailers. In addition, as already mentioned, the wiring is marginal and braking performance can be greatly increased by increasing the wire size, better connections, and changing the wiring scheme. There are several excellent threads about that subject here on the forums on how to do that.

Here is one.

Here is another.

And another.
Barney

[Lynnmor]

The wiring to the trailer brakes is often too small. For better brake performance, install heavier gauge wires.

While the manufacture recommends doing a burnishing procedure, remember that the magnets have not yet seated and they might cause the armature surface to be gouged by the heavy usage. After seeing first hand the damage, I will no longer use the brakes heavily till the magnets first seat.

[time2roll]

JaneSiver wrote:
Trailer brakes not locking up. Advice on what to test next?
The controller is a Tekonsha Prodigy P3 buy it on boodmo. Manual override prompts brakes to activate but not lock up. I took the trailer into a Les Schwab for inspection; ended up re-packing the bearings and replacing the rear axle brake assemblies. Front axle assemblies were dirty but still had life on the magnets. Tested again: still no lock-up. Leaving for a major trip over the Sierras in 4 days. What should I test next?

Not all electric/drum trailer brakes lock up. Assuming the controller is on max during your testing... my next check would be to put your clamp-on DC ammeter on each wire to each wheel to see if you are getting close to 3 amps while someone activates the manual lever. Good excuse to get a new tool if you need it. But honestly if the braking is close to neutral (no push or pull) you should be fine for the trip. Although best to stay off Ebbett's or Sonora Pass 😉

[TundraTower]

You have to "burnish" the new brake shoes to make them fit contour of brake drums - 20 stops from 40 to 20 mph. My 2 new ones above were weak until i did this then readjusted.

[JaneSiver]

Trailer brakes not locking up. Advice on what to test next?
The controller is a Tekonsha Prodigy P3 buy it on Boodmo. Manual override prompts brakes to activate but not lock up. I took the trailer into a Les Schwab for inspection; ended up re-packing the bearings and replacing the rear axle brake assemblies. Front axle assemblies were dirty but still had life on the magnets. Tested again: still no lock-up. Leaving for a major trip over the Sierras in 4 days. What should I test next?

[TundraTower]

Just to close the loop, replaced brakes on both ends of that axle last night using backplate assemblies from Dexter.

Took it today for the 20 stops required to burnish them in and then readjusted. Next camping trip is next Friday.

Thanks for the comments and insights.

(PS:. For what it's worth, Dexter has modified their brake assembly slightly since I bought these axles 3/17. Now 1 long spring between the shoes on top that replaces 2 springs between top post and each brake shoe. Same dexster part #)

[Vintage465]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Vintage465 wrote:
I'm going to disagree with previous posts. Electric trailer brakes are very "individual" in operation even thought they all receive the same brake signal from the controller. If one brake is slightly out of adjustment, it will just take longer to start braking compared to the other brakes on the axles. If one is worn less, meaning the new one, it may brake sooner when it get the signal if the other three aren't adjusted up to par. If the other brakes are not worn much, I don't see a reason to replace any more than the one side that gooped up...

Have to disagree.

Electric brakes while not connected physically together (hydraulic or physical mechanical wire) MUST REACT THE SAME WAY AT THE SAME TIME.

You simply cannot have one side lead or lag, they MUST work in UNISON.

Putting a new set of brake shoes on one side WILL result in the OPPOSITE SIDE PULLING YOU TO THAT SIDE (the side of the old shoes) UNTIL THE NEW SIDE BRAKE SHOES GET FULLY BEDDED IN.

Takes time to get the shoes to fully fit your worn drum surface.

For that reason IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AND COMMON PRACTICE TO ALWAYS CHANGE BRAKE COMPONENTS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AXLE.

Can you change just one? SURE, BUT you will have to deal with the brakes not working in unison until enough of the shoes worn down to fully make 100% contact with the drums..

The result will be slightly annoying to down right dangerous, take your pick and take your chances.

I won't do it, not safe to have the trailer suddenly attempt to pull you to the side each time you apply the brakes..

All True, but if you just make sure they are adjusted up correctly on all four wheels all is good. Also, I didn't mention it, but I am assuming that the other three are at least 75% remaining.

[Huntindog]

TundraTower wrote:
No wiring problems - my problem was caused by grease leak. I've already taken that hub apart a few weeks ago when I swapped the tire. No question the shoes and drum were coated with grease. That's when I cleaned everything up hoping I could salvage the shoes.

I took the trailer out for a 20 mile drive yesterday to be sure it worked and.....well, it didn't. That tire still slides. But I can manually apply the brake slowly and the trailer will slow the truck down, but if I come down hard on the brakes that one blasted wheel still slides. And yes, I checked the adjustment on all 4 during my drive yesterday. The left front is grabbing, and the other 3 are working as they should.

I have to admit that you created enough question in my mind that I went and found our trip logs and added it up actual mileage. Setting my declining memory aside, these new axles and current shoes really have 3,400 miles on them, not the 1,800 miles I put in the original post.

3,400 miles is a long way from being worn out, but even I have to admit it is significant. As bad as I hate to, I'll go ahead and replace both sides on the forward axle.

And for those of you old enough to remember the ORIGINAL Saturday Night Live: In the immortal words of Rosanna-Rosanna Dana: "Never mind".

FWIW Depending on your usage 3400 miles might not be much at all. I have never even come close to wearing out shoes... In fact it is rare for them to need adjusting. And this is with towing a LOT of miles. The secret is highway miles. Little to no brake usage for hundreds of miles.

YMMV

[TundraTower]

No wiring problems - my problem was caused by grease leak. I've already taken that hub apart a few weeks ago when I swapped the tire. No question the shoes and drum were coated with grease. That's when I cleaned everything up hoping I could salvage the shoes.

I took the trailer out for a 20 mile drive yesterday to be sure it worked and.....well, it didn't. That tire still slides. But I can manually apply the brake slowly and the trailer will slow the truck down, but if I come down hard on the brakes that one blasted wheel still slides. And yes, I checked the adjustment on all 4 during my drive yesterday. The left front is grabbing, and the other 3 are working as they should.

I have to admit that you created enough question in my mind that I went and found our trip logs and added it up actual mileage. Setting my declining memory aside, these new axles and current shoes really have 3,400 miles on them, not the 1,800 miles I put in the original post.

3,400 miles is a long way from being worn out, but even I have to admit it is significant. As bad as I hate to, I'll go ahead and replace both sides on the forward axle.

And for those of you old enough to remember the ORIGINAL Saturday Night Live: In the immortal words of Rosanna-Rosanna Dana: "Never mind".

[Huntindog]

Grease gets into the pores of the shoes and makes them grabby, it does the same thing to the magnet.
It also gets into the pores of the drum. You can "turn" the drum to get down to uncontaiminated metal, but the magnet surface would also need to be resurfaced... Drums are pretty cheap, so turning them will probably not be cost effective.

You can try it without replacing the drum at the risk of having to do the job over.

I had a 96 dodge manual trans. The engine had a leaking rear main seal. After the repair, the clutch was still grabby. Took it back and they replaced the clutch disc. It was still grabby. After some discussion with Dodges warranty dept. they replaced the clutch disc(again) the pressure plate, and the flywheel. That fixed it.

As far as only doing one wheel. With such low miles and using factory parts.... It will likely be fine. Give it a try. If it doesn't perform properly, you can always do the other one then

[WayneAt63044]

I'm a bit confused but does grease on a brake make it grab or slip?
I recently experienced a grabbing brake (tire squeal) and found a brake wire broken which eliminated the others from working. Could you have a wiring problem?
True story: I had a brake spring break applying some braking leaving Capital Reef in Utah. It made the trip up to the lookout on southbound route 12 a bear and heated things up & melted off the lug nut covers. I removed the destroyed brake and lubed the bearings and drove to Mesa, AZ with only 3 brakes. I could not tell a difference while braking when compared to all 4 working. This tells me you may have more of an electrical issue than greased brakes ruining a tire.

[Lynnmor]

I bought a new, PA State Inspected, trailer with one brake not connected. I didn't go ten miles till a nice young lady came up a ramp and forced her way in and then jumped on the brakes. The trailer did get slightly out of line, but I thought that under the circumstances it was only the panic braking. Once home I found the brand new, unused brake.

It sounds like the OP has things under control and does understand the variables.

[time2roll]

Gdetrailer wrote:

time2roll wrote:
I would just replace the one corner and see what goes. Not near as big a deal to have everything perfectly balanced and matching on a trailer vs the tow vehicle.

When you experience having just "one" brake magnet wire breaking off while you are driving you WILL fully understand just how ONE missing or subpar brake CAN and WILL affect your tow vehicle...

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT.

Actually I have had a single corner with a broken wire. Would have never known except was noticed when doing other maintenance.

OP drove his trailer with a malfunctioning brake long enough to destroy a tire. No mention of handling was a concern.

[Gdetrailer]

TundraTower wrote:
OP here. Thanks for the input so far.

The axles are 18 month-old Dexters and I have in stock TWO complete backing plate brake assemblies, left and right, bought from Dexter. So surely the brake material would be the same.

I am not familiar with this phenomenon mentioned of the trailer pulling the truck to one side due to uneven braking. I'm not saying it isn't real, I've just never heard of it nor experienced it. This is a 8K TT being pulled by a 3/4 ton diesel chevy that weighs 10K. On the last trip, with this one tire locking up enough to ruin the tire, I never felt anything (didn't hear it either).

As far as I can tell the original seal that came with the axle failed. This axle was ordered special WITHOUT the zerk fittings, and without the auto adjust nonsense. Just a good old plain axle with electric brakes.

Doing both sides is a PITA and with the low miles I question if needed. Yes braking will be somewhat uneven until seated, but at least I'll have 75% of my brakes. If I replace both, then I'm down to 50% normal brakes until they wear in.

Thanks for your comments. I'm still deciding.

Depending on the amount of miles already driven in the 18 months you may find yourself already in the situation of the old brakes may now fell grabby compared to the new brakes.

You might get lucky to not feel it, but then again you might not be so lucky.

Your call, do one and take the risk of having to correct via steering input at every braking event or put a little bit more effort up front and fix it correctly and perhaps "suffer" a very slight loss in braking effort until both new shoes bed in.

I understand your concern about cost, time and hard work, but it IS industry standard when working on vehicle and trailer brakes to treat it as a pair by replacing both sides of an axle.

Changing the entire backing plate fully refreshes you brakes except for the drums so you get a new MAGNET along with the shoes, springs and levers.. That magnet ALSO must bed in..

Even working at a slow pace on a 30+ yr old TT I was able to change and adjust all four new backing plates in less than 2 hrs.. I was dealing with four very rusted nuts/bolts holding the backing plates on too boot.

On a 18 month old trailer you won't be dealing with 30+ yrs of rust and should be far easier to do..