Testing Trailer Brakes with Break Away Cable

Also make sure no AXLE greese may have got on the brake shoes...

I adjust my brake shoes by jacking up the wheel and moving the screwdriver tab using a standard brake adjustmemt tool wrench until the brake shoe just start to drag. This is just like regular brakes adjustments. When you do have a wheel jacked it does take a 1/4 turn of the wheel on my setup before the electric brake kicks into place.

My brakes do quite well. My OFF-=ROAD POPUP trailer weighs in at 4200lbs. I use my trailer brakes all the time using the manual slide lever to stop my truck coming up to a stop sign.. I do this to check my brakes to see if they are still working...

I have measured the brake current using a DC clamp on ampmeter to be around 3 AMPS per brake magnet.

Also on re-stabing the break-away plunger. It only goes in one way and is very hard to push in. Mine makes a loud click when it goes into position.

As others have said don't leave the plunger "out" for any long period of time. It will run down your trailer battery and could do harm to the brake magnet... My brake magnet makes a very low tone when DC power is applied. I can hear this just standing right next to the trailer wheels. Don't know if all of them do this or not. My two trailers here do make the tone noise.

Keep in mind the trailer brakes are suppose to stop the trailer and your truck brakes are suppose to stop the truck. The trailer brakes may not be designed to stop both the truck and trailer with just the trailer brakes being engaged. Lots more weight involved.

Roy Ken

They check the breaks and break away system, tail lights, etc. every year on the camper when I take it in for its highway inspection sticker. Annual inspection required here in Texas for all trailers over 4500#.

Dexter manual says brakes need to burnished in when new. Stop from a speed of around 40 mph approximately 35-40 times. I did this on mine then adjusted them. The change was dramatic. You can look the procedure online..

B.O.

Oldglenn wrote:
We have the same problem! My friend and I both took our 5th wheel trailers to the same brake shop, he in Apr/13 and me in May/13. We both drove in with working brakes and were told it was time to replace them. We did and we both drove away with virtually no brakes. He took his trailer back and after a day of dubious effort he drove away with no improvement.

We were both told it takes 1,000 to 2,000 km to break in the brakes. I had an independant mechanic check the brakes; excellent work and excellent brand (Dexter).

So how many people are driving down the road with new non-working brakes? I wonder what the judge in traffic court would say to me? Surely this is wrong. Does anybody in the know have the answer?

This makes me scratch my head :h

Except my first recommendation is to validate the adjustment, it made quite a difference in my situation.

What gets me is that on new drum brakes I have never seen worse performance with new pads than compared with the old pads. Maybe they do require an adjustment and maybe there is a wear-in time but I would google this to see what you get.

Yes something does not seem right. Remember both of you are having the same problem after coming out of the same repair facility.

If I were in our shoes I would make sure that the brakes were adjusted, I know a mechanic did it but not all mechanics do a good job or maybe he missed it. I recently adjusted my TT brakes and now I only require a boost level 2 when towing versus boost level 3 on my Tekonsha brake controller.

On the brake effectiveness; mine do not lock up but for the sake of the discussion and what I experience is that on an offramp while coasting I can fully engage TT brakes and get a decent slowdown but it will not fully stop the rig. Coupled with my TV brakes then the effectiveness will occur.

I would validate the brake adjustment first, its the easiest and most simple thing that wont cost you anything, then go from there.

We have the same problem! My friend and I both took our 5th wheel trailers to the same brake shop, he in Apr/13 and me in May/13. We both drove in with working brakes and were told it was time to replace them. We did and we both drove away with virtually no brakes. He took his trailer back and after a day of dubious effort he drove away with no improvement.

We were both told it takes 1,000 to 2,000 km to break in the brakes. I had an independant mechanic check the brakes; excellent work and excellent brand (Dexter).

So how many people are driving down the road with new non-working brakes? I wonder what the judge in traffic court would say to me? Surely this is wrong. Does anybody in the know have the answer?

For each of my 10" Dexter drum brakes, it's about 3-3.5 A when locked up.

brulaz wrote:
I routinely check that my brakes are getting current by pulling the breakaway pin and measuring the current (clamp-on ammeter). You just plug the pin back in then.

Not a problem. You should be able to pull the pin and try dragging the trailer. Or jacking it up and rotating the wheels.

Any possibility that your bearing seals are leaking? That will reduce braking action a lot. I routinely check my brake drum temperatures by touch after a quick stop from highway speeds (like at a reststop). Once I noticed one of the drums was much less hot than the other. And sure enough, there was grease all over inside the drum.

And yes, brake adjustment needs to be done every year, unless your brakes are self-adjusting (an easy and worthwhile upgrade).

How many amps should there be?

Don't you mean brake shoes?
Pads are usually referred to in disc brakes.
Check them at least once a year.
Also wiring is vulnerable to the weather, may break or corrode.

The brakes need adjusting just the same as 'pad' brakes do on older autos! That would be my first " look at " , if these adjustments are screwed up every thing else will be screwed up