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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    Loyal WI US
    Posts
    10,792

    Default Electric trailer brakes

    I recently took on a project to help a local woman. She has a 2000 F250 and a 4 star gooseneck aluminum horse trailer with 3500# axles. She has had issues with locking up brakes and destroying tires. I can into the project after much of the work had been done. I believe that the initial issue may have been broken wires and only 2 brakes working, but by the time I worked on it the brakes were all new. In my experience, electric brakes tend to be on the weak side and the only time they really grab is when they are adjusted too loose and the actuator arms start to "wedge" in. These were just plain nasty aggressive and my initial at speed testing was VERY rough on her tires.

    Here is my report to the owner.

    Trailer:
    All 4 brakes have had recent complete brake assemblies installed by Dave S. They are Axle-tek brand aftermarket and are in like new condition. Drums showed no ridge. One hub was found to be cracked so it was replaced. This was the LH rear and appeared to have been very hot at one point prior. Road testing found the brakes to be far too aggressive when adjusted snug as is the common practice. I removed the auto adjust hardware from all four brakes. Auto-adjust hardware is just not a good thing to have. They tend to adjust the brakes up too tight whenever you back up. I adjusted snug then backed off approximately 12 clicks. I then worked through the brake adjustment by applying brakes manually at level 4 and identifying which wheels would skid from a standing start. When one would skid I backed off adjustment several clicks at a time until the wheel would no longer skid. I then worked controller level up to higher settings and continued to back off wheels that skidded. This level of slack is not what I would deem to be normal, but it is apparently what is necessary to keep them from skidding. I ended up at a point where I could run the controller at the max level of 14 with no skid. I then started by giving a few clicks tighter and had locking at level 6 again. Setting controller to 5 seems pretty safe and has good braking capabilities. This may change as brakes get more effective when warm. I can revisit in better conditions. To me it seems that the lining material just wants to dig in exceptionally hard making it difficult to find a happy medium.

    Removed 6 way lighting connector and adapter plug from trailer and changed the trailer cord to 7 way connector to fit the truck directly. Replaced trailer safety breakaway system with new unit that includes an automatic charger. The charger wire is tapped into the clearance lights so every time clearance lights are on the breakaway battery will receive a maintenance charge.

    Replaced left rear hub and drum assembly due to crack in the hub. The grease in this unit is Lucas brand red and tacky. Others are a black grease.
    Last edited by Kennedy; 02-21-2019 at 14:55.
    Kennedy Diesel-owner
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