24 foot rollback ideas

[George2615]

pulled a wheel on mine yesterday and everything looks good to me maybe the shoes just need breaking in

I have a 22' 14K PJ tilt bed and a 16' 13.8K Cross Country dump trailer. Truck is a 2016 2500HD with factory brake controller. With trailers empty I have to set the controller at a 2 or the trailer wheels will lock up. Fully loaded I bump the setting up to a 4. When I first hooked up the loaded trailers I had the setting at 6 and it felt like the trailers were doing all the braking so I lowered it. Your HD trailer should be the same. You may need to get an assistant to help check brake controller voltages at the trailer wheels, check all grounds, make sure they are grounded to bare metal or directly grounded through the truck wiring connector. Tracing out trailer braking problems can be very time consuming.

 

[woody]

Are they Dexter axles?

Axletech brakes

 

[woody]

George I agree with you, with my BigTex dump I can slid the wheels on 5 and my enclosed will slid on 4 so when I am empty I bump it down a little and then set it back once I'm loaded. but with this trailer set to 10 it still will not slid and the day I pulled the wheel off I also pulled the breakaway switch and pulled the truck forward the wheels on the trailer rolled with lots of resistance but they did not slid any.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

George I agree with you, with my BigTex dump I can slid the wheels on 5 and my enclosed will slid on 4 so when I am empty I bump it down a little and then set it back once I'm loaded. but with this trailer set to 10 it still will not slid and the day I pulled the wheel off I also pulled the breakaway switch and pulled the truck forward the wheels on the trailer rolled with lots of resistance but they did not slid any.

I know you know this but... something definitely wrong.

 

[woody]

I know you know this but... something definitely wrong.

yep and I'll keep trying until I hit on something. I don't like the wiring job they did so when I catch up on some other projects that I have been pushing back to work on a trailer that I shouldn't have to work on I am going to work on it some more. :thumbsup:

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

You did "seat" the breaks right?

 

[George2615]

It may be a dumb question but with the tires off the ground and you spin by hand do they have any drag. Maybe they weren't adjusted by the builder. You may only need to adjust the star wheels to get the shoes closer to the drum. If they are adjusted properly then its back to a voltage or ground problem. My 7K trailer had the same problem. I bought it new and the brakes would never lock up. I spent a day checking voltages and grounds to each wheel until I found the Mfg. never adjusted the brakes at the factory and the selling dealer never checked their operation. The star adjusters were fully closed (no threads showing) and had no drag when spinning. I made the brake adjustments and tried again and was able to lock them up.
Also, since you had the drums off did you try to manually move the arm the magnet is attached to and does it move freely to rotate the cam that spreads the shoes apart.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Check the wiring carefully. I have seen builders use 18ga wire for the brakes. No way that's going to carry sufficient current.

Chris

 

[oliver1555]

Check the wiring carefully. I have seen builders use 18ga wire for the brakes. No way that's going to carry sufficient current.

Chris

True statement right there.

 

[oliver1555]

yep and I'll keep trying until I hit on something. I don't like the wiring job they did so when I catch up on some other projects that I have been pushing back to work on a trailer that I shouldn't have to work on I am going to work on it some more. :thumbsup:

To operate four brakes, you need no smaller than 12ga wire. Good grounds are vital to having dependable brakes. On all of my trailers, the grounds from the magnets are tied to a ground wire that runs the full length of the trailer all the way to the plug. On my pickup, the ground from the plug is tied directly to the negative terminal on the battery. Grounding to the frame leaves too many variables - each connection runs the risk of corrosion which will impede the flow of current. All connections should be soldered and enclosed with adhesive shrink tube. I would look to see that all wiring is up to par. The next thing is to see what the amperage draw is at each magnet. Magnets typically pull 2-3 amps when fully energized. You will need to cut the wire and put an amperage meter in the line to check this. Checking voltage really won't tell you much, other than that you have a complete circuit. Amperage is what does the work. Depending on your brake controller, you may be able to tell what the total draw is for all four brakes. My MaxBrake shows this.