Rear trailer brakes overheating

[oliver1555]

You're saying the grounds from the brakes are tied to a ground wire that passes through the plug? Or to the frame with a ground wire going from the frame to the plug? That's an important connection. Some ground everything to the frame and have a ground wire that simply attaches to the frame and goes to the plug. In theory, it works. Road grime, etc., cause a restriction and won't allow proper amperage for the brake magnets. Hope this helps you solve your problem! Dexter is a great resource.

 

[Ole Orange]

You're saying the grounds from the brakes are tied to a ground wire that passes through the plug? Or to the frame with a ground wire going from the frame to the plug? That's an important connection. Some ground everything to the frame and have a ground wire that simply attaches to the frame and goes to the plug. In theory, it works. Road grime, etc., cause a restriction and won't allow proper amperage for the brake magnets. Hope this helps you solve your problem! Dexter is a great resource.

what my set up is: a trailer cord that is multi wire run from the plug of the trailer in a pipe back to a junction box, from there the ground is pigtailed and one wire goes to the frame all others are spliced together. This includes the grounds for the brakes and lights. at the plug there is one terminal grounded and hooks through this to the truck plug and one of those is supposed to be grounded. when i run the brakes with the lights on none of them flicker or dim so I am guessing the grounds are good.
I have ac amp meters and low ampere dc amp meters but nothing to test amps at the magnets.
in the junction box I have one wire coming from the truck and all 4 positive + brake wires are hooked to it and as stated all grounds come here as well. The frame is not used for any of the grounds not even the lights. after ripping this all apart I am thinking more and more it is sticking brake shoes as I can not find any thing else. and I am guessing a bad truck ground would cause them to not work and I would not have over braking on one axel and less on the other. I have not taken it for a test yet as just lost the shifting lever in my truck and just got that fixed, if its not one thing its another.

 

[oliver1555]

Since it is happening on both brakes on the same axle, it might be something with the shoes. I rebuilt my old two horse trailer three or four years ago. The brake parts were in pretty tough shape, so I bought complete replacements (backing plate, brake shoes, magnets) and installed them. One brake worked perfectly and the other would get hot. I adjusted it several times and finally removed the shoes, inspected all parts and reinstalled them. Something apparently had been out of whack because all has been fine since. Brake problems can be very frustrating. If you have a multi-meter that will handle 10 amps, you can use it to check amperage at each magnet. You would have to cut the positive wire and run through the meter. (I always solder and use adhesive lined shrink tube to seal moisture out) If memory serves me, my horse trailer would draw a max of 2.5 amps per magnet. My flatbed has Dexter 7,000# axles and they draw a max of 3 amps, according to Dexter. An infrared thermometer is pretty handy when trouble shooting, also. In fact, I carry one in my pickup and shoot the tires and hubs on the trailer each time I stop.

 

[breadtrk]

I didn't see if you posted results of pulling with the pigtail disconnected to isolate mechanical from electrical.

 

[oldballs]

I didn't see if you posted results of pulling with the pigtail disconnected to isolate mechanical from electrical.

Yeah, I was looking for that also.

 

[Ole Orange]

I didn't see if you posted results of pulling with the pigtail disconnected to isolate mechanical from electrical.

Thanks I have not done it yet as with all things when they go wrong they really go wrong, as in my last post jumped in the truck and went to put it in gear and shifting lever all afloat, bracket rusted off, replaced it this weekend and have today off so plan on a tow today to try it out. will tow it first without pigtail then hook it up. Problem I have is if brakes are not releasing (mechanical) and pig tail hooked up will still be hard to trace cause once they are hot their hot. I took the hubs off last friday and took pictures of each one and they match the dexter site pics. and as I posted I did find the brake controller on max aggressiveness looking forward to towing it today I did back off the rears some and will see what happens without pigtail hooked and then with it hooked will post tonight

Thanks for all the posts everyone.

 

[Ole Orange]

Well did a couple of longer test tows yesterday and seem to have the problem fixed. test tow 1 no pigtail hooked up at all to the trailer-result no heating drums what so ever.
test tow 2 had pig tail hooked up but used transmission to slow truck and trailer never touched the brakes result no overheating what so ever. Test tow 3 used the brakes a lot got slight over heating on 1 of the rears. what I did was back the rears way off before the towing, as stated in previous posts I turned the aggressiveness back quite a bit but turned up the amount of total braking. after tow #3 I backed off the 1 brake even more. no heating at all on tow # 4.
When I first adjusted the brakes the instructions were to tighten until you felt a drag then back them off. I did not have any drag on these but backed the thumb wheel off about 8 to 10 clicks. all seems to work good now as on loose dirt if I lock them up all 4 tires will drag a little. Sorry but I did not find a smoking gun but I think a collection of problems I guess.

Thanks for all the posts as it helped figure out my problem.:drink:

 

[puckgrinder85]

We're all assuming you know how to adjust the controller properly. You're not overloading the trailer brakes by using it to slow the whole vehicle down too correct? If the controller is set properly you should barely notice the trailer brakes apply/ release at all, you just want it to stop the trailer, not the truck and the trailer.

 

[jimgerken]

I recently replaced my brake controller. The old one was a time-based unit (old school). The new one is a Dexter Predator DX2, recommended by the mfg of the Dexter axles my trailer came with, and which activates a variable voltage based on inertia of the towing vehicle. NIGHT AND DAY difference on how this setup works. It works well when the trailer is empty or loaded. It can be varied and really fine tuned, following the instructions. There are other fine brands of inertia-based controllers, like Tekonsha. If you are not using the inertia-type, do yourself a favor and toss the time-based artifact and put in a new controller. I found the Dexter online for $86.50. No more smoked tires and dragging brakes for me.

 

[Deere Dude]

I recently replaced my brake controller. The old one was a time-based unit (old school). The new one is a Dexter Predator DX2, recommended by the mfg of the Dexter axles my trailer came with, and which activates a variable voltage based on inertia of the towing vehicle. NIGHT AND DAY difference on how this setup works. It works well when the trailer is empty or loaded. It can be varied and really fine tuned, following the instructions. There are other fine brands of inertia-based controllers, like Tekonsha. If you are not using the inertia-type, do yourself a favor and toss the time-based artifact and put in a new controller. I found the Dexter online for $86.50. No more smoked tires and dragging brakes for me.

That is interesting. After pulling a 16,000# camper for 12 years with a Tekonsha controller and never quite getting the #8000 Dexter self adjusting brakes to work like I thought they should, I just replaced the backing plates with the shoes and magnets and bought a Tekonsha P3 controller. I am assuming that is the type you were talking about because now I can feel the brakes slow the camper down. I replaced the brakes because I knew one was bad but the others looked good yet but I went ahead and changed everything anyway just to be sure. I am convinced the controller was the main enhancement to my system. I am very happy with the controller.