Trailer brakes

[Loganwayne]

I'm in need of some schooling on them. I was redoing my trailer bearings this weekend thought I would try to figure out why my trailer brakes aren't working. I have power to the controller, as in I hook up the trailer it realizes it's there and applies power to them when I'm on the brakes but nothing is happening. When the hub/brake drum off I thought the shoes were really thin, I read on line that the brakes use a magnet to work I applied power in the highest settings I can and they are barely strong enough to hold a screw driver to them. I really don't know where to go from here. I was considering buying a whole new brake kit and installing it because I don't know where to start on these and I would at least hope the new ones worked the way they should. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[shawn]

Buying a loaded backing plate and replacing the whole thing is the best/easiest way to go. The shoes are already attached, everything's ready to go, you just bolt them on.

However, before you go buying any parts, I'd take a REALLY good look at the wiring. If you've ever had problems with lights not working because of faulty wiring, take a PARTICULARLY good look at the wiring. On a little car trailer, I might go so far as to just buying a spool of 12ga braided and just replacing everything from the pigtail back to the backing plates. I'd say that 90% of the commercially-built tag trailers on the road are badly wired. Even our Haulmark enclosed was a rat's nest of scotchlocks.

Also, don't forget the ground: make sure that there is either a dedicated ground wire from the pigtail back to the brakes, or that the brakes and pigtail both have good connections at the frame.

If you have a helper, you can check for voltage drop with a voltmeter. Hit the paddle on the brake controller, and it will tell you how many volts it's sending downstream. Check the voltage at the brakes and see how much voltage drop you have. It shouldn't be more than a couple of volts at full power (12-13v). Work your way back toward the truck, checking at the pigtail, at the truck socket, etc, until you find the problem.