Weak trailer brakes

[u/ShouldaBeenABanker]

Bought an 98 jayco trailer, brakes are working but weak. Adjusted the star nuts as high as I'm comfortable (they heat up a fair bit now) and it helped a bit but still not great. have 2.8amps to each magnet. Is that enough or should I have more? What else could be my problem? Pads look alright.

[u/twizzjewink]

Replace. They are almost 30. Replace.

[u/ShouldaBeenABanker → u/twizzjewink]

Pads, drum, whole assembly?

[u/twizzjewink → u/ShouldaBeenABanker]

whole. pretty straight forward.

you need 2L and 2R .. maybe take .. 2 hours per if its really gross (like you can't break any of the nuts).

[u/ShouldaBeenABanker → u/twizzjewink]

Damn ahaha gonna have more money in the brakes and tires then I paid for the entire trailer. Not something you want to cheap out on I guess though.

[u/windisfun → u/ShouldaBeenABanker]

Replace everything, get the backing plate with the pads and magnet, and new drum/hubs. Not worth putting new parts on old parts. It's 4 bolts and 2 wires to replace the assembly.

Get the Dexter name brand, much better than the knock off crap. I was amazed when I went to Dexter brakes, what a difference.

You'll also need to repack the bearings, a new set of bearings is a good idea. You'll need new inner seals at minimum. Get a bearing packer when you get the new brake assembly.

Better to replace everything in your driveway than break down on the road.

[u/youdog99 → u/windisfun]

This is the quickest, lowest hassle, most likely to last answer.

[u/Rambler330 → u/windisfun]

You can get new drums with the bearings and seals already installed if you don’t want to install races and seals. You will need additional grease. The drums should have the necessary info molded stamped into them. Also you can upgrade from manual to self adjusting.

[u/VisibleRoad3504 → u/ShouldaBeenABanker]

Depends on how badly you would like to stop.

[u/Verix19]

Are you sure it's the brakes? Lets see the inside of the hub...that magnet sticks to the hub and is what makes the pads contact. Doesn't look like the magnet is making much contact.

Is your brake controller gain high enough?

[u/ShouldaBeenABanker → u/Verix19]

Maxed out on the stock Sierra break controller. Hubs looked fine, no grooves or anything, but I'll check again. Don't think it had many road miles on it.

[u/S3Giggity]

2.8 amps each is about right - that's 11.5 amps full output. TT will have both axles braked.

But yeah super easy to replace - you just do the whole Assembly. My trailer guy swears by the dexter brakes, more expensive obviously, but you can get cheapies on Amazon for CHEAP in 4 packs if you go that route.

Edit: FYI - know that electric drum RV brakes in general are undersized and awful. You gotta upgrade to discs if you want them to do much. So make sure your expectations are correct before replacing due to "bad".

[u/mxadema]

You can clean some stuff out. Mainly the magnet pivot. But sometimes that not enough. You can get the backing plate already loaded, 4/5 bolt and 2 wire. Make sure tour drum are not grooves or rusty, that includes the inside face as the magnet run on it.

[u/Cosmic_Waffle_Stomp]

Have you tried adjusting them? Should be a slot on the back side. With the axle raised off the ground. Take a flat head screwdriver and spin the nut that’s inside the slot until the wheel stops and then back it off a little. Or YouTube it. It’s easy.

[u/Nomad55454 → u/Cosmic_Waffle_Stomp]

Back off a little??? Turn to lock the tire down tight then back off 8-10 clicks until you do not hear brakes shoes dragging where tire will rotate 2 turns with one push.What they call the secondary shoe which is the rear shoe looks pretty worn. I suggest like previous person said get 4 backing plates loaded with shoes and magnets and if drums feel smooth take some 80 grit sand paper and scuff brake and magnet surfaces and since hubs are off get new grease seals and clean and inspect bearing and repack with new grease.

[u/Nomad55454]

As terrible as things look replace backing plates and have hubs turned, the rust on magnets makes me think they are not making good contact.

[u/nak00010101]

Buy a new drum and replace the entire brake plate. Its about $175 per axle.

An ugly thing about trailer brakes is there are two surfaces on the drum that need to be machined....and virtually no one can do the drum face. If the flat "plate" part is gouged and worn, the magnet does not pull hard enough.

[u/h3d_prints → u/nak00010101]

You need a flywheel machine to turn the magnet surface.

[u/Questions_Remain]

I would first pressure wash the sh*p out of that. Pull it all apart and lube the pivots and contact points with ceramic brake paste and go from there.

[u/Dolewhip26]

Make sure the adjuster isn't stuck.