Electric trailer brakes

[Anonymous-0]

My trailer brakes are driving me out of my head. I put 4 new magnets on the axles, shoes on one axle,a pair on each side on the rear axle. When I drive down the road the controller in the truck turnes orange when I apply the breakes, I can feel the trailer brakes grab, or slow me down, then a red light comes on, on the controller, the orange light goes to green and the brakes go out. For some reason Im losing power to the brakes. Last week the brakes worked fine, with no red light coming on. Now I keep getting the red light, so its a intermitting problem. Anyone have any Ideas? How inportant is the shoe adjustment to the drum? I adjusted them tight, then backed them off so I had a slight drag. These are Dextra axle brakes also. Thanks Jay

 

[Erran]

I had that problem. Check and make sure your wires in the drum isn't wore thought the insulation and shorting out. Thats what mine was doing.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hey Jay,
Sounds like a grounding problem to me!!!

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

I'm with Erran. BTDT with 13,500 worth of gooseneck and tractors tied on (and one of those a friend's tractor -- yipes!).

Mine was a wire chafed through where it passes through the backing plate. Really aggravating to locate as it only shorted when braking in a forward direction. Applying brakes while backing was no problem. The hole in the backing plate is a good first plae to look. THen any place else that the wire might chafe. But it sounds like a short and could be about anywhere on the hot side of your brake circuit. Even (dare I say it) on the truck. I'd check the inside of the connector, too, to make sure nothing's shorting in there.

 

[Anonymous-0]

That is gonna be my next step. see if the ground is bad. I will also check for worn wires like others said. I do know were the wires go throught the backing plate, there was a little black plug between the wires and the backing plate. After taking one out, and what a $itch it was to put back, I cut the wires inside the drum area to install the new magnets. I did make sure the wires were not rubbing anything thought. thanks JayinNY

 

[Anonymous-0]

Be sure there is a ground wire in the cable and connector. Don't depend on the hitch ball for that ground.

Gerald J.

 

[Michael Soldan]

I do a lot of trailer brakes, you have adjusted the shoes correctly and that is not an issue. 90% of brake problems is the result of faulty ground. Take a jumper cable from the trailer to the truck bare metal to bare metal, then try your brakes. You should be able to hear the magnets humming when you put an object against the brake pedal to hold them on...from that point you will know whether ground was an issue. It is possible that a wire inside the backing plate got skinned but highly unlikely, I have seldom ran across this, wires elsewhere may be skinned and shorting. Most likely it is a ground issue.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks Gerald, I was just gonna ask that. I Know there is a white wire on thetruck and trailer, so I figured that is the ground. P.S. The hitch ball is really rusty. I will try what the other guy said. I can hear the brakes humming when the trailer is not moving.

 

[RusselAZ]

If the brake wire goes through the axle tube you will find bare wire when you take them out. Or, any other tubing the wires go through. Red light means a power short to ground. If it was a bad ground between the trailer and truck the green will go out.

 

[Oldmax]

I always run White wire all the way to Battery Post also hooking it to frame on also . saves a lot of problems later on.

 

[BobinKY]

I chased this problem myself and it about drove me nuts. I finally found that the ground wire on my trailer had rusted off. When I cleaned the wire and redrilled for a ground screw, the problem went away. Check the gound!