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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | Just spent a bunch of hours messing with the brakes on a gooseneck, I'm all out of ideas as to why the damn things wont work properly. One wheel we put on new pads, adjusted them all to drag a tiny bit when jacked up. The problem? The brakes work only in reverse. When jacked up, we can get the wheels to lock in both directions but when on the ground it seems to do nothing in forward but will brake very well in reverse. Checked voltages, back axle was running 6v to front axle 13v, changed wire to axle, now voltage seems to be the same. Trailer is a 33' tandem with 8k Dexter axles, single tires. Loaded with my JD945 disc mower, about 7k. The only thing left I can think of is a magnet acting erratically or am I missing something else? No, it's not wired up wrong either. Tried with truck wire disconnected from brakes, used a battery on trailer and same thing. Has anyone ever had these things work only in reverse before?
Aaaargh!!!
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| I dont know enough about electric brakes to be even knowledgable but saw where the axles were on backwards causing the exact same problem you are having. The magnet grabs with more power and spreads the pads but the axles were on wrong and had to be reversed. Now if you have a trailing arm on like on a torflex I don't know but just telling you the situation we had on a spring ride system. I would remove the drum and make sure it is working for the right direction.
Edited by glensts 8/9/2008 10:52
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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | Brakes are installed on the correct side of axles. Spring ride. The trailer is 10 years old, has worked fine in the past. Was ready to push it and its payload (that's another story) off a cliff this morning. I hate borrowing equipment - it's my cousin's trailer and he usually keeps his stuff up to par but this trailer has been sitting since last fall. Not been a fun last 2 days messing with the fool thing. |
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| Are you sure the magnets are on the right brake shoe? My understanding is they should't work in reverse. |
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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | The way these Dexter ones are supposed to work, they are better in forward than reverse, but they do activate in reverse. As near as I can tell, everything is on the proper way, everything moves the way it should when the hubs are off. We only had 2 brakes disassembled, the other 2 were only adjusted for slack. |
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Illinois | My trailer is only a year old and is doing the same thing. I really haven't tore into it yet so I hope someone has an answer for you. |
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Kansas | Your controller in the cab should have an adjustment. Is that set at a higher setting or a lower setting?
Connection between trailer and pickup good? Solid? That lil jewel right there cost me a days headache with a planter and tractor this spring till Plowboy pointed it out.
Now with all that said, with it only working in reverse, there is something not put together correctly in the brake housing area. Are you trying to make it so it will lock the tires going forward like when backing up? I am going to assume these are drum brakes? Have the drums been turned down and taken the glazing off?
If the magnet is working correctly backing up, it should work correctly going forward. Almost sounds like a pin is missing or a shoe is not set correctly somewhere. Going backwards when the pressure twists the pads one way they hold but going forwards it sounds like they have give and cannot make the pressure necessary to stop the drum from going round.
Hate to say it but sounds like your gonna have to pull that drum back off and re inspect it all again. The issue has to be in there. It cannot be electric if they work backing up, unless, some dingaling hooked the brake wire to the reverse light switch at the tranny. |
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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | Brake controller is cranked up to the max. 13 volts. Front axle draws 6.1 amp, rear axle draws 4.8 amp, magnets are rated 3 amp each wheel. Draws the same in forward or reverse. Discovered the front axle only works in reverse, the rear axle is not working at all. I have been told magnets work or they don't, of course they don't care which way the drum is turning. I have pretty much ruled out electrical, but cannot see any mechanical problems inside the drum itself. I have had the drums off enough times I lost count. I was hoping I had missed something, or someone here had run into the same problem and knew why it occurred, it drives me nuts not being able to figure out why it won't work. If I can't find anyone locally on Monday who can fix it, I guess I'll order 4 new full sets of brakes. The $1100 will be cheaper than losing my sanity over a fool piece of equipment. Yes, they aren't cheap, the trailer has heavier drums and pads than a normal 7k axle, otherwise they look the same. |
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Concordia,Kansas | OK, Like Rich said keep it simple. Can you hear the magnets engage? You should hear them clamp on. Have you tried putting a piece of metal up to them and engaging the breaks? I`m wondering about you having too much air gap between the magnets and the drum? I`m just thinking out loud here, but I hope it helps.
Kent |
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Illinois | Is the mag arm swinging to the back or front .I have seen the arms put on the wrong side and if that is the case the curve in the arm wont let it move far enougph to enguage it fully.
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Illinois | Is the mag arm swinging to the back or front .I have seen the arms put on the wrong side and if that is the case the curve in the arm wont let it move far enougph to enguage it fully.
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Fort Smith, AR | Go to etrailer.com click trailer parts click on electric brakes compare pictures of right & left 12" brakes |
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Electric trailer brakes only work in reverse
