Troubleshooting New Self-Adjusting Brake Assemblies that Feel Weak

Question:

Just installed self adjusting brakes. The brakes energize but no stopping power at all. These were already installed on the axle i bought. Truck controller works great on my other 3 trailers.

asked by: John B

Expert Reply:

Since you have self-adjusting brakes you just need to apply them several times while rolling and they will set themselves to the proper tightness to give you better braking power.

This is a pretty common issue with new self-adjusting brakes. What we normally recommend is to find an area where you can travel pretty slow like a parking lot, or even a subdivision street, and while at a slow speed apply the manual override of the controller. After several applications you should feel the brakes get tighter and tighter.

expert reply by: Jameson C