Troubleshooting Electric Trailer Brakes that Are Not Functioning Correctly

Question:

brakes dont hold got a tandum trailer with electric brakes and put new magnets and adjusted the brakes everything moves but wont hold. then hooked one magnet direct to a power supply 12 volts and moves but still wont hold trailer place are stumped .now what

asked by: Jerry

Expert Reply:

Electric brakes when adjusted properly will allow stopping but are not necessarily designed to lock the wheels if that is what you are referring to. When properly adjusted you should have a very slight drag on the drum when you turn the wheel anything more will heat up your brake shoes too much and unnecessarily wear down the shoes more quickly.

A sure way to make sure your brake shoes stay adjusted properly is to use self-adjusting assemblies like # AKEBRK-35-SA. These require using your manual override on your trailer a half dozen times while moving at about 20 miles per hour to get the initial adjustment.

If you have done the proper adjustment at the assemblies, then you will want to make sure your brake controller is set correctly. Normally they will put out just under the 12V of your battery when the manual override is completely engaged. If you are not getting that voltage when using a multimeter like # PT89ZR then you will want to check the ground connection for your magnets and the wiring leading up to it. To test just the tow vehicle you will put the meter on the 5 o'clock pin of your 7-way.

I've attached a couple articles and a few videos to assist.

expert reply by: Jason S