Troubleshooting Uneven Brake Magnet Wear on New Brake Assemblies

Question:

Lippert 4400lb axle and just replaced complete brake and drum units. When braking it appears that one magnet is being applied, possibly when the brakes are not applied. Removed the drum and found some scoring and magnet ware just after three miles of driving. And that drum is substantially hotter than the other drum. Any thoughts on what could cause this issue?

asked by: Laurence W

Expert Reply:

The first thing you need to make sure is that your new brakes are broken-in correctly. This involves a few steps:

1. Secure and jack-up your trailer
2. Remove adjuster plug and locate adjustment screw
3. Spin wheel and start adjusting
4. "Break-in" the new brakes

I went ahead and attached a super helpful article that goes more in detail of these 4 steps.

If you are confident that you've adjusted your brakes correctly, one of the issues with non-even brake magnet activation is a bad/loose ground wiring setup on both sides of the axle. Since you recently replaced your axles with new hub/drums and assemblies, this is most likely the issue.

As another consideration, I recommend checking the connector from the vehicle to the trailer. The connector needs to be free from any corrosion that may send a unreliable signal to the brakes during transport. If you do not have any corrosion, we always recommend using Dialectic Grease # 11755 to avoid any corrosion that may occur in the future.

If you try these methods and are still having trouble, feel free to reach back out to us and we can assist you further.