OK, after you read this, you'll probably think I'm crazy and a troublemaker to boot, but here goes.
Last year, in June we had to have the single axle replaced in our two year old 1707T because it was diagnosed as having "failed" by three different service technicians. It certainly looked "collapsed" and the right tire was rubbing against the step well.
Dexter confirmed the axle was "out of spec" for unknown reasons and refunded my payment for a new axle. I KNOW I have NEVER put excessive cargo weight in the trailer!
In August of 2009, we went on a 2400 mile trip into Colorado, Utah and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. In Utah, I was suddenly aware of a "binding" problem in the left wheel when backing. It would "catch" and make a horrible racket when backing up. Moving forward, it seemed fine. Well, a camping trip is not the best place to troubleshoot problems, so we continued on (driving forward was not a problem) and when we got home, I discovered the two top bolts that hold the brake backing plate to the axle were missing! It appeared to me that the nuts that secure them had never been torqued properly and the bolts had fallen inside the brake drum housing. I could see metal fragments in there through the brake adjustment slots with a flashlight.
I took the trailer back to Beaudry RV here in Tucson (the largest RV place and where I had the axle replaced). After about a month, it was repaired and I took it home.
At this point the trailer had about 5000 miles on it.
We took it to Mt Graham later that fall (about 300 miles) with no incident. In June of this year, we drove it to Mesa Verde in Colorado and back (about 1000 miles) with again no problems.
At the end of June, we took it back up to Mt Graham and on the way down (on a dirt road at about 10,000 ft) I heard a "rumbling" sound. I stopped the truck and had my Wife pull forward while I watched outside. The left wheel on the trailer was "binding" again!
She backed up, no problems noted, and pulled forward again, and the wheel started binding again. Again, she backed up, it turned freely and this time when moving forward, it seemed to move freely too.
So, here we were, on a Sunday, 30 miles up the mountain at 10,000 ft and 150 miles from home on a "primitive" road. I elected to continue down the mountain slowly, with frequent stops. (This is where you probably think I was crazy.)
It never seemed to "bind" again, although it was running warmer than the right side (but not too hot).
We continued in that manner all the way back to our home in Tucson.
The next day, I pulled the wheel and brake drum. The two pictures below show what I found.
The secondary brake shoe hold down spring was broken and floating free in the drum housing. The brake adjuster seemed to be broken into two pieces and was also floating free. The adjuster return spring was btoken, distorted and also floatng free. These items are shown in the second picture.
In addition, the brake lining was completely missing from the secondary shoe. There is no trace of it anywhere. The shoe itself is distorted at the top. The brake drum is scored, both in the shoe area and on the magnet surface. The magnet appears to be scored and possibly distorted. The brake adjustment dust plugs are both missing.
The secondary brake shoe was probably applying no braking effect and the broken pieces were causing the binding.
My feeling, of course, is that the Beaudry RV mechanic that did the original repair on this wheel did not adequately inspect for damage.
Hopefully, this time things will be better, but now I feel I have to disassemble and inspect the thing when I get it home!
- Jack
A Brake Saga
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