Adjust TM brakes?

T and C · 02-29-2012, 10:12 AM

Folks,

The brakes on my TM work. Sometimes I test them by moving the little lever on the Prodigy P2 Controller. However, I have noticed that I am not getting the amount of "pull" I did last year. In other words at the same controller setting I have always used they don't brake as strongly as they used to.

I have read here about wiring problems on TM's which result in only one brake working. To test for this the last time I had it out I stopped the rig by just using the trailer brakes. This resulted in a much longer braking distance than normal, so the brakes were applied for 15 seconds or so. I then pulled over and stopped,, got out, and checked both drums for heat. Both were warm so I figure that I was getting brake action on both sides.

So, my question is, do I have to adjust these things with a brake adjustment tool to get full braking action. Back in the 50's and 60's I did that many times on drum braked autos and pickups...but it has been a while.

I think I have one of those things in the bottom of a tool box somewhere. Has anyone done this?

Tom

02-29-2012, 12:48 PM

A simple way to check that both sides are braking is to go to a gravel road. A max brake effort on your Prodigy should result in both sides having skid marks.

If not, climb under and look for bad wires. If you find and repair that you should get brakes. If not, take it to any RV repair place. There are several things that may go wrong its worth it to make sure your brakes are correct.

They can repack the axle while they are in there.

MudDog · 02-29-2012, 05:13 PM

From Dexter's web site:

BRAKES - How often should I adjust my brakes?

Dexter recommends that manual adjust brakes be adjusted . . . 1) After the first 200 miles of operation when the brake shoes and drums have "seated". 2) At 3,000 mile intervals. 3) Or as use or performance requires.

I believe you can download their adjustment instructions on their web site.

I never personally adjusted my original brakes. I took my TM in for a checkup when it was about a year old (far past the first 200 miles and far past the 3,000 mile intervals) and the dealer adjusted them. Over time they started to feel like they needed adjusting again.

Not too long after that I replaced the brake assemblies with the Dexter Nev-R Adjust self adjusting brakes. That was about a year ago.

With the Nev-R Adjust brakes, the braking has felt consistent every time over a lot of miles...been very happy with the Nev-R Adjust...and they weren't that expensive in comparision to just buying the pads and other parts to do a brake job on the original brakes.

02-29-2012, 06:55 PM

I adjusted mine according to the Dexler recommendation. Used my old high school auto shop learnin'! No big deal, tighted until you hear a scrape, then loosen until the scrape sound is barely audible. I had the wiring disconnect...it was a missing wire nut on the wire zip tied to the axel. Very easy to see and fix.

**wbmiller3** · 03-01-2012, 06:10 AM

I agree with Scott, adjusting the brakes is not difficult. I did it for the first time last year. I thought the instructions were in the Technical Library but I just looked and didn't see them. I am pretty sure I got them off this site somewhere!

03-01-2012, 09:14 AM

Adjusting brakes is just like adjusting the brakes when I had a 1965 Imapal years ago.

I adjust them every spring.

My procedure:

1. jack up one wheel at a time

2. set the two corner jacks as a safety precaution before crawling underneath

3. remove rubber cap over the access hole in the bottom inside of the backing plate

4. With a brake lever tool, or cheat like I do with a screw driver, rotate the adjusting pin to tighten the brakes. I can never remember which direction to go, so I use trial and error to figure it out

5. tighten the brakes until you can hear scraping as you spine the wheel

6. back off the tightness a few notches until there is no longer a scraping sound

7. put the rubber cap back in

8 lower the wheel back to the ground

9 repeat for each wheel

I don't claim that this is the proper procedure. But this is what I do. Been doing that since 1971.

fwiw, very few people know how to tighten self adjusting brakes, whe the automatic adjustment is not adequate.

**Bill** · 03-01-2012, 10:25 AM

I think Bill / WBMiller3 was referring to Post #26 in this thread

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=5125

It pretty well echoes what Wayne / PopBeavers posted, but clarifies that you move the screwdriver handle toward the ground to tighten the adjustment.

I used this post to do my brakes a while back, and can confirm that it works on both sides of the trailer.

Bill

03-01-2012, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

I think Bill / WBMiller3 was referring to Post #26 in this thread

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=5125

It pretty well echoes what Wayne / PopBeavers posted, but clarifies that you move the screwdriver handle toward the ground to tighten the adjustment.

I used this post to do my brakes a while back, and can confirm that it works on both sides of the trailer.

Bill

My recollection is that up versus down was different, depending on which side you were on.

But there is no reason to believe that my recollection matches reality.

05-15-2012, 12:16 PM

I've been lifting the trailer's wheels using the corner jacks and spinning them to see if the brakes need adjusting. If a slight scraping sound was heard, I assumed no adjustment was needed.

This time I decided to adjust them anyway despite hearing the scraping because it's been quite a while.

Following Dexter's instructions, I ran the brake adjustment in all the way so the wheel was "very difficult to turn" (10-12 notches). Then backed off a few notches until there was only that slight scraping again "wheel turns freely with a slight lining drag". (Quotes from Dexter manual)

So that was an 8-9 notch adjustment, and yet there was the same slight scraping sound both before and after the adjustment.

Are these brakes designed so there's always a "slight lining drag" whether the pads are adjusted properly or not? Or could the scraping sound I'm hearing be something else?

Whatever, I'm now ignoring the sound and adjusting the brakes every 3000 miles (~5000km) as recommended by Dexter.

05-15-2012, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brulaz

Following Dexter's instructions, I ran the brake adjustment in all the way so the wheel was "very difficult to turn" (10-12 notches). Then backed off a few notches until there was only that slight scraping again "wheel turns freely with a slight lining drag". (Quotes from Dexter manual)

That is what I do because that is what my dad taught me to do in 1970, when he owned a service station, when a service station provided service instead of diet sodas.