Trailer brakes dragging a little.

[NAM75]

Drum brakes, surge hydraulic. noticing some brake dust. It’s about 30 miles to the lake, hubs were warm, but not too hot too touch. 
 

Any tips to free them up? 
 

Thanks Crew!

 

[mgb1974]

Id take them apart and look at everything. You may have a sticking caliper. I noticed one wheel dragging when I was backing my trailer down the ramp one day. Took the wheel off and spun the rotor and could tell it was dragging. 

If everything looks good with the brake pads, calipers and rotors it will be in the main hydraulic unit. 

[justgary]

On 8/1/2022 at 8:01 PM, NAM75 said:

Drum brakes, surge hydraulic. noticing some brake dust. It’s about 30 miles to the lake, hubs were warm, but not too hot too touch. 
 

Any tips to free them up? 
 

Thanks Crew!

 

If you have drum brakes, they should not rub at all.  They are either self adjusting or manual adjusting.  Self adjusting will have a little lever inside that puts force on the adjustment screw whenever you apply the brakes in reverse.  It is possible (but very unlikely) that someone could have assembled the axle backward, and the adjuster is getting a workout when going forward. 

Jack up the axle, remove the wheel, pull the drum off the hub.  Inspect the adjuster at the bottom of the hub (between the bottom ends of the brake shoes.  Also inspect the cylinder and try to squeeze it together a bit.  If the adjuster is rusty or the cylinder is stuck, you should rebuild both.  If the shoes are worn down too thin, you should rebuild both sides.

To adjust manual brakes, leave the wheel on and use a brake spoon.  The back of the brake plate will have a slot at the bottom (that should have a rubber plug in it).  Remove the plug and use a brake spoon (or other flat item) to adjust the brakes so that they barely quit rubbing when not applied.  You also might have to use the brake spoon to loosen the shoes if the drum won't come off easily.

[NAM75]

Disk brakes.  But Thanks for the replies 

[wdr]

I had a caliper piston rust up on me and start to drag that I had to replace. etrailer.com is where I buy all of my trailer parts. 

[csleaver]

UFP brake actuators have a breakaway cable release lever on the underside.  Push up on the spring loaded lever to release it.

[NAM75]

I took the wheel off today. One of the pads was broke in 2! I took the whole assembly off and will drop it at the trailer shop to get fixed.

 

 Thanks Crew!!