Just found this thread and my first thought is - did you replace the "brakes" or complete backing plate assemblies?

Sometimes you can find complete assemblies for not much more then the service parts.
By any chance do you know how electric trailer brakes work compared to conventional drum brakes on a car? Undrstanding how magnets can help you stop may help in figuring out your problem.

Within my camping group we have had several members have issues with the self adjusters and have ended up removing them.

 

I've never had or seen self-adjusters on a trailer. Self adjusting drum brakes on cars only adjust while braking in reverse. You could do a brake job on a car, give a simple manual adjustment just to get the shoes close to the drums, then drop the car on the ground. Backing up and tapping the brakes 10-15x would bring the adjustment into spec.

Re how many turns for a manual adjustment:
I adjust them until the wheel will spin one full revolution when given a half-turn helper spin with my hand. They've always been great and even after that.

Why is one wheel not braking the same as the others -
Could it be that you may have gotten some grease or dirt on the linings on that wheel? While it may sound counterintuitive, a little grease or oil on a lining will cause that lining to grab or bind.

Burnishing or Bedding Brake shoes -
Trailers are no different than cars when it comes to proper break-in procedures. Most shoe manufacturers will include a slip of paper withthe instructions on how to break in their shoes. If you fail to bed the brake shoes properly, they will give inconsistent response and less than optimal braking for a very long time and may never come in fully. Many times they will squeek, moan and groan if not bedded..

Drums -
If you do not replace the drums, you MUST clean the old drums up and either have the glaze removed on a brake lathe or you can use emory cloth or even 320-400 grit sand paper to remove the shine from the braking surface. Note that the manual methods will take a while and a bit of elbow grease.

 

Randy,

Dexter does offer a self-adjusting assembly, but I have never seen one in the field. I suspect they are very rare (Does anyone in the forum actually have them? If so please comment.). If you run a search on YouTube, you can find an upgrade video from etrailer and you will immediately see the difference in appearance between the manual and auto-adjusters. I have no idea how well they work.

In a Lippert video, they state nearly all trailers require manual adjustment of the brakes every 3,000 miles.

Steve

 

Mine are self adjusting dexters
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-bearings.html


Not so sure you can see much in the pics that I posted in that thread but they are Dexter's.

 

Thanks guys...
I found this link from Dexter that says the self adjusting feature works in both forward and reverse. Looking at Scott's picture, it looks ilke the forward movement and brake actuation is the one that really does most of that work..
http://www.dexteraxle.com/i/u/614960...ric_Brakes.pdf

 

I replaced the whole assemblies. Backing plate, magnets, shoes the works. Also new drums and bearings. Unfortunately I don't know a whole lot about the electric brakes. Heck I have even looked at disc brakes conversions to make it easy on me. I do know mine are self adjusting lippert brakes assemblies. My uncle works for them. That's where I got them from.

 

Seems kind of silly to bring it up at this point, but, are you sure you got the assemblies on the correct sides?

 

Good point. The larger "leading" shoe is actually in the rear.

 

Sorry it's been a min. I will check to make sure. But I am 99% sure they are on the right sides. I remember paying very good attention to that.

 

shoes should have been labeled primary or secondary. Just in case you can't tell the difference. That is the way it used to be anyways. A lot of times the material is in a different location in addition to being more surface area on the primary.

 

I've got self adjusters on my camper and on an enclosed trailer. They work well.

 

If you're not sure, easy to lay both shoes down together, the primary or rear shoe is usually noticably larger.
I will "play" with the adjuster wheel, putting the hub on and off until I'm close. That makes it easier to make small adjustments once buttoned up, to get the tolerances just right.
I will usually change out the brake cylinder at the same time, knowing they can become stuck open and heat up and wear out the brake shoes in no time, Especially if dropping a boat into salt water.
Imports are about 10 bucks each, domestic about 20. I always spend the extra as it's cheap insurance when on the road.