I am going to replace the brakes on my triple axle trailer. It has they 12x2 brakes with 6k axles. There is quite a span in pricing from $150-$300 per axle. I was looking at getting the sets with the backing plate with new magnets.

Is this one of those deals where you get what you paid for? Are there brands I should stay away from?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Some of the new loaded brakes are half the brake material on the shoe compared to what you have. Be careful.

I bought/ installed these last year and are original Dexter. Trailer shoes do not have much material on them when new, only 0.180 thick.Avoid self adjusting imho.

https://www.easternmarine.com/...left-hand-k23-105-00

https://www.easternmarine.com/...ight-hand-k23-106-00

I bought mine from etrailer.com but it's been a few years ago, pretty sure I bought the Dexters. I've heard bad things about the auto adjusts so I went with the standard.

Just curious what you all have heard about the auto adjusting ones. That is what is on there now and they are all the original brakes from 2008. I pulled one of the drums off yesterday, and other than the pads being thin, there was no issues.

The legal limit for shoe material is 0.063, and as I stated prior original Dexter brakes are 0.180 new.

If your shoes are from 2008, consider replacing them no matter the condition and here’s why. My 2003 trailer has well over 100k miles and I clean re-pack bearings every 12 - 15k miles like Dexter recommends. It has 4.8k axles, but also has 12x2 brakes because it’s pre 2006 that went to 10x2 for 4.8k. I’m always towing over 100 miles one way, and at times 1000 mi to events almost all highway.

I had to make an emergency stop at 65 mph with the pedal to the floor of my truck. Afterwards I noticed the trailer brakes didn’t seem to be working properly. When I returned home, removed the drums, I found the rear trailer axle shoe pads completely gone. Not worn away, but disintegrated, not there. The drums still looked perfect. These were the original shoes that still had 0.100 material at last bearing service.

I like non- self adjusting because there’s less to fail. Rarely will I see more than 1 click to get them in adjustment after bearing re-pack.

I tried the self adjusting brakes one time thinking they were going to be great. NOT ! I don't know what happened, but they kept self adjusting tighter and tighter and wore out the shoes. They didn't get tight enough to cause a noticeable drag or brake feeling, but the shoes quickly wore out.

I plan on replacing them all. I have the ezlube axles, so that makes it easy to replace the grease.

So what is the difference in the assemblies for each weight? I see some that say specifically 6k, them some list 5200, 6k, and 7k.

Thanks!

Your backing plate might have the part # tag attached to it.

https://www.dexteraxle.com/use...arts-kit-catalog.pdf

quote:

Originally posted by Wild Wild West 2:
I tried the self adjusting brakes one time thinking they were going to be great. NOT ! I don't know what happened, but they kept self adjusting tighter and tighter and wore out the shoes. They didn't get tight enough to cause a noticeable drag or brake feeling, but the shoes quickly wore out.

I will take "things that happen when the brake drum is out of round" for $300 Alex


Joe



Joe

The self adjusting ones I heard about the brakes kept tightening up. Might be out of round drums or something else. I've replaced drums but usually for the magnet surface being extremely worn.

While that may have been possible, I installed the new backing plates with new drums. Plus, when I went back to the non-self adjusting backing plates, the wear issue went away.

My trailer was built with Chi-nah junk brakes, never had decent braking until I replaced everything with genuine Dexter.
10" x 2"
First trip out with the new brakes, covered the wheels in brake dust.

Be aware that Dexter is / has moved some manufacturing to Mexico, I'm guessing anything that is cast iron, so get it while the getting is good.

quote:

Be aware that Dexter is / has moved some manufacturing to Mexico, I'm guessing anything that is cast iron.

When I replaced the races and bearings in my 2003 Dexter 4.8k axles with 12x2 hubs the races were China and bearings were Romania. Although I replaced with Timken, I was told NTN Bower are higher quality.