Undercarriage Inspection

[reinreb]

After our second season with our TT and while checking the belly of my 8315BSS at the end of the season, I found a nut and bolt missing on what attaches the break assembly to the axel assembly. The one above it is loose also. The nut is rattling around in the break drum but apparently not causing any obstruction as the wheel is turning just fine. I don’t plan on even venturing as far as the dealer due to the obvious potential disaster.
I’ve never jacked up my rig, was looking for ideas on what I could do and what not to do.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by reinreb

After our second season with our TT and while checking the belly of my 8315BSS at the end of the season, I found a nut and bolt missing on what attaches the break assembly to the axel assembly. The one above it is loose also. The nut is rattling around in the break drum but apparently not causing any obstruction as the wheel is turning just fine. I don’t plan on even venturing as far as the dealer due to the obvious potential disaster.
I’ve never jacked up my rig, was looking for ideas on what I could do and what not to do.

I would get a post jack and a block of wood and jack between the axles. When I installed shocks on my 5er, I replaced all the bolts with 1/2" grade 8 & nylok nuts and torqued them to 100 lb/ft. BTW, had to drill the holes out to accept the 1/2" bolts.

[MtnGuy]

reinrab, that is a good discovery. A reminder on how important it is to do a thorough inspection with our trailers when possible.

You probably have more than just a nut in the drum.....it is probably a stud. The brake shoes ride very close to the drum, so there is probably not much chance of it getting between the shoe and drum, but it would still be in there bouncing around.....not a good thing.

Like Neil said, it might be best to jack up the trailer, remove the drum, and replace the stud. You will probably have to get a new stud, as it is no telling what the old 1 looks like after the ride it has already had. Any nearby trailer shop should have that part.

If you are uncomfortably doing that kind of work yourself, then maybe you can get 1 of the local trailer mechanics to come to your house. He will probably need to check out the wiring, magnet, shoes, and drum for damage.

I had the welds break on that square flange on a long trip last summer. I stopped at rest area and found that hub hot, hot. At 1st I thought it was the bearing.....the wheel would barely turn. But after backing off the brakes, the wheel turned freely, and I continued the trip. I didn't realize that the flange had broken loose until my local trailer shop showed me when I got back from the trip. I should have seen the problem when I was under the trailer backing off the brakes....bad boy.

[reinreb]

Thanks gentlemen for the help. What I ended up doing was hitching up and backing the trailer up on a stacked ramp of plywood squares I had in my woodshop. I lifted the back wheel off and left the front wheel hanging 3 inches off the ground. I pulled the emergency brake pin to lock the wheel and chocked the truck. Never having been that deep, I didn't know how to remove the drum. So I tighted the loose bolt while I was there and left the other one in the drum. I was on a tight schedule and didn't want to do a rush job. I moved the TT to its winter rest spot on the other side of the house and will address this first thing in the spring and read up on brake drum removal.
Thanks again and have a good winter.