Brake Adjustment

[Paulpro4x]

Has anyone adjusted their trailer brakes?
I read that the brakes should be adjusted after the first few trips. I removed the inspection cover on the back of the backing plate expecting to see a star wheel like on an older cars drum brakes but didn't see anything. Is there a way to adjust them without removing the wheels?
Thanks!

[rbneron]

Etrailer has a very good video illustrating how to do this.

[rattleNsmoke]

Paul, grab a flashlight and look hard. There has to be some sort of star wheel. It might be real far to one side and tough to locate. Without it, it would be almost impossible to adjust.
Worse case scenario....take off one drum and you'll see clearly what your up against.

[Paulpro4x]

I looked in there with a flashlight and didn't see an adjuster. Next week I'll be moving it closer to the garage and then I can pull a wheel off and see exactly what's up.

[raspivey]

Look through your manuals for the trailer and see what the paperwork for the brakes say. On my new trailer, they claim to be "self adjusting" and never need to be touched manually. My last ones had an adjuster wheel. Without looking, I think Dexter makes my new ones. There still should be an adjuster in there somewhere, you just might not need to mess with it. On another note, I haven't looked to see on this trailer, but the adjuster on the last one was really hard to see..had to almost do it by feel.

[tanddc]

Paul,

You should have self adjusting brakes on the SP220.

Tim

[Paulpro4x]

Thanks guys.
I'll check the paperwork to be sure, but I believe they are self adjusting.
Paul

[SaskCampers]

Even if they are self adjusting they will have the star wheel. There should be 2 plastic plugs on the back of the assembly, take the 2nd one out if you did not see a star wheel under the 1st. Here is a pic of a self adjusting 10 inch brake assy and note the star is still there as that is used by the system to do the adjusting just like the old days of drum brakes on a car. Note the 2 plugs in the second pic.