Brakes will lock up on one side but not the other

[gyuill]

I have a 2012 19 ft with about 50,00 miles or more (bought it used) and have some questions about the brakes. I recently had the wheel bearings serviced and the brakes inspected and was told the brakes are fine. I live on a dirt road and at low speed tried to lock up the trailer brakes by actuating the lever on the prodigy controller. Both of the passenger side wheels locked up and left skid marks but neither of the driver side wheels locked up. I jacked up each side and checked the brake adjustment and that was fine. With the wheels jacked up I had my wife slowly actuate the controller while I rotated each wheel and each wheel stopped at about the same setting on the controller. Any other testing I can do or other suggestions?

Graham

[Rossue]

Adjust all your brakes- or at least start with the ones that lock up first. With brakes properly adjusted you should be able to just begin to skid at 25 MPH on a dirt road at your proper brake controller setting.- and they should all do so.

When just one wheel is locking up a common cause is too loose of an adjustment.

[EdColorado]

Just curious.
What number do you have your Prodigy controller set at?

Thanks
Ed

[Hilola]

Since you are in testing mode, you may also want to test your emergency breakaway cable functionality.

[rubicon327]

The Prodigy P2 indicates that one should try to lock up the brakes on a dry, paved surface with power set to ~6.0.

[gyuill]

Not sure what number it was set to. My consern is that one side will lock and the other will not even at a maximum setting.

[Rossue]

We had a devil of a time when our trailer was new with the passenger front tire locking up. Are you sure both passenger side tires are skidding? We had definite flat spots on that one tire. LTS- the adjustment was too loose, and evidently the curb side front tire is most likely to lock up due to physics of the road slant coupled with it being in front thus bearing more load when stopping. I would double check adjustment on the passenger side.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

The Prodigy P2 indicates that one should try to lock up the brakes on a dry, paved surface with power set to ~6.0.

And, don't have "Boost" turned on for trailers as light as Escape. See the instructions that came with your P2.

[John in Santa Cruz]

if you have your brakes set well for dry pavement, you'll probably find they will skid quite a lot on dirt, and you likely should back them down to about 60% or even 50% of the pavement setting, especially if the tug has A/T tires.

[Brian B-P]

Controller gain setting and boost setting affect both sides identically. As already mentioned the brakes themselves may not be adjusted the same, even though they are all acceptable.

Another factor which affects brakes separately would be resistance due to poor connections in the wiring to the brake magnets. If there is one part of the wiring which is shared by both of the driver's side brakes but not in the path to the passenger side, that would be a place to check.

Another factor is road surface: few gravel roads are completely consistent in surface quality across the width of the road, so the driver's side tires may have just had more traction so they didn't skid.

[John in Santa Cruz]

as Rossue says, you need to adjust the brake drums at the wheels /first/, THEN adjust the controller. to adjust the brakes you need a jack and a 'brake spoon' (or suitable large flat screwdriver, but the spoon makes it easier). you turn the brake adjustment til the wheel starts to lock up, then back it off just enough that it turns freely with no binding, do this to all trailer wheels.

here's an Aussie 'how to'.... i love their adventure trailers, heh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL-eLaB0opE

[T&J]

Originally Posted by gyuill

I have a 2012 19 ft with about 50,00 miles or more (bought it used) and have some questions about the brakes. I recently had the wheel bearings serviced and the brakes inspected and was told the brakes are fine. I live on a dirt road and at low speed tried to lock up the trailer brakes by actuating the lever on the prodigy controller. Both of the passenger side wheels locked up and left skid marks but neither of the driver side wheels locked up. I jacked up each side and checked the brake adjustment and that was fine. With the wheels jacked up I had my wife slowly actuate the controller while I rotated each wheel and each wheel stopped at about the same setting on the controller. Any other testing I can do or other suggestions?

Graham

Hope this isn't the case for you, but another possible cause is wheel bearing grease on the brake shoes and drum on one or more wheels on the side that doesn't lock up. If your trailer is equipped with the Dexter EZ-lube axles, this is a good possibility. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to pull the drums and check the shoes and lining.

[Iowa Dave]

It’s snowing here at the home place and thus I’m not in a hurry to go out and tackle it with the New Holland. So I thought I’d add my thoughts to this discussion. This sounds like a voltage issue to me. Before getting radical here’s what I would do. Get one or both wheels that you feel aren’t working up off the ground. Pulling one wheel at a time up onto a 2X10 about a foot long so the other one spins freely will do.
1. Remove the tire and wheel
2. Behind the brake drum are two wires in a split black wire cover.
3. The pigtail wires that come off the magnet are in this cable. They connect to the wiring that supplies electricity to the magnet.
4. The connection is done with crimp on connectors at the trailer factory.
5. Both wires must be firmly and deeply seated in the metal connector and then crimped. If this is not done the full connection will not be achieved and less than adequate voltage is sent to the magnets.
6. Corrosion can develop because the plastic protector over the metal is open to the weather.
7. Look for corrosion. Tug on the wires, look to see the metal is crimped not the plastic.
8. To be on the safe side you probably have enough wire to clip the old connectors off, strip to bright wire, buy new crimp connectors that are clear so you can see the bright wire all the way into the metal crimp coupler. Get the heat shrink style covers. Once re-crimped, and heated you know the connection is sound.
Why such detail you may ask? On our 2010 19’ Escape I needed to replace the brakes. One pair of shoes was not as worn as the other three. When I went to hook up the magnet wires the crimp at the factory had been missed and only the plastic was crimped and not the metal and corrosion had set in. Once correctly connected, Heated and sealed, everything worked great. While you have the connections apart, you can check for equal voltage.
Doing all this should only take less than hour or so for the side that isn’t working.
Other comments about worn magnets, uneven adjustments, grease, etc. are just as valid as mine. Each component part has an important function. it’s a process of elimination.
That’s all I got
Iowa Dave

[cpaharley2008]

Great explanation for a potential solution for the issue at hand....

[gyuill]

Thanks for all of the help. I found the rear tire on the side that would skid was almost at zero pressure although it did not look very low. I had also tugged on all of the connections and tested again and both sides now lockup. So was it the low tire or tugging on the connections? Time will tell. Thanks again

Graham

[Iowa Dave]

Well, glad to hear it’s working. I think i would make sure there isn’t something in that tire and check the valve stem and seal too. In addition when you or other owners do decide to change the brakes or have it done I would advise checking the connections closely, If you change just the shoes. When I did mine on the 2010 I bought the entire dexter assy. That then, requires new connections be made. With the whole assy you get all new parts and a new backing plate. The drums won’t stand much lathe work so if the brakes are down, don’t wait too long. 11/16 wrench on the 4 nuts that hold the brake assy in place. Shrink connectors are extra but pretty cheap insurance.
Iowa Dave