Front Wheel Brakes Inop

[JohnK]

During the maiden voyage in our new to us 2020 21C I noticed that the rear axle hubs were warm as expected after brake usage but the front hubs remained cold. Today I performed an emergency brake check on the curbside wheels and found normal brake application on the rear wheel but none on the forward wheel. This confirms my suspicion that the front brakes are not working and that the problem is common to both the emergency and brake pedal circuits. I also pulled the brake drum just to do a visual inspection of the brakes and found them to look normal except that they did not look like they have recently engaged.

My question is where physically should I start to look for a brake wiring problem that is common to both left and right front wheels and common to both emergency and normal braking systems?

[Iowa Dave]

The brake assembly backing plate has two wires Coming out of it at the top. That pigtail is a foot long and is two wires. They are inside of a black plastic cover, split so you can peel it
Back and reuse it. Might have a couple little zip ties on it. Or tape. Those wires connect to the power source wires. Check those connections. Look for corrosion or a bad crimp that did not “make”. If you need to fix the connections I would recommend good quality butt connectors with a heat shrink cover to keep them dry in the future.

Next make sure your brake shoes are in adjustment so that when activated the can reach the drums. That’s what I would do, have done and will continue to do further close examination may result in locating a break somewhere else in the wires. Keep us posted.
Iowa Dave

[rubicon327]

Not too far down the line as you head away from the brake assembly you will find where a splice must be made to connect the stock brake leads to the trailer wiring. It is not unheard of to find a bad/broken connection. I would start there although I admit it would be strange for both front wheels to have this same issue simultaneously.

Also make sure that the brake pads are adjusted properly. If they are too far out they will not engage the drum. Adjusted properly they should have a light drag with wheel off the ground and rotated by hand.

[Viajante]

The emergency brake is not a separate problem. Once the faulty splice is fixed the brakes will work on the emergency circuit as well.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Viajante

The emergency brake is not a separate problem. Once the faulty splice is fixed the brakes will work on the emergency circuit as well.

yeah. the emergency breakaway switch simply dumps full trailer battery power into all brakes. With the brakes properly adjusted this should easily lock all trailer wheels.

[Ron in BC]

In addition to the leads spliced near the brakes there's also a brake ground to the frame for each set of axles on the driver's side.

I had problems with the splices and at the same time also installed an additional ground wire that goes directly to a well grounded common stud.

There can be corrosion where the original brake ground wire is screwed to the frame.

Ron

[JohnK]

Thank you Ron and everyone else for your help. Yes I discovered a broken ground wire in both front wheel brake wire bundles. The ground wire doubles as a hanger to suspend the entire wire bundle and is absolutely designed to fail. Any unmodified brake ground wires either have or will fail at some point. Just hope it's not prior to descending down Wolf Creek or Eisenhower Passes.

I've changed Casita brakes more than once as well as an axle with new brakes and don't remember a ground wire in those bundles. Live and learn.

Thanks again for all your replies and help.

John

[Iowa Dave]

Glad you got it figured out. Hope you have a great summer of camping. In the wise words of my brother in law who is no longer with us, “Those grounds will mess you up”.
Iowa Dave