Community Forums

twinboat · 09-24-2015, 05:29 AM

Take it for a test ride with the brakes disconnected.

That should give you an idea if it's bearing or brake heat, you are dealing with.

ronnie_g · 09-24-2015, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by resq302

Ronnie,

I think you misunderstood me. All 4 of the brake magnet wires were originally white. The color wire that we got with the new backing plate assemblies were all black and not white.

IMO if all the magnet wires are the same color you should be OK.
Changing back plates & magnets would only require the controller adjustment.
Any color should work as long as they are all the same.

IMO you need to drive the trailer with the electronics disconnected to see if you have a electrical or mechanical problem.
You are just speculating till you test to find out what is wrong.
If you have no heat with the electronics disconnected then their is something wrong with your tow vehicle controller.
If you have heat with the electronics disconnected then the problem is with the trailer.
Did you verify the breakaway switch is not on?
Since you are burning up bearings, brass.
Buy a IR thermometer Infrared Thermometers & Shop Thermometers $12 - $36 to see if the source is the bearing or the brake.
Using nothing but logic:
day 0 your brakes are OK (I assume at one point they were OK)
day 1 you have over heating, you replace the brakes and bearings.
day 3 IMO If you still have over heating the problem was not the brakes & bearings.
IMO your brakes are OK and have been OK from the start.
IMO either your brakeaway switch is operated, or your tow vehicle controller is putting out voltage full time.

resq302 · 09-24-2015, 07:03 AM

The whole reason why I replaced the brake backing plate assemblies was that one of the magnets was worn down to questionable life. I also had some cracking of the original brake shoe material and also had one set of shoes have the brake lining bonding starting to separate. Since I was replacing one, I figured I would replace all four. This was in May when we went down to VA for a car show and we had no issues going down. Coming back is when we felt the trailer almost bouncing up and down which was due to one of the tires that were 6 years old starting to separate. We then replaced the tires and stripped down and repainted the rims with automotive type paint. Last month, we used the trailer to go to another car show that was an hour and a half away. This is when I first noticed the excessive heat issue on the driver side. Since then I have been trying to determine what the issue was. When I pulled the driver side hubs, that is when I found out that the grease had metal flakes in it and the 3 of the 4 bearings (2 inner and 1 outer) had scoring in the cylindrical bearing. The races seemed to be ok and had no groves but being that you replace bearings and races as a set, I changed out all of the bearings and races on the driver side. I figured that the bearings failing was the cause of the heat. Since I replaced them, I am still getting the over heating issue on the driver side.

I forgot to mention that this issue has happened not only with my fathers 2014 Ram 1500 but also my 2012 Ram 1500. Both trucks have the integrated trailer brake controller in the dash. In May, we used Dad's truck to go down to VA and had no issues. In Aug, we used my truck and had the heat issue. When I tested it this past week, I used Dad's truck and we still had the heat issue. Both trucks have the automatic load sensing with manual gain (both trucks are set to 10 for the gain) and depending on how hard you press on the brake pedal, it increases the rate to the trailer according to the bar graph on the dash. I would think if the brake controller was putting out voltage full time then it would have the brakes on or slightly on causing the wheels not to spin with the trailer up and off the ground.

I have not tested the break away switch yet but I would imagine that if it was bad, it would make the brakes come on when the truck was stationary as it is right now with the wheels off the ground.

TQ60 · 09-24-2015, 07:40 AM

You changed all 4 then problem started.

Compare old to new to see difference.

Sounds like all could be same part number...4 rights and no lefts maybe?

lynnmor · 09-24-2015, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by resq302

I would think if the brake controller was putting out voltage full time then it would have the brakes on or slightly on causing the wheels not to spin with the trailer up and off the ground.

I have not tested the break away switch yet but I would imagine that if it was bad, it would make the brakes come on when the truck was stationary as it is right now with the wheels off the ground.

Does the trailer have a battery connected to the breakaway switch? Is it charged? An abnormal discharge might mean that it is connecting when it should not. Are you testing with the trailer plug connected to the truck? Did you try flexing the cable, especially around the plug? Do the trailer lights work correctly? Light circuits that are shorted to the brake circuit is a possibility.

resq302 · 09-24-2015, 12:30 PM

TQ -

No, I made sure that I got 2 rights and 2 lefts. The problem did not start until Aug. I installed all new brake backing plate assemblies in May. To my knowledge, we did not have this issue during the 9 hr trip down to VA in May. I'm sure I would have noticed it being that hot then. Then again, I don't recall specifically checking them when we got to the hotel in VA. What tipped me off in Aug was the smell of burning brakes and new paint burning. I did not paint the rims or replace the tires for the VA trip in May so that could have also been the issue with why I did not notice it.

The trailer does have a battery on it. It is a full size car battery that we put in place of the smaller battery for the break away switch as that battery was shot. We operate the interior lights in the trailer and the break away switch off of that Group 24 battery. We just replaced the battery this year as the old one was not holding a charge.

When I tested the voltage to the brakes at the magnets, I had the truck plugged into the trailer harness. This way I was able to see what the voltage was when the brake was pressed. The trailer lights work fine and are all new LED replacements that we put in there a couple years ago. I have not tried flexing the cable although it does seem to be in the socket nice and tight with the factory wiring on our Rams.

I will definitely check the lights to see if they are shorting out to the brake system. We do have the running lights on while we are driving as we have a back up camera on the back of the trailer that we use when we are driving to give us an additional view to make sure it is safe to either back up or change lanes while we are driving. This is energized by the parking light wiring.

Good ideas. Thanks. I will have to wait till Wed of next week though as my parents are away this weekend and I'll most likely need another set of hands to help me out with checking voltage and such with someone pressing on the brakes.

TQ60 · 09-24-2015, 08:06 PM

Try this...

Get some speaker wire (because it is cheap and often a coil of it in the corner) and a blade fuse rated at less than 3 or 5 amps.

Put terminals on wire to allow it to connect to fuse and make connection as close to the hot brakes as you can.

Route the wire up to and into the cab and either attach a light or voltmeter.

Test by pressing brake to see light.

Now place where you can see it while driving and if it lights up without brake application then you know why hot but not cause , you will need to hunt it down.

ronnie_g · 09-26-2015, 03:50 AM

Another difference between the drivers & passenger side would be the grounds. fresh paint was mentioned. Could be the drivers side has a better ground. OR the connection between the 2 sides is poor.
Another thought, this post has more comments than parts involved in the problem. I can't think of anything that hasn't been suggested already?

resq302 · 09-28-2015, 09:14 PM

The only fresh paint that I did was on the rims itself. I can't see how that would have any effect.

One thing that I just did think of was that both of the controllers were set to 10 on both trucks when we tested it with the 69 GTX convertible in the trailer. Could an over adjusted brake controller cause the brakes to heat up too much?

resq302 · 09-30-2015, 08:53 PM

Ok so I was at my Dads today and noticed a pulsating tapping noise coming from the brakes. It turns out that our 2012 and 2014 Ram 1500s have a pulsating voltage coming from the controller. This would seem to allow the magnets to catch and expand the brakes. Granted, it was only a max of 1.2 varying down to .02 at times. Checking into this situation further it seems to be a common problem while Ram does not want to acknowledge the problem. Someone on another forum said to put a 12 volt light bulb in the blue trailer brake line as a resistor to drop that pulsating voltage before it gets to the brake magnets.

lynnmor · 10-01-2015, 06:46 AM

None of this explains why only one side gets hot. The controller feeds all brakes and, unless there is a wiring problem, they should all work the same. There is still no explanation for metal in the bearing grease. Still sounds like a mechanical problem.

NHRA225 · 10-01-2015, 07:08 AM

Just a thought or 2
Get the number on the axle located in the center of each axle and call Dexter to confirm you have the correct backing plate kits.
Make sure you haven't reversed the kits IE- Left and Right side.
Remember aside from whatever contaminated your bearings it takes 25 to 50 times of applying the brakes to burnish the new shoes in to stop properly. If the problem persist Call Dexter Tech Line !

resq302 · 10-01-2015, 07:09 AM

If the voltage resistance is dropping from each wheel, the first wheel that is in the wiring is the front driver side which is the one that was getting the hottest. When I tested the voltage at each of the brakes the further away from the junction box you got, the greater the voltage drop.

This would make sense as to why the driver side wheels heated up first. I've checked around on the internet and the brake controller from from Dodge seems to be a common problem. Someone had said they fixed the pulsating voltage issue by putting a small 12 volt light bulb in the blue brake power line to act link a resistor to prevent the magnets from going off and on which would cause the brakes to engage and cause them to over heat.

resq302 · 10-02-2015, 09:40 PM

Ok, so excellent news...... my 2012 Ram 1500 still had fluctuating volts (0.07-1.4 volts) going to the blue wire at the junction box with all of the wiring disconnected for the brakes. My fathers 2014 Ram 1500 still had fluctuating voltage but his was only 0.00-0.02 volts which I thought was acceptable. (Both trucks have the factory integrated brake controllers.) We got everything hooked back up, I double checked the adjustment on the spindle nuts (tightened the nut and then loosened it without spinning the hub and hand tightened the nut backing off the nut to the closes area I could put the tang over into) , and also double checked the adjustment on the brakes (tightened up the shoes till the wheel would not spin either way, then backed off the star wheel 10 clicks). At this point, we still heard the magnets clicking on and off like a turn signal flasher would. According to the service department at Ram, this was the truck sensing the trailer. We took the truck out for a test drive with the trailer and had our 70 challenger convertible in the trailer for weight. We drove about maybe a half hour around my Dad's neighbor hood and stopped twice, checking the hub area with an infrared thermometer. I am happy to say that the brakes slowly heated up. First stop (about 10-15 mins into the drive) was 122-123 degrees on the driver side and the pass side was 118 degrees at the rear wheel, and 106 at the pass. side front wheel. At the second stop, the temps only slightly increased. I checked the hub temps when we returned home and we read 130 and 132 on the driver side (front / rear) and the pass side was 128 and 108 on the pass side. (rear / front). So I am happy with those numbers unless they are supposed to be a lot lower than that. The driver side did seem significantly cooler than the last time we test drove it. We also had the brake controller set at 6.5 by the end of the test drive. We started out at 8.5 and thought it was grabbing too much so we backed it down.