After Changing Bearings the Electric Trailer Brakes No Longer Work

Updated 05/28/2015 | Published 05/26/2015

Question:

Changed the wheel bearing s and the brakes dont work anymore?

asked by: Ken F

Expert Reply:

You will want to check the wiring to the magnets to see if something got disconnected when you were replacing the bearings. Make sure that the ground wires are attached to clean and corrosion free bare metal surfaces. Also make sure the power wires to the magnets are not pinched or in need of repair.

If the magnets are getting power (which you can check using a circuit tester such as # PTW2993 while someone activates the manual override on the brake controller) then it could be a different problem and not an electrical problem.

If in the process of changing out the bearings any grease got on the inside of the drum or on the brake shoe pads, then the braking would be weak. On the brake drum you would clean out all the grease. But the brake shoes would likely have to be replaced because you will never be able to get all of the grease out of them.

expert reply by: Michael H