HELP please!! Axle on wrong?

[funkill]

Oh my.... I am sitting on the street trying to replace the CURB side backing plate on my aft axle. Inland RV sent me a new backing plate. The new plate is marked Right Side. The backing plate that is on my axle is marked Left Side. The long shoe is facing forward. I know that this is wrong.

I can't recall if the backing plates came assembled on the new Henchen axles or not.... did I put the Left/Right backing plates on the wrong side of the axle or did I put the axle on 180deg backwards?

Oh my.... My 1 hr project just went to crap!

Laura

[richinny]

in which direction do the axle trailing arms point? pictures?

[funkill]

Photo's ---- my flipping camera is dead and I can't find the charger --- on my to do list before tomorrow's trip. The thing won't even power on.

Ran outside to confirm - the wheel spindle is aft - so the torsion arm is trailing to ther rear of the trailer. Same way on both axles. That's good, right?

[richinny]

yes :-) i'm not sure if you can even reverse them. i see you had lockup problems with the old axles too. possibly you followed what was there before and they were wrong then. in any case, you'll need to check at least 3 wheels. in the worst case, you'll have to swap sides on both axles.

[funkill]

Thank you Ricky! I'll head back out to see what kind of mess I made for myself. With any luck, I'll only be checking 3 wheels! I'll report back in a couple hours!

Laura

[richinny]

you should call andy. he should be part of this process.

[Action]

The curbside is the right side.
The street side is the left side.

I believe long shoe (secondary) should face rear ward.


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[funkill]

I spoke with another guy at Inland and they did not send me the axles pre-assembled with the backing plates. So, it's entirely my error in placing the left on the right side and vice versa. I went ahead and put the new backer plate on the correct side and am leaving the other side alone for now. It is raining cats & dogs, with a lot of lightening so... I'm done for the evening. I did repack the bearings though... The guy from Inland didn't think it would be too horrible if the backing plates on the other axle are also reversed. He said it would reduce my braking ability by about 10%. With that in mind, and the weather, I'm going to leave that axle alone until after my trip. Then I'll take a peak and see if I skrewed up that axle as well. I don't know how I made such a mistake. The LH/RH is the same convention as I'm used to working with on a daily basis (STBD/PORT). My only excuse is that I was way tired by the time I was finishing the rear axle when I was replacing them last year. Fingers are crossed that I did better on the first one (fwd axle). Thanks for you help guys....

Laura

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I have one pretty good picture. [OK mayby four pictures] I don't want to confuse you, so I will try to keep it simple. First the backing plate, by it'self, makes no difference. The shoes are the same except that one has more [longer] lining on it. The shoe with longer lining goes to the back of your trailer. The direction of the magnet arm makes a huge difference. The arm needs to be in front, so the magnet pulls toward the rear when activated.


(1.) Backing plate makes no difference if it has two brake adjustment holes. [Mine only has one hole so it has to go on the correct side] Note: this means a backing plate without anything on it.

(2.) Reversed shoes will effect brakeing, but not very much.

(3.) reversed magnet, means little or no braking at all. [going forward]

In the pictures posted, the two on top are of the left/street side rear brakes.

In the lower left picture is the right/curb side rear brake.

The last picture shows an empty baking plate. You can see the only difference is that it has only one off-set adjuster hole. You could use this on the wrong side, with the adjuster reversed, but it would confuse you when trying to adjust your brakes. These pictures should show you how the brakes should be. The shocks are in front of the axles, so that is the front of the trailer.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by funkill

I spoke with another guy at Inland and they did not send me the axles pre-assembled with the backing plates. So, it's entirely my error in placing the left on the right side and vice versa. I went ahead and put the new backer plate on the correct side and am leaving the other side alone for now. It is raining cats & dogs, with a lot of lightening so... I'm done for the evening. I did repack the bearings though... The guy from Inland didn't think it would be too horrible if the backing plates on the other axle are also reversed. He said it would reduce my braking ability by about 10%. With that in mind, and the weather, I'm going to leave that axle alone until after my trip. Then I'll take a peak and see if I skrewed up that axle as well. I don't know how I made such a mistake. The LH/RH is the same convention as I'm used to working with on a daily basis (STBD/PORT). My only excuse is that I was way tired by the time I was finishing the rear axle when I was replacing them last year. Fingers are crossed that I did better on the first one (fwd axle). Thanks for you help guys....

Laura

Laura.

The this way, no that way, can be very confusing.

Same is true for which is right side and left side.

When it comes to the electric brakes, there is no need to know the left from the right.

BUT always install the backing plates so that the arm that holds the magnet on, ALWAYS is closest to the front of the trailer.

That way, it makes the issue go away, like on a rocket.

You may not need the new backing plate after all, but keep it as a spare.

Andy

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by richinny

you should call andy. he should be part of this process.

We sent a PM to Laura, since we did not know her last name so that we could look up the records for her phone number.

She called me, I reviewed the issue and arranged to have a new backing plate sent to her asap.

She received it, but felt it might be wrong.

At this point, I feel that she now knows how to correct the problem.

My experience says that the brakes must be on the correct side, to make sure of proper performance and no ensuing lockups, as she has already experienced.

But after chatting with her, and knowing what work she does, I wager that she is now an electric brake master mechanic.

Go get em Laura.

Andy

[3Ms75Argosy]

Hey, props to Laura for changing the axles in the first place! I've been staring at my axle just trying to figure out how to jack the thing up... it sure feels heavy! Guess I gotta just give her a go.
Marc

[NevadaGeo]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

Hey, props to Laura for changing the axles in the first place! I've been staring at my axle just trying to figure out how to jack the thing up... it sure feels heavy! Guess I gotta just give her a go.
Marc

A $20 rolling floor jack makes that job bunches easier, and something like cardboard will help slide an axle around. Floor jack will help you get that last 1/4 inch up on the last bolt before your back goes out.

[funkill]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, I have one pretty good picture. [OK mayby four pictures] I don't want to confuse you, so I will try to keep it simple. First the backing plate, by it'self, makes no difference. The shoes are the same except that one has more [longer] lining on it. The shoe with longer lining goes to the back of your trailer. The direction of the magnet arm makes a huge difference. The arm needs to be in front, so the magnet pulls toward the rear when activated.

Wowa-boy. My arm was hanging from the rear - backing plates definately on the reverse side! I installed the new backing plate sent promptly from Andy and left for my trip before seeing the additional posts. Before my next trip in July, I'll replace the other wrong backing plate on the street side and be *all good*. Man, the things you learn.... I still don't know how I made the mistake in the first place. They are clearly labeled and I understand the LH/RH convention. Anyone who installs/assembles the Henschen axles should have no problem with this! Well, other than human error.

Oh no, new question... the new backing plate has two adjustment holes (remaining 3 plates have one adjustment hole). How does adjustment differ with the two holes?

Laura

[Action]

The adjustment holes lines up with a wheel on the inside that spins and expands or contracts against the bottom of the brake shoes. I have never seen more than one adjustment hole. I can only guess that it is there for different applications and one of the holes actually gives access to the adjustment wheel.

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