So, without having any experience at all with breaks, I proceeded to explore the breaking system on my "63 Bambi. I noticed that an owner at some point had cut the wires to the breaks, therefore rendering them useless.
My first thought that came to mind was that something must have gone wrong and they didn't want to spend the time and money to fix them and they probably had a larger vehicle with more than sufficient breaks to stop both the Bambi and the TV. My only option was to dive in and tear it down. (keep with me, I do have a question coming up.) After about a hundred mosquito bites I managed to get the curb side wheel and the drum off to expose the break assembly.
My assumption is, that it is the original...but than again, it is a 43 year old trailer, Who knows what has been done to it. After the drum was removed I exposed the problem. The hardware that held the mag in place had the head rubbed clean off by the drum and the mag had a smooth bevel due to it hanging loosely and making contact with the drum. (I will add pictures soon...I was amazed that the trailer hadn't experienced a catastrophic failure.) Now to the question.
If I use a 10" x 2 1/4" backing plate assembly from Dexter, will it work with the current axle. Or in other words, do they have a standardized bolt hole pattern? and will the old drum...which appears to be in good shape just needs to be turned...work with the Dexter parts.
Another question... How long has Dexter been around? The axle that is on it very well could be a Dexter axle. the person I got the trailer from spent a lot of money getting some work done to it 10 years ago but has past away.
last question... I am running new 12ga. wire for the breaks. since they operate on DC, can I run them in series or do they have to be run in parallel?
I hope someone can help...