One out of four grabbing?

[Chatthayer]

After hundreds of miles with all the brakes doing fine, one of the wheels has started intermitently grabbing upon acvtivation. I turned them all off to get home. Any thoughts?

[TG Twinkie]

The brakes may need to be cleaned and adjusted. There are plenty posts on the Internet showing how to do it.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by slothayer1

After hundreds of miles with all the brakes doing fine, one of the wheels has started intermitently grabbing upon acvtivation. I turned them all off to get home. Any thoughts?

Could be any one or more of several things.

The safdest way is to remove the drum and see what you may find.

Could be grease on the shoes, damaged shoes, severely worn magnet, loose stud on the magnet arm, etc.

You might consider, depending on what you find, to replace all the brakes and update them with self adjusting brakes.

Andy

[Chatthayer]

Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply. This is what I have found while taking the wheel and hub off.
1. in the hub all looks in place, but the brass screws on the magnet are rubbing on the hub. I have 3/16 of pad.
2. the wheels have worn through the black splash guard on the inside top edge 2-3 inches wide and a foot long.
3. the axles are not straight across the coach, but bow up in the center to the bottom of the shell.

What do you suggest?

Many thanks.
Steve 805-704-8240

[twinkieman]

Axle is bowed up in the middle deliberately as a way of alignment. Thatway as the axle is loaded more and more it will flatten out. You should never see any axle bowed down in the middle, if so it's overloaded or installed upside down. Seen both on numerous occasions.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by slothayer1

Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply. This is what I have found while taking the wheel and hub off.
1. in the hub all looks in place, but the brass screws on the magnet are rubbing on the hub. I have 3/16 of pad.
2. the wheels have worn through the black splash guard on the inside top edge 2-3 inches wide and a foot long.
3. the axles are not straight across the coach, but bow up in the center to the bottom of the shell.

What do you suggest?

Many thanks.
Steve 805-704-8240

Steve.

Properly aligned torsion axles have a bend in the square tube usually some where near the center of the axle.

When the brass screw heads of the old style magnets first show "any" signs of touching the drum armature plate, they are "DONE". Ant wear beyond that can cause all kinds of issues.

If I understand you correctly, your saying that the tires have worn into the top of the wheel well cover.

What that says Steve, is your axle rubber rods are very badly worn out. The only fix is axle replacement.

Andy

[TG Twinkie]

Have you tried adjusting the brakes? If they are too far out of adjustment, they will grab.

[Chatthayer]

Sounds like new axle time. Thanks for all the advice. Steve