Will TPMS indicate a stuck brake?

[jondrew55]

Have not had this issue but I'm curious. If one or more of your brakes are stuck on I'd expect to see a significant increase in tire temperature after a while. Can anyone confirm this? I've never had a trailer brake stick, so I don't know if you'd even notice it while driving your TV.

[Dennis C]

Good question. I agree with you that the temperature would probably rise to the point that the TPMS system signaled an alarm. I’d think you would feel it and you’d see the smoke trail behind the trailer, but maybe not.

[jondrew55]

Originally Posted by Dennis C

Good question. I agree with you that the temperature would probably rise to the point that the TPMS system signaled an alarm. I’d think you would feel it and you’d see the smoke trail behind the trailer, but maybe not.

Part of the reason I like to pull over after 30 to 60 min of driving to do a quick check on everything

[Boondocker]

This. Some of the trucks now have enough power that you might not even notice a locked up tire. I go 10-15 minutes but the idea is the same. Hands on the trailer tires.

Originally Posted by jondrew55

Part of the reason I like to pull over after 30 to 60 min of driving to do a quick check on everything

[GCinSC2]

I’ll add the question, internal sensor or external sensor?

Real world example here. My rig with Dill internal sensor, 4 piston/caliper DISC brakes.

In route to a camp several years ago I saw one wheel temp was noticeably higher than other three. Pulled over and confirmed one rotor heating up. Found a parking lot raised wheel, removed wheel and pads. Cleaned crud from dragging pads and caliper anchor points etc and completed trip. Yup I carried all tools necessary for this task.

So yes in my case with internal sensors it did pick up a hotter than normal and I saw it well before anything nasty happened. It did not go into warning just one hotter than others.

And annual pad to caliper cleanup etc is now my routine.

Gary

[Silvr_Bullet]

If the brake is dragging on your trailer, the drum and wheel will heat up and in turn raise the temperature of your tire internally and pressure, your TPMS should alert you.

[Bill M.]

Maybe. Probably way to late to do you any good. And there is a difference in a dragging brake and a stuck brake. If one brake is adjusted a little tight it might tell that over time.

[tjdonahoe]

You will know if a brake locks up and your tire starts smoking making a flat spot or many of them…

[gypsydad]

My TST does have warning for temps and I watch both PSI and temps through out my trips; I do a quick stop/go check when first hitching up also to check for sticking/working brakes, using the manual brake calipers on the dash. I inspect when stopping for fuel.

I have an F250 6.7L; I did have an issue of "slightly" pulling to the left, when I hit the brakes, when I picked my 28' FC new in Portland 5 years ago. Had 2 different dealers check out and could not find an issue, so I went on my trips; but just did not feel right. Finally, we put it up on blocks at home and spun the wheels individually while applying the brakes; found the issue was brake cable had been cut/severed on left side, along with dents in my tank covers, front/rear. (looked like perhaps they hit something like a cement parking block when moving perhaps, and did not notice.)

We connected the wires and everything seemed to work for next couple years of towing. Last October at JC, I had them inspect bearings and brakes at 48K miles; 3 of the 4 brakes had worn down to metal and were not working properly; "magnet locking" issues? Anyway, JC replaced all 4, adjusted and checked system out. Big difference noticed after that when I hit the brakes.

Moral of the story is, yes, if your TV is big enough, you may not feel/know you have an issue.

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

Maybe. Probably way to late to do you any good. And there is a difference in a dragging brake and a stuck brake. If one brake is adjusted a little tight it might tell that over time.

This, how much dragging is going on will determine when and how it alerts you. One break dragging wheel still turning will increase temp and pressure. One wheel locked tire will flat spot then lose pressure.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If the brake fully locks up and the wheel is no longer rotating, then yes, the tire temperature will go up. Will it alarm of temperature or pressure first? Who knows .... if pressure will that be over pressure or under pressure after the tire blows? again ... who knows. TPMS systems are good for gradual changes. There are a lot of examples from folks who found they did very poorly on "quick" changes.

If the brake simply has broken and is dragging, the hub will indeed heat up. You will get weird noises. This is by far the most common "failure mode" for the brakes on your AS. In that case, the tires don't really get all that hot. The hub gets hot ( as in you can easily feel it ). The tire .... not so much. I have an unfortunate lot of data on this .....

Tires in normal use on really hot days can get quite warm. This means that the "alarm" level on your TPMS is going to be set pretty high. If you are looking for an alarm and this is a normal sort of day, even a "hot" tire may not get to the alarm point. If your system has a readout for each tire you can see this or that. I would suggest that if you are towing your eyes probably should not be focused on continuously watching tire temps ....

Bob

[RedSHED]

Boyle's law basically says that if a volume is constant, temperature and pressure will rise and fall together. A stuck brake is one thing that could transfer heat to the tire, but it's not the only thing and the standard deviations of heat and pressure signals are probably driven by a half dozen unrelated factors.
Botom line is that It kinda depends ... on how good the sensors are, what your tolerance is for false poitives/negatives, and some usable definition of "how stuck is 'stuck'."
Could it be done? I think it doesn't sound too hard, BUT, could it be done economically with a general purpose sensor suite and a >99% reliability? Probably not. But that kind of hinges on "general purpose" and "economically" getting defined usefully.

[Rick n Mary]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

Have not had this issue but I'm curious. If one or more of your brakes are stuck on I'd expect to see a significant increase in tire temperature after a while. Can anyone confirm this? I've never had a trailer brake stick, so I don't know if you'd even notice it while driving your TV.

With my dually Ram 3500 oil burner, I have a aftermarket system. (10 tires)
A lot if not all? aftermarket systems and or factory systems? have pressure and temp sensors.

I have not had any issues with temps, I will assume that they will sense abnormal temps from brake heat and alarm you.
It took me some time to research which system I wanted, and found one with a repeater antenna to mount on the roof of the truck. (I don’t recall the manufacturer of the system)
Good luck, and smooth travels. Rick

[waninae39]

YES

the temp will go up as the breaks are locked
most can set low and high trips alarms for both temp and pressure

[mythbuster88]

My Dill TPMS did not detect a hot brake. The Normal temperature after 1 hour of city driving was around 90F -100F. The hot brake was at 200F. Measured with an infrared temp-o-meter.

[rbs]

mine does and did, had one brake that has a slight drag and temp rise, confirmed with infra red heat gun, raised the the offending tire, could feel and hear the contact, adjusted the brake and all is good
we have used the EEZ setup for going on 7 years