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michael13 · 06-14-2009, 06:21 PM

Greetings everyone

we just had our first 20 mile outing on a new set of Henschen Axles

The good news is , they are still where they belong.

One hub got hotter than the 3 others, almost to hot to touch
do i need to worry?????

anyone with advice out there, i would love some feedback

Thanks

Michael

Gene · 06-14-2009, 06:39 PM

Sounds like failing wheel bearing, possibly not enough or too much grease, castellated nut too tight, grease seal failure or locked up brake. Only way to find out is to take off the wheel and then the hub (brake drum) and look.

Gene

**azflycaster** · 06-14-2009, 06:43 PM

It could also be a break adjusted too tight. Once you get the wheel in the air you can check for break drag.

Inland RV Center, In · 06-14-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael13

Greetings everyone

we just had our first 20 mile outing on a new set of Henschen Axles

The good news is , they are still where they belong.

One hub got hotter than the 3 others, almost to hot to touch
do i need to worry?????

anyone with advice out there, i would love some feedback

Thanks

Michael

Michael.

Please don't guess or assume. Pull the wheel off and get to the exact problem. Correcting it, should be easy.

Also check the tire pressure, and make sure it's what you want it to be.

Andy

michael13 · 06-14-2009, 06:49 PM

could you explain break drag????

richinny · 06-14-2009, 06:51 PM

the brake drum should spin freely with the wheel hot. the brakes will drag more as the drum heats up so don't adjust them too tight when they are cold.

**azflycaster** · 06-14-2009, 06:53 PM

If the breaks are adjusted too tight, the shoes will rub (drag) on the surface of the drum all the time. This will cause the drum to heat up.

michael13 · 06-14-2009, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Michael.

Please don't guess or assume. Pull the wheel off and get to the exact problem. Correcting it, should be easy.

Also check the tire pressure, and make sure it's what you want it to be.

Andy

i just went out and the drum is much warmer than the almost cool rest
without taking the wheel off and ................ Then What???????

my instinct is that the break shoes on this side are to tight

according to the manual it should be a quick fix

any advice?????

overlander63 · 06-14-2009, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael13

any advice?????

Yes. Jack it up, remove the wheel, and check the brakes and bearings.

michael13 · 06-14-2009, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

Yes. Jack it up, remove the wheel, and check the brakes and bearings.

I can do a lot of things but i have never taken a break drum apart

How

overlander63 · 06-14-2009, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael13

I can do a lot of things but i have never taken a break drum apart

How

Who put the brake drums on your new axles? Taking the drum off is not hard, it does require a little mechanical ability. Raise the trailer, either using a jack, or the driving-it-up-on-a-2x6 method, and remove the tire and wheel assembly. Loosen the lug nuts first. After you remove the wheel and tire, pop the dust cap off the hub. Remove the cotter pin that goes through the castellated nut, and unscrew the nut. Remove the washer that's under the nut, and remove the outer wheel bearing. It should just slide out of the hub. Put all these parts somewhere clean and dry. After you do that, simply slide the hub and drum assembly off the spindle.
After you get the hub off, you can look to see if anything brake related has fallen off, and is causing the problem. Examining the parts is not tough, make sure the bearings have grease on them, and nothing is rolling around inside the drum when you remove it.
Now, if there isn't any grease in the bearings, you'll need to repack them. If, after removing the outer bearing, you can't slide the drum off the spindle, the brakes are probably too tight, for one reason or another. There is an adjuster wheel on the backing plate, and it adjusts by being rotated up or down.

wahoonc · 06-14-2009, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael13

I can do a lot of things but i have never taken a break drum apart

How

Go buy a case of beer (brand not important) and then wait until I pass thru on the way home sometime in August or September....or follow the directions that Overlander63 gave you.

Aaron

michael13 · 06-14-2009, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

Who put the brake drums on your new axles? Taking the drum off is not hard, it does require a little mechanical ability. Raise the trailer, either using a jack, or the driving-it-up-on-a-2x6 method, and remove the tire and wheel assembly. Loosen the lug nuts first. After you remove the wheel and tire, pop the dust cap off the hub. Remove the cotter pin that goes through the castellated nut, and unscrew the nut. Remove the washer that's under the nut, and remove the outer wheel bearing. It should just slide out of the hub. Put all these parts somewhere clean and dry. After you do that, simply slide the hub and drum assembly off the spindle.
After you get the hub off, you can look to see if anything brake related has fallen off, and is causing the problem. Examining the parts is not tough, make sure the bearings have grease on them, and nothing is rolling around inside the drum when you remove it.
Now, if there isn't any grease in the bearings, you'll need to repack them. If, after removing the outer bearing, you can't slide the drum off the spindle, the brakes are probably too tight, for one reason or another. There is an adjuster wheel on the backing plate, and it adjusts by being rotated up or down.

well the axles came fully assembled from the factory

is there a way to test if the break shoes are to tight before i disassemble the drum ?

wahoonc · 06-14-2009, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michael13

well the axles came fully assembled from the factory

is there a way to test if the break shoes are to tight before i disassemble the drum ?

Get the wheel off the ground and try to rotate it, if you feel drag or it is hard to rotate by hand it is too tight. When I adjust brakes I run them up until the wheel drags then back off the adjuster a bit until it no longer scrapes. Hard to explain but easy to do...

Aaron

michael13 · 06-14-2009, 07:49 PM

Thanks , i will try this

and if this is not working, lets dismantle the "%*&%$$*"

Gene · 06-15-2009, 09:50 AM

Michael, there are other threads on wheel bearings and such. Search for them and read them. The advice you have received is correct, but more reading would be helpful.

Gene

michael13 · 06-15-2009, 11:19 AM

here is the little culprit, after wrestling the drum of i found this, pretty sure it is not supposed to look like this

after calling Inland RV, went to a local RV dealer and got a new grease seal

everything is back together and will go for a test drive this evening.

Thanks to everyone for the good advice

I will keep you posted on how it went

Michael

Gene · 06-15-2009, 12:12 PM

Even though I took things apart a month ago, I could be wrong, but I don't think you will find more than 3 springs in there and none of them look anything like that. Two of them should be return springs to bring the shoes to rest after you let up on the brakes. They should be larger in diameter and shorter—maybe 1 1/2" long. The 3rd spring may tension the adjuster, but I was looking for other things at the time. It looks similar to the other two. When you look at brakes, how they work seems pretty obvious.

What you have there looks like something someone left in there. Are the other springs in place?

Of course, the brakes could operate differently on your model, but I think the way drum brakes operate hasn't changed much in generations.

The open question is why would this spring cause overheating?

Here are some pictures of springs, one of which is of a kit and not a particularly good picture, but if you blow up the lower right side, you can see what trailer brake springs look like:

michael13 · 06-15-2009, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Even though I took things apart a month ago, I could be wrong, but I don't think you will find more than 3 springs in there and none of them look anything like that. Two of them should be return springs to bring the shoes to rest after you let up on the brakes. They should be larger in diameter and shorter—maybe 1 1/2" long. The 3rd spring may tension the adjuster, but I was looking for other things at the time. It looks similar to the other two. When you look at brakes, how they work seems pretty obvious.

What you have there looks like something someone left in there. Are the other springs in place?

Of course, the brakes could operate differently on your model, but I think the way drum brakes operate hasn't changed much in generations.

The open question is why would this spring cause overheating?

Here are some pictures of springs, one of which is of a kit and not a particularly good picture, but if you blow up the lower right side, you can see what trailer brake springs look like:

From what my understanding is, this spring is just behind the back grease seal holding the seal tight
at least this where i found it and the new one has the same spring in place, nice and round of course

Gene · 06-15-2009, 01:32 PM

Oh! That's new to me. The few I've worked on have the grease seal held in by friction and you drive it in. Next question—who last worked on the bearings and when? There shouldn't be such a failure on a seal unless it's installed improperly or left in much too long. You are fortunate you caught it now because it could have been a lot worse. Check the bearings and the races to make sure they are ok. Those parts are cheap.

Gene