Brake problem

[Farmer Dan]

We bought a used 2002 Classic 30' w/slide in April, 2008. After the first trip I suspected the brakes were not working as good as they should. I replaced the brake assembly w/new Dexter backplate, magnet and shoes. Shoes are adjusted properly. When tow vehicle,(2006 Ford Superduty Diesel), controller is manually activated - or when breakaway pin is pulled - you feel a slight drag from the brakes, not the lockup that should happen! I blocked the axles up, one at a time and pulled the breakaway pin. You could not turn the wheels by hand. So far I have only checked voltage at one wheel; it was 12V when breakaway pin is pulled. I suspect a bad ground somewhere under the floor. (I hope Airstream doesn't use scotchlok connectors !!) I dropped the street side of the "pan" holding the water tank. The point where the ground wires join appeared to be ahead of the crossmember at that point. How do I get access to this area ? By drilling out the rivets in the belly pan cover and dropping the sheet metal far enough to reach in ? Maybe someone else has had similar problems and I'm headed to the wrong area to fix my brakes. Thanks in advance for any tips.
Farmer Dan

[Diesel1]

I would check the resistance of the wiring with a DVOM before I pulled a bunch of rivits. You should have 5 ohms or less, prefferably less than 1 ohm. If it is a bad ground,it might be easier to run new wires. I would double check the brake ajustment.

[rogerdodger]

Farmer Dan;
I'm sure others may have good ideas, but on my AS each brake magnet has it's own ground wire directly to the frame, close to the brake plate. You need to have enough wire to allow for axle up/down movement. In my case the PO did not allow long enough wire, and 3 of 4 brakes had no ground. IE were not working. I also used a small grinder on the frame at each connection to make sure I had a good ground. Just my 2c.