Bearing service snafu

[xltjim]

Well this post fits in the "if you want something done right do it yourself" category. I usually do my own bearing repacks followed by brake adjustment. This year I went ahead and had my mechanic do it since, quite frankly, I didn't feel like doing it myself. Well, while backing into a site my wife reported hearing what she described as rocks rolling in one of the wheels. I had her move it while I listened and she was right...something was wrong in there.

After setting up I went ahead and popped off the hub and the brake adjuster fell out to the ground. What the heck? It was set all the way to the retracted position. No damage that I could see was done but could imagine what could have happened. I was able to get it back into the slot where it belonged. Repacked that wheel myself and adjusted brakes and checked the other 3. I will be doing my own from now on no question about it. I didn't notice any apparent braking issues which I find odd.

Haven't yelled at mechanic yet. Will wait until I cool off a little bit.

Safe Travels.

[Lloyd]

That's a heck of a note Jim.
It's a sad sad world we live in where you can't trust most people you hire to do some work for you.
It's good that there was no safety issues because of it.

[JEH412]

Good to hear that there was no damage or noticeable loss of braking! That's a heck of thing to have to take care of when you're camping, though, and a real shame that it's getting harder all the time to find (and trust) a competent mechanic or technician.

I much prefer doing my own bearings and brakes, too, having been trained as a factory mechanic in the dark ages when drum brakes were still current tech on everything. There have been times when I've asked the RV shop to take care of the bearings when I have the trailer in for inspection, but even though I trust them (independent shop) I still have a nagging concern and have been known to pull a drum to check the outer bearing and look for a new seal on the inner. Yeah, it's OCD, but I've been burned on a few things on different vehicles over the years.

[dagst1]

Having been around first automotive drum brakes and then trailer brakes - not a pro - How did the adjuster "fall out"? There is a spring across the brake shoes that holds the adjuster in. Did it break? When you reassemble the brake double check that and all the other springs. Could be it was stretched out. I base my statements on just putting a new set of brake shoes on just this week and started with the adjuster all the way in the spring held it in the notch on the shoe tightly.

So be sure to check everything as it is close to impossible for it to just "fall out"
would be a shame to fix it and it happen again.

I was taught to not only fix the problem but to find out what caused it.

Thankfully it did not cause a major safety issue.

[xltjim]

If this is duplicate post sorry -

Good points Dagst1. What is strange is when I picked the adjuster off the ground, it was found all the way collapsed and tight like it was set that way on purpose. It wasn't like that the last time I had adjusted. I did have to pry a little to get it reinstalled and adjusted from there.

I don't get how it could have fallen out either...unless...perhaps....the brakes had hung up / slow to release and with the adjuster collapsed all the way it had room to dislodge? Yeah...something tells me to open it back up now that I made it home and inspect further.

[mark5w]

Jim, in the future, if you have to install new brakes shoes, I recommend you buy the whole brake assembly. Not very expensive. Here is an example.


https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...yABEgLmufD_BwE

[WoodcarvingGypsy]

Jim, if you go to replace the backers, take a hard look at the self-adjusters. I don't mind doing brakes, just this way I know those work. I did al 4 on my Seville.


I did pull the adjuster out and put a dab of synthetic grease in there to make sure it didn't stick.