Brakes went bad. Trying to troubleshoot.

I'd find a local independent shop with good reviews where your at and have 100% more faith in them especially with something critical like brakes before letting speedco look at anything.

 

You should check the slack adjusters and see if they are working and not out of adjustment. Look at the drums and see if they have a lip on the inside from the brakes rubbing and wearing them out. The drums might need replaced and getting to thin and they can’t handle the heat. If you feel pulsing they probably out of round from heating and cooling and probably thin from getting used.

 

How have things been going since that problem you had with the hose leaking or whatever that was? I remember it was not long after you started running with LS?

 

When hooked backup to trailer release the brakes push ped to floor to activate the automatic slack adjusters on Trailer and see if that helps. Do it 3 times

 

Are the brakes on the trailer and tractor in adjustment?

Customer whose trailers I pull to their customer has a flatbed, when I done my initial inspection I could plainly see the trailer brakes were out of adjustment.

I adjusted the trailer brakes and rolled on down the road (first trip) with the trailer.
Getting out of town and on the highway the brakes are used multiple times, when I got down to Winchester, KY over a 100 miles away I noticed the brakes weren’t holding like they were.

After looking the rig over I noticed the brakes on the trailer were no where near close to the drums. Once again I adjusted the brakes which resulted in turning the adjustment 3 revolutions. By the time I got down in Tennessee the brakes were out of adjustment once again.

Once back in town I spoke with the owner and ended up buying new slack adjusters and installing them myself. New adjusters seem to have solved the problems.

Just something to look for on trailers you are not hooked to every day….

 

Bobtail weighs 21k. Empty trailer 13k? If your loaded your 80k. Very different then having 6 drums on a tractor trying to stop 22k vs 50k, assuming the trailer stops 30k.