Tab 400 Boondock 2021

PaulKethley

Passenger side brake overheating. Repeated trips to mechanic to fix. Still has overheat problem.  Can anyone recommend a fix, or place to repair near Cody or Powell, Wy.?  Unit not covered by warranty

pthomas745

What has your mechanic tried for a fix? Brake adjustment?

PS: Welcome to the Forums!

Denny16

If the brake is overheating whilst just going down the road, the brake adjustment needs backing off, so the brake shoe is not riding on the drum as hard, or at all.
 Cheers 

PaulKethley

Thanks Denny,
  Its more than brake adj - this was the first thing done, it was readjusted but then it continued to overheat just going through a small town with a couple of stop lights.  Drivers side brake is only slightly warm with passenger side too hot to touch.  Its in the shop now and I have the Dexter brake manual.  Your thoughts:
Paul

Denny16

You could check the brake’s electromagnetic unit, to see if it is not releasing the brake or is stuck in an on state.  Electric trailer brakes use an electromagnetic drum to slow down or stop the rotation of the trailer wheels, if powered all the time, it could overheat.  I would have a trailer shop check this out and see what the issue is.
 Cheers 

TABNewbies

Hi @PaulKethley, welcome. One more to check is if the brake wires have been worn between the frame and the hub on that side. This has been seen by some and perhaps results in what you see. Take pictures and share / compare from both sides of the camper and this helps. 

manyman297

I have the exact issue you have. I went as far as completely checking and rewiring the brakes to make sure it wasn’t an electrical problem. All of the electrical tests show no issue. 

Check out my thread I started in June:

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/15603/scored-brake-drum-ok

Towards the bottom Mickerly mentioned something about the brake lining and drum not mating properly due to the drum or lining being out of round. The wear on my driver side brake lining appears to be wearing only in the middle which tells me I’m not getting full contact on that side (and it’s the cool side). I’ve yet to contact Dexter but I will once I get the time to make a warranty claim. 

ColMag

On our brand new Tab 400 we had a noisy overheating  brake on one side. A dealer technician later said it was due to a loose "crown" nut that had vibrated looser making it stick out too much causing scraping against the pad/shoe/drum. Tightening it fixed the problem, and no serious damage done.

Denny16

There are lots of issues that could cause the overheating, and unless you are a brake specialist, I would have a pro tech check the brake issue out.
 Cheers 

Horigan

Another item to check is on some brake controllers, there's a little lever that is supposed to be pointed down to tell the unit which way gravity is.  When it senses deceleration in the fore/aft direction it applies brakes.  If that down position lever is not vertical, it could apply brakes when not wanted.  In this case, it would mean the other brake is adjusted too loosely.  Unlikely, but a possibility here.