Wiring mobile home axle brakes - Diesel Forum

**Believer45** · 08-29-2009, 11:27 PM

I bought a tilt deck equipment trailer that appears to have two mobile home axles under it. 8.00x14.5 tires on Dayton style wheels, tires rated at 2790 lbs each single, it appears to have five bolt flanges for bolt-on brake backing plates and it has two pairs of wires coming through the flange. I assume these are mobile home axles, although everything I have been able to find online has only one pair of wires per wheel position and welded on brake backing plates with no flange. I am aware of the limitations of mobile home axles but the trailer will very rarely travel over 50 miles and never over 300 from home.

Couple questions:

1) Are these mobile home axles? (I will be surprised if they are not)

2) How is the wiring handled? As I said, there are two pairs of wires - one of each pair hot and one of each pair ground? This would make the most sense, although the wires come out above the axle, one pair to the front and one pair to the rear, through the flange and not the backing plate. Were there some made with two magnets?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Dave / Believer45

durantdiesel · 08-30-2009, 07:51 AM

Believer: Just grab the wires hook one to the hot side and one to the ground on both brake drums and you will be good to go. Brakes are the easiest to hook up one hot one ground doesn't matter which one as long as the circuit is complete

**Believer45** · 08-30-2009, 10:41 AM

Hook one pair to hot and one pair to ground or hook one of each pair to hot and the other of each pair to ground? I have not come across four wires per wheel for brakes before.

**bugman** · 08-30-2009, 10:56 AM

Get your ohm meeter out and see just witch wires are connected through the coil. Just thinking out loud since I have never seen anything like that either but it may have two coils, top and bottom. But you would have to tear it apart to find out for sure.

Jim

**Believer45** · 08-30-2009, 11:17 AM

What resistance reading should I be looking for?

I thought about looking for two wires with continuity running through the magnet but was not sure what is inside. I am thinking I need to pull a wheel down to see what I actually have.

**bugman** · 08-30-2009, 12:43 PM

I'm not sure what the resistance would be through the coil but it should be under a 100 ohms just guessing. But pulling one apart will get you your answer the right way.

Rick M · 08-30-2009, 12:50 PM

Personally the first thing I would do is open it up to see what is in there as well as checking and re-greasing the bearings. I would suspect that if it were old mobile home axles you should be able to see where they were cut and re-welded to shorten the track width because the regular trailer axles I have run across are to wide to use on a regular road legal trailer.

LMJD · 08-30-2009, 02:15 PM

Just do like Durantdiesel posted, it doesn't matter, juice in, juice out. All your doing (with the controller) is energizing an electromagnet. The more juice, the more the magnet hangs to the steel drum disc, the more it hangs, the more the lever applies the brake shoes. If you pull a drum they're self expanatory. For as crude as they are, (been the same for decades), they work amazingly well. Like Rick M posts, I'd sure want to check the wheel brgs, shoes and do a tlr brake adjustment anyway.

knoweigh · 08-30-2009, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Believer45

Hook one pair to hot and one pair to ground or hook one of each pair to hot and the other of each pair to ground? I have not come across four wires per wheel for brakes before.

my guess would be that you have 2 magnets in those axles as opposed to 1.
Just my hunch;
Normally, the cylinder (magnet in this case) pushes 1 side of the shoe right?
Well maybe these axles are set up to push out on both sides of the shoe...assuming there is only 1 set of shoes in these wheels.
Would definitely make for better/even wear on the shoes I spose.

just my $.02 worth

Ya, like they said, I'd start with a meter and you should get some resistance through the one set, and then the other.............but you should NOT get any continuity or resistance between either of the 2 pair

LMJD · 08-31-2009, 09:36 AM

Quote:

my guess would be that you have 2 magnets in those axles as opposed to 1.
Just my hunch;
Normally, the cylinder (magnet in this case) pushes 1 side of the shoe right?

After working on them intermittently in truck shops for many a year, I've never heard or seen any with two magnets regardless of axle rating. And no, both shoes are energized by the one magnet and it's lever due to the way the linkage is set up.

Quote:

...assuming there is only 1 set of shoes in these wheels.

Things would get a little crowded with more than one set.

Believer, here's basically what you should have:
When energized, the magnet and it's lever will ride to the left forcing shoe to drum contact with both shoes.

88beast · 08-31-2009, 10:45 AM

hook up juice to one ground to another and with it jacked up see if it turns if not that setup works if it does try another

**Believer45** · 08-31-2009, 11:28 AM

I have been into the electric brakes on my horse trailer, I just have never seen four wires per wheel position before.

Time to jack her up and pull her down, I guess. I will take pictures and post what I find.

Will be interesting to see what is in there.

Thanks, all, for your input.

Dave / Believer45

LMJD · 08-31-2009, 12:00 PM

Quote:

I just have never seen four wires per wheel position before.

Me neither. Like you said, interesting-----who knows what lurks within?

On Edit: I know my horse tlr and TT are two in at each backing plate. My flat bed is the newest trailer I have, about 4 years old, and I just took a quick look under it. It LOOKS like there's four wires, but looking closer, there's actually only two going through the backing plate, but there's two more coming out that are about four inches long and stubbed off with insulated connectors. The way they're balled up it looked like four in at first glance. Wonder if that's what you've got?

durantdiesel · 08-31-2009, 12:18 PM

These may be whats called "prewired" if so 4 wire is right. This would be the 2 for that brake plus the 2 for the other side, the wire is usually run inside the axle beam and connected on the opposite side. this may be what you are seeing I have never seen2 magnets for one brake either

**Believer45** · 08-31-2009, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by durantdiesel

These may be whats called "prewired" if so 4 wire is right. This would be the 2 for that brake plus the 2 for the other side, the wire is usually run inside the axle beam and connected on the opposite side. this may be what you are seeing I have never seen2 magnets for one brake either

That would make sense - you would not want wires hanging under a mobile home.

Thanks -- I appreciate it.

Dave / Believer45