Why Would Brand New Trailer Brakes Not Feel Strong

Question:

I have a 24 foot toy hauler I pulled the drums off to inspect the brakes and at that time I said I might as well put brakes on there because I have the drums off when I got the new brakes I compare them to the old brakes and didnt appear to be a whole lot of difference I went ahead and still put on the new brakes do I need to replace the drums when I hit the trailer brakes they grabbed but they do not lock up

asked by: Erwin J

Expert Reply:

Sounds like you installed new self-adjusting brakes and they aren't quite as strong as you'd think they would be. The simple explanation is that they just haven't tensioned themselves yet so they just need to be applied several more times so that they are the correct tightness to apply the brakes strongly.

To speed this up you can go a parking lot speed with the trailer and hit the manual override lever of your brake controller several times. You'll feel them get stronger each time.

expert reply by: Jameson C