Replacing Electric Brakes Shoes vs. Complete Brakes on 2005 Keystone Cougar

Expert Reply:

If you measured the width of your trailer's electric drum brake shoes as 2-inches this should be fine as long as the brakes' diameter is 12-inches. Such 12 x 2-inch electric drum brakes are quite popular on RVs like your 2005 Keystone Cougar. This size electric drum brake is suitable for axles rated from 5200-lbs to 7000-lbs and these are what are typically supplied on travel trailers.

Brake shoe kits for this 12 x 2 size brake are shown on the linked page. For example, for manual adjust brakes you can use shoe set # AKBRKR-S-12 on both the left and right side brakes. For Dexter Nev-R-Adjust brakes instead use kit # K71-676 for the right hand brakes and kit # K71-675 for the left.

A lot of our customers will skip the hassle of rebuilding brakes and simply bolt on new ones. A set of completely new 12 x 2 electric brakes does not cost much and installation consists of securing a few bolts and connecting the 2 wires with butt connectors # DW05745-10. Brake wires are not polarized so it does not matter which you use for ground or hot.

For example, self-adjusting brake set # AKEBRK-7-SA will be simpler to install than the process of rebuilding brakes and as a bonus you get the peace of mind of knowing your entire brake assembly is brand new. I also linked complete 12 x 2 brake assemblies.