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Anyone know anything about trailer brakes?

When you did this, all stuff was in a kit, same manufacture?
Fri. / 4 days ago. Not same manufacturer. The backing plate assemblies were in a kit with 2 lefts and 2 rights. Libra is the brand. I got the drums on Amazon. I believe the brand name is M-Parts. (Chinese.)
 
My plans for this afternoon changed and I wanted to continue this topic, so I went and got the trailer back to the house this morning. I took one drum off the front left, which is indicative of all of them, as they all went together the same and look the same. I confirmed that the backing plates labeled LEFT are on the left:

20230926_091843.jpg

All drums look fully seated with no shoes showing:

20230926_091831.jpg
20230926_091827.jpg

In the following pic, the left of the photo is the forward direction with the smaller shoe on the front, indicating that it is installed on the correct side per the eTrailer article:

20230926_092217.jpg


This is the rear shoe; it appears to have even contact:

20230926_092228.jpg

This is the front shoe, which still appears to be wearing in, with the top still untouched:

20230926_092236.jpg

Here is a video demonstrating the magnet's power, no clue if this is normal or abnormal:


Here's the kicker ... this morning when I picked it up, it's able to lock the brakes up with the controller set to max and the trailer empty. So maybe the self adjusters just took REALLY long to adjust? (I towed with crappy brakes all day Sat.) Or maybe it's getting better as the shoes wear in? IDK, but if they were working like this last weekend, this thread wouldn't exist right now.
 
I adjust shoes out until they drag a little. A little more 'draggy' if shoes and drums are brand new.

did your shoes appear to move well when pushing/pulling the magnet lever arm forward/backward?
 
Make sure the magnet arm swings free on the pivot.

Seen rust jacking and factory defects not allow free motion. Had to sand and grease the pivot point.
 
New drums with the new brakes or old drums? Are they lipped, or overly worn?

Auto-adjusting works but takes a long time initially. That's why it's best to do an initial adjustment when new, and let the auto-adjust keep the brakes good for the life of the shoes.
 
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