New self adjusting brakes and lift kit
I got around to installing a six inch lift kit and also installed the self adjusting brakes. I had to pull the drums off and clean out all of the grease from the stupid "EZ Lube" regreaser...the EZ Lube was great at lubricating the internals of the drum as about 14 OZ of grease squirted into the drums when I lubed up the bearings the first time. After using two tubes of grease on each drum I thought that was enough grease then I noticed that the brakes immediately stopped working...guess where all of the grease went (see picture).
I bought 2 new drums (with bearing races pressed in and new bearings and seals complete). The E Trailer price delivered was only $287.00 so I could not resist. Removing and installing the brake backing plates was very easy and the brake shoes were pre-installed on the backing plate. All I needed to unbolt the old backing plates from the axel ends, make sure I installed the new backing plate with the RH on the right hand side of the trailer and pack the bearings and drive on the seals BTW...to install the seals first apply a little bit of grease on the inside of the surface where the seals slide into the drums and also lube up the seal lips, then use a wood block and a hammer and drive the seals into the drum until they are flush with the machined end (make sure the spring and lip are facing the bearings). The backing plate installed with five nuts as there are five studs that are pressed into the axel housing.
Since the heavy drums and tires were already off I figured it would be a good time to install the 6 inch lift kit. My axels were tack welded in place so I had to use a cutoff wheel to cut off the weld (took about 5 minutes total time for both sides). The axels are also bolted on with 5/8 inch thick fine thread bolts (thirty pitch). The hex heads are 15/16 that is a odd sized hex head but at least I had one.
TM uses a 5 inch by 2 inch steel tube frame and they cut out an oval window (hole) above the axel location to access the bolts. They also cut out two square-ish oval hole into the bottom of each frame rail (they did a crappy job by the way of making these oval holes) so that the axel can be moved forward or aft to allow for alignment of the axel into the frame. Since a two inch wide box tube is not that wide on the inside sliding a 15/16 socket on a 1/2 inch drive ratchet was kind of tight inside the box end so if you have a 3/8 inch ratchet with a 15/16 socket you might have better access.
If you do add a lift kit to your trailer make sure to scribe a vertical line down the frame (using a square) to mark the front and back location of the axel perches (I forgot to do this step) with respect to the frame rails because since the axel has oval holes and the TM frame also has oval holes...the axel can be mounted on crooked (left/right and forward/aft). Since I forgot this step, I had to triangulate using a tape measure to reinstall the axel in the correct position because I forgot to mark the axel location on the frame.
The axel perches are 10 7/8 inches long so it is best to buy two box tubes that are 2 X 6 inch with 1/4 inch thick wall tubes and have the metal supplier cut the box tubes for you. I paid a Dallas company 38 dollars for the two pieces plus the hardware I think I have about $50.00 total investment.
The axel bolt holes on my TM axel were 9 inches on center so I drilled two holes on the top and two holes on the bottom of my box tubes and purchased 4 grade 8 bolts and lock nuts and washers to install the box tube between the axel and the frame. The TM brake wires were plenty long enough to accodomidate the 6 inch lift. I used the crimp on terminal ends that have the heat shrink plastic covers so the install is now water tight (TM used cheap-o and unsafe wire nuts to wire up the brakes). The wires going to the brake magnets are not polarized so either wire on the brake backing plate crimped to either wire on the TM will work good.
Attached is a picture of the lift kit installed and the old grease covered brakes and the new self adjusting brakes installed onto the lift kit.
I attached the Dexter Axel installation guide for those who are interested. I hope this helps!!!
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