Noisy axle?

[julmar]

Thank you in advance for your assistance. My '89 16' ft Scamp makes a screeching noise after about 200-300 miles of travel, not initially. The metal on metal sound occurs even with no braking. I have had the brakes replaced, wheel bearings packed & had it checked several times for this issue. Seemed cured with the new brakes but noise is now back. Donna D heard the noise when I came into the NOG 2 weeks ago so maybe you have some thoughts on what I should have checked or potential cause? I have been using Les Swab for these issues & of course no noise when I take it in as it hasn't run for long miles. Again thank you for your help.
Julie

[Darral T.]

A couple of quick things here:
1) have you stopped and felt the hubs after just 20 miles or so? A digital thermometer to shoot with would be REAL nice here. I would try it WITHOUT the brakes first. But, for a quick test, you can carefully touch the hubs and if you can hold you hands on them for at least 30 seconds, you're probably ok with the bearings.

2) Have you had anyone try and back off your shoes to make sure they're not dragging then possibly heating up?

Finally...were the magnets (electric brakes?) ok when they changed out the brakes? I would have someone back the shoes off first as I personally think they will be the culprit. IF they're dragging excessively, they WILL cause your hub temps to skyrocket!

Otherwise, it would be good to have someone with you. When it starts the noise, have a jack handy and jack up the wheels and spin them, feel the hubs.....

These are my first thoughts. I'll be interested in watching other responses since I've never seen this problem posted before. PLEASE let us know what the culprit was for our future reference.

Originally Posted by julmar

Thank you in advance for your assistance. My '89 16' ft Scamp makes a screeching noise after about 200-300 miles of travel, not initially. The metal on metal sound occurs even with no braking. I have had the brakes replaced, wheel bearings packed & had it checked several times for this issue. Seemed cured with the new brakes but noise is now back. Donna D heard the noise when I came into the NOG 2 weeks ago so maybe you have some thoughts on what I should have checked or potential cause? I have been using Les Swab for these issues & of course no noise when I take it in as it hasn't run for long miles. Again thank you for your help.
Julie

[Bob Miller]

I'd pull of the brake drum and take a look inside, anything making contact and squeaking should be shiny looking at the point of contact. Same thing should show up on the inside of the drum. I'd bet someone in the past 25 years put in a "Close-Enough" part that works it way out to contact the brake drum. If your Scamp has lived in the Northwest most of it's life, I'd bet that there is more than a tad bit of rust in there as well.


If you look at etrailer.com you will be surprised to see how cheap entire, complete backing plates cost.

[stevebaz]

Maybe this will help. See links below.

I wouldn't trust a general service person to service trailer brakes. Trailer brakes are very different than passenger car brakes. Get the assemble wrong or missing parts and you can have the troubles you are having. They wont have the parts in their parts bin especially if you still have the AL-KO axle. You want someone very familiar with trailer brakes. I would do a complete tear down with emphasis on proper assembly and function.


http://www.dexteraxle.com/i/u/614960...ric_Brakes.pdf

http://www.al-ko.us/download/ALKO500_2KBrake.pdf