Well, here goes. I have a 13'
Scamp and had the
axle replaced 10+ years ago. It is a one ton dexter
axle with
brakes. Anyway, I finally had a "revelation" today while servicing the bearings. This
axle (like anyone else that has a leading arm but reversed like the Scamp) is reversed to be a leading arm. Well, long story short, the
brakes are then backward too. It has taken me 10 years to figure this out, I just clean and repack the bearings and put everything back together the same way and don't think anything about it. While at an RV repair shop I started looking at trailers that were having bearing service and low and behold the magnet orientation was just the opposite of mine. So, today, I got at it and removed the backing plates and transferred sides so that the magnets are oriented properly and oh my goodness, do my
brakes ever work BETTER. They were always pretty good, but what a difference this has made in their operation! Has anyone else with a 13' trailer ever changed the backing plates to the other side? I am curious to know. Those who have had new axles may want to check the orientation of the magnets. Here are a couple of pictures of the before and after. (The first pic the top spring is not hooked into its hole.) The last pic is of my shiny
Scamp ready to roll. Just got a fresh coat of wax yesterday!