Repack or EZ Lube?

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   All this discussion about brakes and connections has inspired me to repack, but more importantly check the brakes and wiring connections. Thank you all for your input

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podrunner Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 30 May 2013 Location: Draper, UT Online Status: Offline Posts: 106	Topic: Repack or EZ Lube? Posted: 14 May 2020 at 10:54am
	All this discussion about brakes and connections has inspired me to repack, but more importantly check the brakes and wiring connections. Thank you all for your input
	2010 R Pod 151 2017 4runner 2006 Honda Metropolitan

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 14 May 2020 at 5:18pm
	If your engine or trans quits or a bearing overheats you might get stuck on the side of the road. If your brakes or tires fail you can die, so for me brakes and tires come first. I've experienced a couple of brake failures and a really bad brake imbalance before so I guess I'm probably a bit paranoid about it. If you've never pulled the trailer wheels and inspected the brakes its a great learning experience, something I think everyone should do at least once. Let's face it, electric drum trailer brakes are 1950s technology, its good to know firsthand how crude they really are compared to modern computer controlled hydraulic disks. Once you get your brakes set up and working as they should and your brake controller is set up the way you want it, here's a nice easy procedure you can do when you head out on a trip to verify things. Get an IR thermometer with a laser sight. Check the temp of the drums. They should be at ambient temp. Get up to about 30-40 mph on a flat empty stretch of road. Using only the manual slide on the brake controller, bring your rig down to a few mph. Do this 3-4 times, waiting a minute or two in between, then pull off the road. Check the drums again. They should both be pretty warm but not smoking hot and be roughly the same temp. If one is cold or one is much hotter than the other then start troubleshooting. If you do this first with known good brakes and have a baseline and things haven't changed then you can probably get by with just EZ lube for awhile. You can also use the ir thermometer on the hubs and tires to see if your bearings or tires are getting hot. And you can use it for your TV brakes and tires too. I keep mine in my center console and do this at every gas stop, doesn't take but a few seconds.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold