brasco
Member
- 189
- 1
- 16
- Location
- Southeast of Indianapolis, In
I almost had a perfect recovery today of the M105A2 that I bought out of Indy. I got to the lot a little ahead of schedule and got the paperwork done with no problems. I found the trailer and was able to back right up to it with my M923A2. The GL guy met me there and told me that I was good to go. After a few minutes I was able to get everything hooked up with no problems.
Before pulling away I double checked to make sure the hand brakes were released and nothing missed. As I pulled out of the the parking spot, my awesome wife helped me verify that the wheels were trailer turning with a big thumbs up! (I have issues before with locked brakes on trailers). We pulled out of the GL lot where I did another double check of everything before hitting the road.
It was lunch time so we started looking for a place to eat. We went about 15 miles and stopped at a Wendy's. My wife went inside and I decided to check on the trailer. I was really surprised to see that the brakes were SMOKING! My first thought was that they were on fire so I started checking for flames but found nothing.
After looking around, I discovered a small leak in the emergency air hose on the trailer. I moved the hose a little and it became a BIG leak. So, I disconnected both air lines thinking this was causing the brakes to drag. After eating lunch, the smoking had quit and we decided to move on on down the road to see if disconnecting the hoses worked.
We stopped at the next exit, about 3 miles down the road. The brake drums we still hot but at least not smoking anymore. We stopped again at the next 2 exits and no more smoking brakes but they were still pretty hot. We went another 45 miles with no more smoking brakes.
When I got it home the brakes were still very hot - I thought they would have cooled a bit. I unhooked the trailer and wan't able to move it around by hand like my other trailers so it looks like it had just enough drag on the brakes to get them really hot. This was 2009 VSE rebuild and apparently never put in service. I assume that the brakes were never adjusted properly??? I'll check adjustment this weekend if weather allows.
I've done some research this evening and found that this is a common problem. Too bad I did not read about it before today or else I would have been more prepared. I just hope I didn't do more than just burn the paint off the drums. I'll take them apart when I have time.
Another recovery and another lesson learned!
![M105A2.jpg M105A2.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/368/368237-a1f50bf76ac070ca91587bcf66c05b45.jpg)
Before pulling away I double checked to make sure the hand brakes were released and nothing missed. As I pulled out of the the parking spot, my awesome wife helped me verify that the wheels were trailer turning with a big thumbs up! (I have issues before with locked brakes on trailers). We pulled out of the GL lot where I did another double check of everything before hitting the road.
It was lunch time so we started looking for a place to eat. We went about 15 miles and stopped at a Wendy's. My wife went inside and I decided to check on the trailer. I was really surprised to see that the brakes were SMOKING! My first thought was that they were on fire so I started checking for flames but found nothing.
After looking around, I discovered a small leak in the emergency air hose on the trailer. I moved the hose a little and it became a BIG leak. So, I disconnected both air lines thinking this was causing the brakes to drag. After eating lunch, the smoking had quit and we decided to move on on down the road to see if disconnecting the hoses worked.
We stopped at the next exit, about 3 miles down the road. The brake drums we still hot but at least not smoking anymore. We stopped again at the next 2 exits and no more smoking brakes but they were still pretty hot. We went another 45 miles with no more smoking brakes.
When I got it home the brakes were still very hot - I thought they would have cooled a bit. I unhooked the trailer and wan't able to move it around by hand like my other trailers so it looks like it had just enough drag on the brakes to get them really hot. This was 2009 VSE rebuild and apparently never put in service. I assume that the brakes were never adjusted properly??? I'll check adjustment this weekend if weather allows.
I've done some research this evening and found that this is a common problem. Too bad I did not read about it before today or else I would have been more prepared. I just hope I didn't do more than just burn the paint off the drums. I'll take them apart when I have time.
Another recovery and another lesson learned!
![M105A2.jpg M105A2.jpg](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/data/attachments/368/368237-a1f50bf76ac070ca91587bcf66c05b45.jpg)
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