Electric brake technical question

Submitted: Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 15:49

ThreadID: 61881 Views:2140 Replies:4 FollowUps:0

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locoman

Hi all, I have a 17 ft Viscount full height van with, I believe Kelsey Hayes electric brakes, I have noticed that I am getting a scraping noise emanating from the van wheels when braking, so decided to pull off the brake drum.
What I found was that the magnet actually is very floppy on the shaft, and in fact while the drum is off, I can almost remove the magnet from its shaft, it is so loose. I havent pulled the left side off yet, but have found very little info anywhere on the net.

My question is, should that magnet be that loose, and how can I tell how much life is left in it, as it is worn to almost the heads of the screws in the magnet?

I amnew to these type of brakes.

Cheers for any help in advance.

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Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 15:52

Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 15:52

Sounds like tha magnets worn out and maybe not contacting drum sufficiently. Best talk to a caravan repair shop I would say.

AnswerID: 326427

Reply By: furph - Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 17:21

Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 17:21

They are a quite wobbly fit on the actuator arm, there should be a coil spring behind it which causes it to maintain light contact with the drum.
The face of the magnet should be flat, they do have a very long wear life expectancy.
On braking, the intensity of the magnetic field (pull against the drum) varies with the actuator setting/decellaration of the vehicle.
You could jack the wheels up and operate the brake via the overide slide, you should hear the magnets hum when operating.
With no braking there will be a slight scraping noise.
May not have been a lot of help, but could be a start.
furph

AnswerID: 326439

Reply By: locoman - Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 20:47

Sunday, Sep 21, 2008 at 20:47

Thanks "furph" its a great help, I have a feeling there is NO spring behind it, so could be the cause of the issue. The brakes do work fine, but was concerned re the scraping noise, and it makes sense that there should be a spring behind the magnet.

Cheers mate

AnswerID: 326481