Lund/Shorlandr Surge Brakes

Hello,
I’ve Lund badged Shorlandr double axle trailer with surge brakes on the rear axle. The hubs seem to run hotter than the front axle hub. I thought maybe improper bearing adjustment so I jacked up the rear axle and when spinning the tire you can hear a dragging sound. I loosened off the bearing nut and the sound was still there so I removed the wheel and I believe the brakes are rubbing and causing excess friction.

Is there any adjustment etc? Continue to drive the trailer and wait for the brakes to wear in? I’ve probably got 2500km on the trailer now.

TIA

I’m assuming disc brakes??? Brake pads are going to make very light contact with the brake rotor. It will cause a very slight amount of heat to the hub. After a long drive you should still be able to keep your hand/finger on the hub. This is highway driving. Driving in the city they will get too hot to touch.

Yes, disc brakes. The rear hubs were running about 10 degrees hotter than the front hubs.

I decided to back off the bearing nut one spot and I’m going to try that on the one side. I’ll see if that makes a difference. Backing off the nut, I’ve got just a slight amount of play but from what I can read, a slight amount of play is better than too tight and generating heat.

When I bought my new Lund in 2020 it came with a ShoreLand’r trailer with disc brakes. My old boat had drum brakes. I checked them one time after getting home that spring and they were hot. A lot of braking in rush hour traffic. Thought the brakes were dragging. Ended up calling the company that makes the brakes. They were very helpful. She said the rotors could be as warm/hot as the front disc brakes on the tow vehicle.
Another tip she gave me was if backing the boat into the garage, take the load off the actuator by putting chocks in front of the wheels and moving forward to bring the actuator to the forward position.
I will try and find the post I made about it back in 2020 but no guarantees.

Here’s the link to post about my issues:

Trailer brake issue on 1 year old trailer

If the link doesn't work, put "TRAILER BRAKE ISSUE ON 1 YEAR OLD TRAILER" in the search IDO search box.

Here's the info from the brake manufacturer:

I called the manufacturer of the brakes and this is what I found out:
-Disc brakes run hotter than drum brakes. They can run almost as hot as the front brakes on the tow vehicle.
-She asked if both wheels are running hot. I said, yes. She said it could be: 1) the piston isn’t releasing all the way, 2) on an older swing tongue trailer (mine is less than 1 ½ years old) the inside of the “flexible” hose can break down and result in a smaller diameter for the brake fluid to flow through. The brakes work OK because the fluid is under pressure but it takes longer for the fluid to flow back to the reservoir so the brakes are engaged longer.
– When I back into the driveway, jacked up the trailer and turned both wheels, both had some brake activation. She said this is because the electric brake lock out opens a solenoid to let the brake fluid back into the reservoir but still compresses the piston some. After backing a trailer with the electric lock out in use the last movement of the trailer should be forward to take the pressure off the piston.
I bought an infrared thermometer and drove the trailer 10-15 miles. The temps of the trailer rotors were ~120 degrees which was 70 degrees less than the truck’s front wheel rotor. Went to a lake last Friday that was 100 miles away and took the same measurements a few times and the trailer rotors were 110-130 degrees, 60-70 degrees less than truck’s front rotor.
So on the day I couldn’t keep my hand on the trailer hub, the air temp was 93 degrees plus driving in traffic on the way home could easily get the hubs to around 140 degrees or more, which is the temp when you can’t hold onto it. (I Googled this).
So it looks like my trailer brakes are working properly.

Hi,
Thanks for the info.

I might be a bit confused so my apologies in advance.

Does the hubs on your tow vehicle run hot as well?

I should have clarified the 10 degree difference is Celsius, so the front hub(no brakes) is like 93F and the rear hub (with brakes) is 110F. I know the first day I brought it home it was way hotter as I could barely hold my hand on the hub. I don’t feel like my truck hubs get hot and the front hub of the truck would be doing most of the braking.

I’ve bought another heat gun and will run some tests.

Thanks for the comment about the hitch, my driveway is steep and maybe the brake is slightly engaged.

Yes the hubs run hot when I’m doing a lot of braking. That’s how it all started on that hot day in rush hour traffic after which I checked the hubs and they were too hot to keep my hand on them. The disc brakes are part of the hub. The temperatures I took with the heat gun were on the brake rotor on both the truck’s front brakes and the boat’s.
I would expect the hub with the disc brakes will always run hotter than the hubs without.