Diesel truck discussion

Not that I was hot-shotting with my personal trailers that would give me hundreds of thousands of miles of data, but I noticed no undue wear on the couple I converted. The adjuster mechanism is similar to what you'd expect to find if working on a regular automotive drum brake except that the brakes adjust during a forward stop, not reverse. We've all worn out a couple/few sets of drum brakes on cars/trucks. LOTS of trailers out there in the scrapyard (or should be...) with nearly new brake shoes on them.

That parts clerk did you a disservice IMO. Probably asked you for year, make & model when you asked about windshield washer fluid too.

If they are wearing faster, it's because they are actually getting used, rather than transferring load to the truck brakes. How many people will look at you quizzically when you ask when was the last time they adjusted their trailer brakes? Supposed to be done when the drums are pulled for bearing re-pack/reseal. That maintenance MIGHT actually happen to 5% of the trailers on the road. Even if you are meticulous with the maintenance, having the adjuster mechanisms in place does no harm and helps ensure that the brakes respond similarly (important on a tandem axle rig) and predictably every time you hit the pedal. Combined with a great brake controller (a time-delay type controller is better than nothing, but not by much..., inertia type is good, integrated even better!) you'll get a combined vehicle that handles well, with no fiddling.

 

Completely avoidable these days. Your reasons for avoiding diesels are valid, but there are mitigation strategies for the CP4 issue for each of the major engines using them. Even a (relatively) simple/affordable "disaster containment" type kit prevents a CP4 from trashing the rest of the fuel system. Hoping it doesn't happen to you is kinda like going all-in on the river card.

 

E-Trailer is great! Especially for us DIY'rs.

Sometimes you just have to embrace the suck and get down in the dirt.

 

The expectation that ANY engine will simply run for decades without some kind of customized maintenance plan (both preventative and predictive) is a bit naive.

Even the old Chevy Big-Blocks that I love so much, had their Achilles heels as well. If all you ever did to them was fuel it and change the oil, the nylon timing drive sprockets would reliably fail at about 120-150k miles and you'd have a pretty expensive repair on your hands. Same for Honda and the timing belts and timing belt-driven water pumps. Most that were neglected never saw 200k miles.

 

That one looks like a phenolic (wood pulp and resin) gear. Awesome stuff, but yeah, not sure about it in a cam gear application....