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.
Now I'm irritated. Lol. I was asking for a 3500# dexter axle. My guess is they didn't have the self adjusters in stock so they fed me a line. Ive had no issue with automotive drums as long as you keep the adjuters lubed with some antisieze. Next time I'll get the self adjustment style. I hate crawling under there. Grrrrr.
Check here or redneck trailer. 7k Trailer Axle Brake Assembly - RH | Trailer Parts Outlet Redneck trailer is now the retail online source for dexter.
E-Trailer is great! Especially for us DIY'rs. Sometimes you just have to embrace the suck and get down in the dirt.
Neighbor just bought a new F-350 with the 6.7 diesel. Beautiful truck. Tried to talk him out of it since he never tows much more than 10k, and rarely at that. It was a "good deal". I'd love to have the truck, but I'd rather have the 7.3 gasser. My 2005 f250 V10 has nearly 200k on the clock and has been great to me for the last 50k since I bought it. Diesel is a modern wonder no doubt, but deep pockets are necessary not only to purchase, but to maintain and keep on the road. At work, I was tasked with finding and buying our driver a new flatbed for running around town and delivering products up to 150mi away. Being that we're typically fully loaded (heavy fabrications), I opted to buy the 6.7 diesel. For this application, I believe the diesel was well warranted- especially since the company will be paying for service!
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.
Id personally like to have a word with ford about nylon cam gears. In this instance a 4.9 300 straight six gas. I got a new timing set, cam and crank made of steel. Should have been metal to begin with. I’ve read the nylon are quieter. The nylon gear did well, failed at 327,000 butttt it’d still be chugging along if it were steel.
That one looks like a phenolic (wood pulp and resin) gear. Awesome stuff, but yeah, not sure about it in a cam gear application....
6.7ford diesel timing gear on crankshaft is just a heat shrink fitment, no pins or key way, they slip and then your timing is off but the gears themselves are still aligned according to the marks just not to the crankshaft position and #1 piston. gm uses pins but they shear. don't know about cummins
