brake wiring on Laredo

[vschlepp]

After traveling through some muddy roads last trip with our 2013 Laredo fifth wheel, I crawled under the trailer to be wash the underneath. Cleaning the passenger side wheels I noticed the leads exiting the backing plates but no wires attached from the trailer! The driver side wheels have wires connected from the unit. It is the first time I have crawled completely underneath the unit. The bearings have been packed a number of times at tire/brakeshops but only this spring at an RV dealership. None of the techs mentioned any brake pads differences. I am inclined to think this is not correct! Should I contact Keystone or is this the proper wiring? I have not noticed any problem but have not needed to stop an any big hurry in the 20K+ miles traveled with the trailer.

[Frank G]

Were there wires there to reconnect? I am too lazy to stop typing and crawl under our Laredo and see how it is wired but I think the leads drop to one side of the axle and a set of wires go through the axle and pop out the other side to connect to the brake.

[chuckster57]

Leads from the trailer will only be on one side, drivers side is most common. Then the wires are carried to the other side normally inside the axle tube. I have seen the rare occasion where they are zip tied. If you have “torsion” axles (no real axle) then its possible to have leads from both sides.

[vschlepp]

I wish I could say I didn't wash enough mud off of the wheel but after looking again (with a headlamp) and following the the above comments, there is no problem. How embarrassing!! Thanks for the quick responses!

[JRTJH]

Now that you've found the wiring for your brakes, after 6 or 7 years of use, it's time to carefully inspect the connectors on the wires to make sure they are intact and there's no corrosion or damage to the wiring.

Six years is a "long time" for an exposed wire connection to be subjected to everything from water/rain to rocks, mud and road slime/salt. Many will find problems with corroded, broken wires "at or inside the crimp connection", so a careful inspection is warranted. There's no need to take things apart to check, but a bright light, twisting and checking all sides of the connectors for anything that doesn't look right and fixing it "before it breaks and causes a problem on the road" is a good idea.

[vschlepp]

Thanks for the suggestion . Will check it out for sure!