RV and camper trailer repair from Keep Them Rolling Trailer Repair covers the running gear and chassis: brakes, wheel bearings, axles, suspension, tires, running lights and the frame. Owner Brad Smith works on travel trailers, pop-ups and fifth-wheels at your home, a storage lot or the campground in Morris, Sussex, Warren or Hunterdon County. Call (973) 651-1045.
The trailer half of your RV
A towable RV is two things built together: a trailer chassis and a small house on top of it. Brad works on the trailer half, and fifth-wheel RV service is the same work on a bigger, heavier chassis. On campers that means:
- Electric drum brakes: magnets, shoes, springs, adjusters and the wiring to each wheel
- Wheel bearings, hubs, seals and spindles
- Axles, including replacement when one is bent or worn out
- Leaf springs, equalizers, shackles, bushings, hangers and U-bolts
- Tires and wheels
- Running, marker and brake lights, the trailer-side wiring that feeds them, and the 7-way plug
- The frame, the A-frame tongue and coupler on a travel trailer, and the pin box area on a fifth-wheel
- Tongue jacks, stabilizer jacks and fifth-wheel front jacks
What Brad doesn’t work on is the living space. Appliances, plumbing, air conditioning, generators and the other interior systems are jobs for an RV service center. Sticking to the chassis is what lets the work happen where the camper is parked. Every chassis item on the trailer repair services list applies to campers.
Travel trailer brake and bearing service
Nearly every travel trailer and fifth-wheel with brakes uses electric drum brakes. The brake controller in your truck sends current to a magnet inside each drum. That magnet grabs the spinning drum face and swings an arm that forces the shoes outward. Worn magnets, glazed shoes, a broken wire along the axle, or shoes that were never adjusted all feel much the same from the driver’s seat: weak stopping, one wheel locking up, or the camper shoving the truck on downgrades.
Campers sit for long stretches, and brakes that sit corrode. Drum faces pit, adjusters freeze and magnets stick. Brad pulls the drums, measures wear, replaces what’s worn and adjusts the shoes. He also tests the breakaway system: the cable that pulls a pin and applies the trailer brakes if the camper ever separates from the truck, plus the small battery that powers it, which is often dead after a winter in storage. See trailer brake repair and replacement for more symptoms.
Bearings on a camper fail from time more than miles. On a trailer that goes out a few weekends a year, the grease can separate or pick up moisture from condensation long before the odometer says it’s due. Many camper spindles are drilled for grease, with a fitting at the tip reached through a rubber plug in the dust cap, so fresh grease goes in without pulling the hub. That’s handy between services but doesn’t replace one: it can’t reveal a pitted race or a tired seal, and pumping in too much can push out the rear seal and coat the brake shoes. Brad pulls the hubs, inspects the bearings, races and seals, and repacks or replaces them. See wheel bearing service and repacking for the full process.
Suspension, equalizers and the frame
Tandem-axle campers usually ride on leaf springs linked by an equalizer, which shares the load between the axles over bumps. The wear parts are the bushings in the spring eyes and equalizer, the shackles and the bolts through them. They wear out long before the springs do, and once they’re sloppy the axles can shift, which shows up as uneven tire wear. Spring hangers, the brackets welded to the frame, can crack or tear loose on heavy trailers. Brad replaces worn suspension parts and welds or replaces damaged hangers. Trailer suspension repair lists the warning signs.
On a fifth-wheel, the pin box and the frame around it carry a large share of the weight, so Brad checks for cracked welds and bent steel there. On a travel trailer he looks at the A-frame tongue, the coupler and its latch, and where the safety chains attach.
Tires on travel trailers and fifth-wheels
Camper tires carry heavy loads, sit in the sun, and often age out while the tread still looks good. A blowout on a camper can tear up the fender, the wheel well and whatever runs underneath, so it pays to replace tires on age as well as wear. Find the four-digit date code on each sidewall, set pressures from the tire placard on the trailer, and check the rubber for fine cracks. Brad mounts new tires and wheels at the camper; trailer tire replacement and flat repair has more.
Service at home, in storage or at the campground
Brad’s service calls have included a fifth-wheel at a campsite and a travel trailer at a campground, along with campers sitting in driveways and storage lots. He needs firm ground with enough room to jack up one side of the trailer safely and reach the wheels. At a campground, check with the office that an outside service vehicle is allowed. It’s the same mobile trailer repair he does for every kind of trailer, from his base in Randolph across Morris, Sussex, Hunterdon and Warren County, and up to about 100 miles out when the job calls for it.
To book, request RV trailer service with the camper’s type, length and what it’s doing, or call.
Common questions
Can a mobile mechanic work on my camper at the campground?
Yes, for chassis work. Brad has done service calls at campgrounds, and brakes, bearings, tires, suspension parts and running lights can all be handled at the site. The trailer needs to sit on solid ground where it can be jacked safely. Some campgrounds limit outside vendors, so confirm with the office before booking. Appliance, plumbing and air conditioning problems need an RV technician instead.
How often should camper trailer bearings be repacked?
Manufacturers commonly suggest a yearly service or about 12,000 miles, and for most campers the year is up long before the miles are. Before the first trip of the season is a good time. Go sooner if one hub runs noticeably hotter than the others, you hear grinding, or a wheel rocks on its spindle when the trailer is jacked up.
Why does my travel trailer sway?
Start with the load. A conventional travel trailer generally needs about 10 to 15 percent of its loaded weight on the tongue, and heavy gear packed behind the axles can drop it below that. Underinflated or mismatched tires, worn suspension bushings, a bent axle and brakes that pull to one side can make it worse, as can crosswinds and passing trucks. Brad checks the tires, suspension, axles and brakes; the hitch setup and how the camper is loaded are the other half.
What is included in RV chassis maintenance?
On a towable RV, chassis maintenance covers the parts under the living space. That means wheel bearings inspected and repacked, electric brakes inspected and adjusted, suspension bushings, shackles, equalizers and U-bolts checked, tires checked for age and pressure, and lug nuts torqued. Running lights, the 7-way plug, and the breakaway switch and battery get tested. The frame, the coupler or pin box, and the jacks get looked over for cracks and rust.