Home · Services · Trailer brake & air system repair
We repair air and electric trailer brakes on site, anywhere in Broward, 24 hours a day: shoes and drums, chambers and spring brakes, slack adjusters, valves, air leaks, ABS faults, and electric brake magnets and controllers. Most brake jobs are finished on the first visit because the parts ride on the truck.
There is no honest single number for a trailer brake job, because the same complaint can be a ten-minute adjustment or a tandem-axle reline. What we will do is look at it, tell you which one you have, and quote it before anything comes apart. Air, electric and surge systems all price differently.
| Factor | Why it moves the number |
|---|---|
| Brake system type | Air, electric and surge use different parts and different labor. Electric assemblies are quick; air relines are not. |
| How many axles | Labor stacks per axle. A single-axle utility trailer and a tandem semi trailer are not the same job. |
| Drum condition | Shoes alone is one job. Scored or cracked drums make it a bigger one, and we will not reline onto bad drums. |
| Roadside or at your yard | Roadside carries travel, setup and risk. Booked work at your lot is always cheaper. |
| Time of day | Nights, weekends and holidays cost more than a Tuesday morning. |
| Parts on the truck | Common chambers, slack adjusters and hardware we carry. An OEM-specific valve may mean a parts run. |
| Whether ABS is involved | An ABS fault is a diagnosis before it is a repair, and it is an out-of-service item. |
We quote before we start and we do not begin work you have not approved. We do not publish ranges here, because the same job varies too much by trailer, access and hour — call and we will give you a number for your unit.
Trailer brake faults announce themselves in five or six ways, and each one points at a different part. Read the symptom off this table before you call and dispatch can load the right parts the first time.
| Symptom | Usually means | What we bring |
|---|---|---|
| Brakes won't release, trailer drags | Seized spring brake, frozen valve, or no supply air from the tractor | Chambers, relay and spring-brake valves, air lines |
| Loud hiss with the trailer charged | Split line, cracked gladhand seal, leaking valve or fitting | Line, fittings, gladhands, seals |
| One wheel hot, or a burning smell | Dragging brake, out-of-adjustment slack, collapsed return spring | Slack adjusters, shoe kits, hardware |
| Grinding or metal-on-metal | Shoes worn past the rivets, scored drum | Shoes, drums, wheel seals |
| ABS lamp stays on | Sensor gap, damaged tone ring, chafed sensor wiring | Scan tool, sensors, connectors |
| No braking on a utility trailer | Burnt-out magnet, corroded wiring, failed breakaway switch | Magnets, backing plates, harness, breakaway switch |
Yes — the large majority of brake work is mobile work. Chambers, slack adjusters, valves, lines, shoes, hardware, magnets and sensors are all replaceable in a yard, a dock or a safe roadside pull-off with the parts on our truck.
What does need a shop: heavy drum machining, a cracked axle housing, a full brake system rebuild on a badly corroded trailer, and anything where the trailer cannot be safely blocked and lifted where it stands. We will tell you which one you have before we charge you for a visit.
An adjustment or a leak repair is under two hours. One axle relined is two to three. A tandem-axle reline with drums is a half day. Electric brakes on a utility trailer are about an hour per wheel.
Those are working times on site, not shop turnaround — there is no drop-off, no queue behind other units, and the trailer is back in service the same day.
Commercial semi trailers use air brakes, fed by the tractor through red and blue gladhands. Utility, cargo and car-hauler trailers use electric brakes run by a controller in the tow vehicle. Boat trailers usually use surge brakes, which actuate hydraulically from the trailer's own momentum. All three are different repairs, and we carry parts for all three.
Chambers, spring brakes, slack adjusters, S-cams, shoes and drums, relay and spring-brake valves, gladhands, ABS modulators and sensors.
Magnets, shoes, backing plates, drums and hubs, harness and grounds, breakaway switch and battery, brake controller diagnosis.
Actuator and master cylinder, lines, calipers, rotors and pads in saltwater-rated stainless, reverse lockout solenoid, bleeding and road test.
Brakes are the most-cited category in roadside inspections, and the write-ups repeat: out-of-adjustment brakes, linings worn past the legal limit, audible air leaks, inoperative brakes on one wheel, and a missing or non-functioning ABS lamp.
We correct out-of-service brake defects on site and document the repair for the file — which matters, because an out-of-service sticker keeps the trailer parked until it is fixed and signed off. See fleet PM programs for the version of this that stops the write-up happening at all.
Inspected and adjusted at every PM, measured quarterly, relined on wear rather than on a calendar. Port and drayage units wear faster than line-haul.
Once a year for a working trailer, and any time braking feels weak on one side. Magnets are cheap; a seized hub on the Turnpike is not.
Yearly in saltwater, and always before a long tow. Surge actuators and calipers corrode from the inside where you cannot see it.
Tell dispatch the trailer type, the location and the symptom from the table above. You get a window and a rate before the truck leaves.