Air Brakes Sticking

I have converted an old moving van for personal use only so the trailer doesn't get used often.

It sat for almost a year and half after I bought it and who knows how long before that. When I finally got around to moving it the brakes were stuck bad. I spent about 8 hours beating on the drums to get the brakes to release. My little hammer wasn't cutting it so I pulled a bigger hammer and after tugging on it and pushing it I finally got all of the wheels to spin. If it matters this was when it was sitting on pavement.

That same day I pulled the trailer about 60 miles with no issues. Parked it for the weekend, again on pavement, but when I went to head back home the wheels were locked again. I didn't have to hammer on it this time a few quick tugs the brakes let go and I had no issues the 60 miles home.

Parked it this time by the barns on grass and it saw for the last two weeks. Monday of last week I tried to roll it forward and again they were locked up. Tugged a bit and it came free. Sat until Thursday morning and went to leave again for the weekend and sure enough they were locked again. Took more doing than just a few days prior to get the wheels to spin but we got her free. Pulled the trailer 5 miles to camp for the weekend at the race track, in grass and it rained HARD over the weekend almost every day. Went to leave and again locked up. I was so afraid that I wasn't going to be able to pull it out of the grass and get the entire rig stuck but I dragged it out of the grass and on the pavement. Beat away at it for a bit and with some tugs it broke free again. Pulled it the 5 miles back home and now it sits on pavement again.

So......what can I do or should be doing to not have the brakes lock like this everytime I park the thing for a few weeks?

 

Never that I am aware but I will grease them up...…...I am a newbie and didn't even know they had to be greased

 

Thanks for the replies.
I will crawl under the trailer to see what I have and watch some YouTube videos before applying the grease.
As I said, I am a newbie but live in a farm and almost find a way to fix things on my own. I will use this as a learning tool.
This trailer doesn’t see 1000 miles a year and fully loaded there isn’t 5000 pounds in the trailer.

 

yep, don't have a dewalt one but have battery powered one for around the farm

Headed out of town (not with the rig) for a few days but will get to this probably Thursday and let you guys know if I fixed it

 

Got it. thanks guys

Again, this is not a commercial use vehicle and it doesn’t get moved that much. Put some grease to it, pb blaster, and spent some time understanding slack adjusters and with a quick turn of the wrench I think I am good to go. It will sit now for another week and then confirm all is good