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Trailer Brakes

L

Lightspeed

Willpower
After two years at RYC Dry Storage with no trailer problem moving Koke Honu (Corsair F-24) to and from the hoist, I wanted to bring her home to do some work. Her trailer is single axle surge brakes.

I got as far as the Richmond Pky Way and had to take her back when I found the brakes wanted to grab/pulsate when stopping.

I am guessing the drums are rusty and/or maybe the pads have swollen with moisture from low use. Before I open a can of worms and jack her up and pull the wheels/drums, I thought I would check with the trailer sailing community for advice and any related experiences.... Thanks....Rick
 
My first thoughts agree with yours. When I had my Tuna on a trailer in Sausalito, the "drive" to the lift was 100 yards. My top speed was 2 mph. Before I hauled the boat to Monterey for the Nationals at 55 mph I checked the brakes. Yup, lots of rust even though the trailer wasn't a launch model. It was an old Steve Seals (he owned the boat years before) trailer and really well set up, but the brakes had been around for a long time. I cleaned, brushed, and lubricated and took a drive up 101 toward San Rafael to check them out. I don't know if what I did helped, but they pulled straight when I braked and released when I accelerated. While I was at it I also lubed the bearings and checked the brake fluid. Two things I never did between those 100 yard launch hauls.
 
In some towing situations, trailer brakes are essential and other times the brakes are a nice redundancy. When towing the Moore 24 from Victoria, the trailer brakes were essential for my 4 cylinder Tacoma. On a 10,000 mile towing a 1,000 vintage travel trailer, the trailer brakes were not hooked up.

So, it depends.

If the trip home is short and the tow vehicle has excess weight for control and stopping, I would suggest a half dozen hard stops to see if brakes begin to operate smoothly. That exercise may remove enough rust to allow smooth operation. Then, the drums / rotors can be fully assessed.

If hard stops don't make things smoother, some attention may be useful at RYC. Most of the surge brakes have some way you can test the master cylinder by leverage at the coupler. That will let you know the system has capability to lock up the brakes, but it won't help rust removal on stopping surfaces.

If your vehicle has 10,000 pound tow capacity and boat and trailer are around 3,000 pounds, I think there is a margin of safety. As the vehicle tow capacity and tow weight approach each other, smooth trailer brakes are essential for piece of mind.

Ants
 
AntsUiga said:
If the trip home is short and the tow vehicle has excess weight for control and stopping, Ants
Click to expand...

I almost locked the backup pin in but with a small X5 and driving two hours North to Granite Bay I decided to sleep on it.

I did see a YouTube idea of attaching the ball and arm to the trailer tongue, jacking up the tire, get it spinning, and then slowly stepping on the ball arm squeezing on the surge brakes. I think this done several times might help clean the drum rust and pads.

I am beginning to think I should make a practice of taking the empty trailer a few laps around Point Richmond on some of my sailing weekends....
 
As long as the brakes are operating and not pulling to one side or the other, I think the rust causing the surge will diminish until gone with several stops.
If it gets better with a few stops I wouldn't worry about it.

If it pulls to one side or the other then a hydraulic wheel cylinder is frozen and not actuating the brake.
This I would repair first.

If you just can't trust it, pulling drums to sand the rust and check bearings is not too difficult with a few basic tools.
The bearings should be adjusted slightly loose, not tight.
A mobile mechanic might be an option.
 
For what it’s worth and to close the loop on this thread, my surge brakes mystery was solved. It turns out it was not rusty drums but air in the brake lines.

If you are familiar with the term, pumping your brakes that was what was going on. I would step on the brakes and the trailer slides forward but with a little brake, then slide back, then again forward with some more brake and again back, and this crazy cycle of on and off is repeated until fully pumped brakes. In the process you get a chugging push pull trailer.
 
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