Trailer brakes

[tapkaJohnD]

I have a trailer for my race car - I think it needs new brakes.
Symptoms: the car brakes have to work a lot harder to stop the rig, and if I brake at all sharply, I feel the jolt as the trailer catches up with me.

I can change the shoes, but does it need a new damper on the hook?
Seen how a new one is incompressible by hand, and that one that you can compress is worn out.
I can compress the one in the hitch by extreme effort - do I need a new one?

Obvious answer is - change the shoes and see what happens, but if I need to do work on it I might as well do it all.
Opinions?

Thnaks
John

[dhutch]

Any more info on the make/model of trailer or brakes? Age etc?

[tapkaJohnD]

Brian James, about ten years old.
Used 4-6 times a year, to carry 900kg car, plus spare wheels.
Non-tilting, not covered. It's an unusual model, a Minno-Sport with plastic sides, like this:


(Not mine, but same trailer)

John

Edited by tapkaJohnD on Friday 29th June 16:14

Edited by tapkaJohnD on Friday 29th June 16:15

Edited by tapkaJohnD on Friday 29th June 17:22

[E-bmw]

Have you tried adjusting the brakes/cables first?

[tapkaJohnD]

Supposed to be self-adjusting.
John

[E-bmw]

They are on cars too, never had an e39 BMW yet where they lasted 3 months without needing adjustment.

No point at all in buying bits to replace until you know what though, so you either need to get under it yourself or pay someone to do so before you waste money on anything.

My 2p.

[paintman]

tapkaJohnD said:

Supposed to be self-adjusting.
John

Still got the instructions they sent you?
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=12...
(It's all right, you haven't got a stalker, quick Google of 'Brian James Minno trailer brakes adjustment' & that PH thread came up )

Probably in need of a good service, check the adjustment is correct & nothing's seized.

If you can compress the damper with a lot of effort then there probably isn't anything wrong with it - caravans are the same.

[E-bmw]

tapkaJohnD said:

Supposed to be self-adjusting.
John

I take it you forgot you had a 2 page leaflet on brake adjustment then?

[paintman]

Give the whole set-up a good going over.
If the brakes are operated by cables from the main rod then the inners can seize due to corrosion.
I have a 4 wheel boat trailer & even though the rearmost pair of cables are stainless steel I remove them at the end of the season & oil them in the way I used to do motorcycle cables.

[tapkaJohnD]

Well, this has been interesting, if a bit scarey.

I've taken off all the brake drums/hubs and inspected the brakes, and the brake material had detatched from three out of four leading shoes. Pic enclosed. That accounts for the poor braking, and could do so for the 'snatching'.

"Self-adjusting"? Mea culpa!! Off to try and get new shoes, and it sgoig to be a messy weekend as I clean up the drum/hubs!

Thanks!

[dhutch]

Yeah well that would do it!

Had the same on the rear drums of a car before, the Westfield in fact, again an infrequently used vehicle which makes sense as your going to be more likely to get corrosion before wear.


Daniel

[paintman]

Now that's nasty!

If you can avoid it don't leave a trailer long term with the brakes on.
Very likely the shoes will rust to the drums & it can then be a total pig freeing them off.

When I leave the boat trailer the wheel clamps prevent it moving & I chain the handbrake lever in the 'off' position.
Never used to but a few years ago some kind person obviously thought I'd forgotten & put it on for me. 4 weeks later when I went to fetch it to get the boat out of the harbour - tide critical - it took me a while to get them off!

Edited by paintman on Saturday 30th June 18:34

[sparkythecat]

The switch by manufacturers from copper rivets to adhesive bonding on trailer brake shoes, means that this is a fairly common problen

[tapkaJohnD]

To do them justice, Brian James' instructions say "Don't leave the hand brake on for long periods".

And do include advice on adjustment. Had to order shoes, they'll be a few days.
After that, I'll need to re-assess in use the need for a damper.
John

[dhutch]

tapkaJohnD said:

To do them justice, Brian James' instructions say "Don't leave the hand brake on for long periods".

Which is just general good practice, I would do the same for a car I was storing more than a fortnight or so, certainly over winter.


Daniel

[wildoliver]

I service trailers for a local trailer company, your brakes are not unusual to be honest, about 25% of the external jobs I do look like that. I'll be surprised if at least some of your cables don't want doing too.

For the cost of a pro service it amazes me people don't make it a 6 month or yearly event, or at least do it themselves if capable, the abuse trailers suffer is an eye opener to say the least.

It's rare trailers wear shoes or cables out, they always end up seizing due to lack of maintenance and then wind up being a more labour intensive and costly job to rectify. I can do a full and thorough service on most trailers in between 1 and 2 hours, including the nice little touches like checking tyre pressures and repairing keeper chains on lock pins etc. (Always broken for some reason). Regular servicing usually means cables and shoes can last more or less indefinitely.

If your cables are free at the moment and the plastic coating is unbroken make sure they are tied up to the bed securely, as soon as they start catching the road and get the plastic coating broken or worn away they are on borrowed time till they seize on and take a set of shoes/drum/bearing with them.

[tapkaJohnD]

Thank you Oliver, good advice!

I renewed the decking earlier this year, as the old marine ply was rotting from the edges (!). Found an excellent, truly rot-proof substitute "Ekoply", made from recycled plastic! While doing this, took opportunity to check the cables and that they weren't dragging.

John