Question on trailer brake conversion
 

Have an older 91 continental tandem trailer. last year one break drum was catching and made for a hot axel all year. kept grease in it, tore it apart once, replaced seals cleaned up everything and adjusted everything, stil not fixed, think the drum must be warped or the caliper is bad or something.


Either way instead of fooling around with this drum crap, I am thinking it will probably be quicker and in the long run nicer to have to disc brakes. Dont know a whole lot on the specifics of the trailer but I think it has 5000lb axles. Any nice how to videos or place to start. Just starting to look now and see what I need to get and so forth so if this conversion is even possible.

Here you go .http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...+brake+upgrade

Good info

the hubs with gearlube seem easier to push around and that should be same for towing.

fixx
 

If drum brakes are so **** ty why are semi truck and trailer still using them?? the drum brakes are 0ver 20 yrs old on your trailer,i would say either way that you got good service out of it and now you need a little work..

Replace your wheel cylinders.

Your drums brakes are 22 years old. They could just need some regular maintenance. Take the drums into a brake shop or Napa and have them checked to see iif they are within spec. Replace as needed or have them resurfaced. Then either replace the wheel cylinders or the entire brake plates.
A lot less $$ and work than coverting to all disc brakes.

Tie Down Engineering, Complete disc kit and get the reverse solenoid. I installed them on my 24' Formula trailer and you'd never know the boat was behind me when I lay into the brakes at 70 MPH. My $.02

Just a FYI. Not sure what you are using for a tow vehicle but you may want to check out its breaks also.
I have hydraulic drum breaks on my Nova 24's trailer that I got the whole set up from the trailer parts super store. http://www.easternmarine.com/ But ......., I also upgraded my trucks breaks pads and added drilled / slotted disc rotorers for heat. Try finding slotted disc's for a Chevy van. lol. My truck now will stop on a dime without breaks on the trailer (I've got a couple other boat trailers, not as big that don't have breaks at all). They are so good you have to be careful when not towing cause they will throw you through the windshield if you stomp on them.
Don't depend on trailer breaks alone. Even the best trailer set up is still going to push your truck in a hard stop and most vehicle brake bias are already 75 front 25 rear. Thats an insane amount force on the front brakes and a stock set up is not up to the task.

no drums
 

Disks all around

Thats a good point. I know a lot of guys think trailer are brakes are meant to stop you, but in reality its your truck and how you drive, the second being key as it dont matter what you have if your going to fast or out of control your done.

My truck is 18 months old with 18k on it, so brakes are fine. Trailer brakes work ok, its just time to replace them with something easier to work on.

Nope! EOH can be set so your trailer will stop your truck

When setup correctly, your truck won't even know there's a trailer behind it when stopping under every condition. Best thing since sliced bread

The biggest problem I see with trailer brakes is few people let them cool down before they back them into the water. And if I could get 22 years out of a set of trailer brakes I would be staying with exactly the same thing for another 22 years. :cartman:

several ways to skin a cat. drums with upkeep work fine. disc w/surge work great. I just built a 34 gooseneck 2 car trailer with disc and a dexter k 650 00 electric/hydro actuator. with 2 cars on the trailer it will out stop my superduty unloaded. I tow with it weekly and changing a set of pads is better for me than dealing with drum's shoes. It may all depend on the amount of miles you put on your trailer.


trailer brakes do not have to work OK, they CAN work very well it just depends on your setup

I tow weekly but enough to make getting disc necessarily. But I need to replace one side and my as well do the others and for a few extra bucks makes it easier to maintain.

Anybody switch over was it hard to do any good websites.

http://championtrailers.com/techsup.html has a fair amount of info to share.

When I overhauled my Rocket trailer, I bought many of the parts from them. I bought my brakes direct from Kodiak.

It is so easy a caveman could do it ! :lolhit: Just don't try and rush the job and pay attention to the details . My Kodiak kits had detailed instructions with them . I also changed over to DOT 5 brake fluid because it attracts O moisture . Lots of info here and also where i purchased mine : http://www.easternmarine.com/em_stor...rakes_hyd.html

http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d405ddc.jpg

http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/...ps50324bb7.jpg

http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9702deb2.jpg

I say go eoh disc. That's what I'm doing when I get back around to trailer

You Tube
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1i4rDFXVe0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKyTNJUs_fs

http://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-t...k-k2hr35d.aspx

This should get you started.

EOH are awesome, did mine last April.

thanks guys looks to be simple bolt on. EOH sounds nice but surge works fine and dont really want to spend the dough on something I dont need right now. Plus the boat I have I dont know the time frame I am going to be owning anymore. Its a 91 but is like new and realistically could keep it another 10 years but probably not realuty

Cute pu$$y you got there DEEP

I surely do like the feline perswaysion in any and all forms . Thanks dude .

Tie Down engineering uses dogs in their kits. The last Kodiac kit I installed the cat didn't make it a full season

Their best kits come with cats . The cheaper Kodiac kits come with dogs and last accordingly . :lolhit: They have a kit for everyone's wallet . Sorry you had bad luck with yours .

Sorry, cabin fever is settling in

We're all there with you . I really miss the sun .

ok got the kodiak kit and it was pretty straight forward, instructions suck, they dont even come with them, had to print. But either way pretty simple.

But one issue. The metal brake lines come from the acuator all the way to the axle where it meets a rubber brake line about 12inches long, the end that goes into the old drum or now the caliper is a male end. The caliper hole looks to be about 3/8, the male end on the rubber hose starts at 3/8 for like the first 1/8 of an inche its smooth, then turns into threads and widens out and does not fit in the hole.

I called etrailer to see if they have brakes lines in the rubber that would fit, they seemed confused. Tonight heading to napa to see if they have an adapter that will fit the old male end of the rubber hose into the caliper.

The trailer is a 91, and it seems they used a bigger male end on the rubber tube that went into the drum, then what needs to go into caliper. Any advice, anybody know what im talking about

Something to check into, if you are using your old DRUM brake surge tongue, the master cylinder is different, I believe it's all about the residual line pressure, when we used a drum brake master cyl at work for a disk brake set up, we would have to take the master cyl apart and knock out a disc inside it, otherwise your discs would "drag" more. Just a bit of info if nothing else check into it or maybe someone will chime in and confirm this.

yeah i have read that if you have drums a seal needs to be punctured or something. Thanks I will check that.

ok got the brake lines figured.

Now what exactly has to be punctured and where? Im guessing the end that points towards the rear. kodiak says its diaphram. try to see what exactly I am looking for.

If you are re-using your drum brake master cylinder you have to pull the residual valve out of the master cylinder.

Depends on who manufactured your surge actuator how to go about doing it. But usually it's just a matter of draining the master cylinder, pulling out the piston and removing the residual valve. Reassemble. Pretty simple.

For example:

http://www.championtrailers.com/remo...dual_valve.htm

You also need a reverse lock out solenoid for disc brakes if you didn't already have one. Drums will slip in reverse, discs will not.

Don't forget to remove the inline restricter orifice . It should be a small brass fitting located close to your master cylinder .

I have a free backing set up now. Etrailer seems to think I need a whole new acuator and shouldnt modify it, but I think they are wrong. But Ill have to take the master apart and look at it.

Does the reverse solenoid go behind the acuator and do I need a new plug to go into the truck for lights and what not.

thanks that answers a lot of my questions on the picture, seems straight forward.

got a picture

The lockout solenoid goes between the master cylinder and the brakes. Should screw right into the back of the master cylinder. You'll need a 5-pin wiring harness. The blue from the harness will go to the solenoid. Sometimes you can find a 5 pin that the 4 pin will piggyback onto, then all you have to do is wire the new wire to the solenoid. Or just rewire the trailer to a 7-pin so you don't have to worry about an adapter. The reverse solenoid is actuated off of the reverse light pin.

As the deep said, you also need a larger orifice fitting in the master cylinder. You can either order one, or drill out your existing one when you remove everything to remove the residual valve. The orifice screws onto the back of the master cylinder.

So it goes MC > orifice fitting > solenoid > brake line

ok thanks

thanks for everyones help. saved me lots of time and hair pulling.

Got one side of the brakes replaced today finally with all the right parts.

Took the MC apart and took that valve out no problem. Now the orifice fitting, that is the last brass fitting that comes out the opposite end of the MC towards that brake. And that comes out.

According to that diagram there is rubber washer behind it does that come out too.

You don't remove it and throw it away, all you are doing is verifying it's sufficient in size. But it depends which actuator you have in the first place. Drum brakes use a smaller orifice than discs. You have to go by the manufacturer specs what it should be for discs.

http://www.championtrailers.com/DISC...ON_ARTICLE.HTM