New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

I thought I'd share this week's project. To reprise my previous posts, I pulled my hubs about a month ago to repack the bearings and found this:

To make a long story short, the bearings were spalled, and the seal areas on the spindles were severely grooved. I also found grooves on one spindle between the bearings.

Looking even further, I noticed that the hubs, wheels and spindles were different on each side. The wheels were obvious once I noticed, but when I was buying the silly thing, I didn't even notice galvanized spokes starboard and white painted port. At least they're the same size (another hilarious "free boat and trailer" story for later).

It's apparent that the PO had a bearing come apart and destroy the hub, wheel, etc. on one side. There's some minor damage on the tongue from the safety chains, so it must have popped the hitch as well. Luckily, that damage wasn't that bad.

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

After searching the internet, the best price for a direct replacement for my original 2 inch square galvanized drop axle was over $400 with shipping. I found a local welding shop that does trailer axles and they welded up a new round tube axle with super-lube spindles for $130. Changing axles will raise the boat about an inch and a half (which I wanted). It also cuts my suspension travel by about an inch and a half (which I didn't want, but we'll see how that works out).

I ordered a Tiedown (I know...) surge brake kit, since the trailer didn't originally have brakes and I really wanted them. Everything bolted down pretty easily. The only really significant mod was putting another hole in for the coupler (three holes instead of the original tube. I can say that the tubing that Escort used in these trailers is pretty decent stuff. The holes were a bear to get drilled.

By the way, since I forgot to say earlier, the trailer is the original Escort trailer for a 1993 Bayliner 1952 Cuddy (again, I know...).

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

The main challenges with the brakes were routing the lines and dealing with the excess, since you can't cut it to length. The first issue was locating the tee which separates the left and right brake lines from the main line. There's a tee and a little sheetmetal fixture to drill into the axle to hold the tee in place. I didn't want to drill my axle. so I mounted by slathering the mounting fixture with 3M 4200 and using a hose clamp, which conveniently just fit.

The trailer frame is set up to allow running of the tubing inside the frame rails. At the back, I just pushed the tubing into an existing hole in the frame and pushed until the tubing came out of the front of the frame rail. I then routed it to the coupler and secured it to the tongue. I used a split piece of rubber tube as reinforcement through the frame hole and tie-wrapped everything in place.

At each of the wheels, I used a short loop tie wrapped to the axle u-bolt. I did make sure that tubing and loops are clear of any possible pinch points. Black tie-wraps (these came with the kit) were used to tie the lines on the back side of the axle.

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Just a quick review of the hub installation. The hubs came with the bearings installed and pre-packed. and with the oil seals installed. Just put everything together. Tighten the hub nut snug, until the hub turns with difficulty, then loosen about 1/4 to 1/2 a turn until it turns easily and you can get the cotter pin through the hub. bend the ends of the cotter pin to secure it (and so you can get the hub covers on).
With the spindle lube hubs, I just added grease until grease extruded from the front of the hub (I did this before adding hub covers so I could see what was going on).
Finally, put the hub covers onto the hubs. They were very tight and I had to beat on them pretty hard to get them into the hub. I am satisfied that they aren't coming out on their own.

Bleeding the brakes was pretty easy. Sorry I didn't get any good pictures of that, but I did get my high falootin custom brake bleeding kit

By the way, I don't make any claims for the compatibility of soda bottles with brake fluid, but I did satisfy myself. Your mileage may vary...

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Overall, this job wasn't too bad. If you've got a reasonable shade tree tool kit, it's an easy weekend's work. I do have a few observations:

The worst part was probably getting the old rusty parts off. All the new stuff went on easily. As I mentioned, the third bolt for the coupler was a bear to drill. I think the tubing on the trailer is some pretty stout stuff. Also, if I buy another boat, I will definitely look to see if the wheels are different. That would have at least given me a head's up on some of the trailer issues.

If you buy an axle from a welding firm, you'll probably get bare steel. I used spray can primer and paint and it seems pretty durable. If you want a more durable surface, you could powder coat it.

The brake kit was reasonably complete, and I didn't see any obvious quality issues. I did go with flex lines, which are a bit more prone to issues, but I think they'll be OK. If they fail early, I'll probably retrofit a set of SST lines. The kit is a bit light on tube hangers, ties, and such. If I hadn't been routing the tubing inside the frame, I definitely would have needed some additional parts. I would have liked to see a better way to tie the tee to the axle, but I think I got past that OK.

The kit doesn't come with the bolts for the coupler (they probably figure you've already got those). That wasn't a big deal, about $15 at the local hardware store for SAE 5 hardware.

I did find pretty decent directions for everything on the brake manufacturer's website. They included printed versions of most of this, but there was one sheet missing (which I did find on the website). This forum was also great. I pretty much just followed directions on the whole job. I think everything's complete and done right, but I couldn't get her out of the back yard today. I've still got a bunk replacement job, so maybe a road test next weekend.

That's it for this old trailer (although the upcoming bunk fiasco may be interesting enough to post. We'll see).

Carl

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Thats a very well done job and you will love that type of hub it takes all the work out of repacking the hubs 15 minutes and done.

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Nice job, I put a similar system on my 94 Load Rite about 8 years ago, I got the same Tie Down drum kit from Champion trailers, I used their ss brake line kit. One thing I have found with drums is that there a few things that you can do to make em work better. The typical problem areas is that the wheel cylinder sometimes seizes up and the adjuster rusts up. That rubber boot is not water proof, and water gets in and corrodes the alu wheel cylinder. I took the rubber boot off and packed the area under it with disc brake caliper grease. I also packed the threads of the adjuster with OMC/Bombardier triple guard grease and used this same grease on all the pivot points for the brake shoes. You could also seal up the rubber boot where it meets the wheel cylinder with high temp RTV (also seal the hole for the push rod). By keeping out the water, the cylinder will last much longer.

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

This is great job!

I desperately need your help!

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Max and I am from Serbia, it is a small country in Eastern Europe. However, we do have Danube River and coast line. I will try not to bother you too much with nonsense but in effort to get some help and suggestions I will have to explain some things. And?apologies for potential spelling and language errors .

Few months ago I bought American trailer with hydraulic drum brake system in the Netherlands. It is 8 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. Believe it or not, it is not possible to register American built trailer in European Union. I contacted authorities in several European countries in effort to find out the reason but no one could provide me with the answer. At the end, on one boat forum I found the answer. The reason is missing park brake and fact that emergency brake is mounted on the same system as working brake. However, I realized that you can purchase brake assembly kit with park brake which is working mechanically and it is not connected to the hydraulic system. It is more expensive but it works.

Anyhow, I went to the Netherlands (2000 km!) to pick up my trailer and boat that I purchased at the same time and?.
Because of the registration limitation former owner cut off the hydraulic lines and welded brake actuator so he can use the trailer up to 750KG which does not require registration and any kind of braking system. I went on my long journey without any brakes and all together weight of nearly 2000KG.
I failed to check the wheels properly before starting the trip so I did not notice that one grease protection cap is missing. Of course it was standing outside for a long time and everything was rusty. After 400km bearings were melted and the tire almost got on fire. Luckily in Germany they were able to repair this quickly and I continued my trip. Exchange of two bearings on one wheel took one hour and $260. Yes my friends, that is Germany!

At the end I arrived safely in Serbia and parked my boat and trailer. Now is time to do some serious refurbishment and makeover. I already browsed around and found a lot of stuff but since I am rookie I will need your help en expertise in effort to get things done.

The worst problems are English terminology for parts and sizes which are in inches. I have cm/inch calculators but the difference is often very small.
By the way, such trailer with mechanic brake system registered costs in Europe around $4.000. I got mine for $1.300.

Many thanks in advance for you help!

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

here some pics...

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Why didn't you (the op) use hard line for the long tube and short flex line at the wheels?
As a mechanic, I can't say I like the idea of the splitter clamped to the axle tube. Why don't you weld on a locating tab? It would take less time than using the hose clamp and glue.

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

ricohman said:

Why didn't you (the op) use hard line for the long tube and short flex line at the wheels?
As a mechanic, I can't say I like the idea of the splitter clamped to the axle tube. Why don't you weld on a locating tab? It would take less time than using the hose clamp and glue.

Click to expand...

Short answer I guess is "I'm cheap..." I bought a packaged kit which uses all flex line and saved around $80 over the hard line. I generally inspect things pretty frequently, so if I do have problems with the flex line, I figure I can convert to hard line without too much trouble.

With the tee, I was just making it up as I went along. I don't have a welder, so I'd have to take it to the local welding shop to get the tab welded. I've got the tee well bedded with 4200 adhesive, so it shouldn't be going anywhere. I could have drilled and screwed it to the axle, but I didn't want to drill into the axle. Again, if I do have problems I can always fix it then. I'm going to be keeping an eye on the whole system for a while anyway, so I don't think anything will fail without my noticing it.

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Hi Maxistar

Welcome to iboats. You'll find a lot of help here. Your english seems quite good.

I would suggest starting a new thread of your own in the trailering forum. You'll probably get a better response from the right people.

I don't know how your availability is for parts in Serbia. You probably won't be able to mix parts between EU and US built systems, and if you're dealing with the old soviet union standards like GOST, you'll probably have even more trouble. You'll probably do better to stay with one common system.

Good luck,

maxistar said:

This is great job!

I desperately need your help!

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Max and I am from Serbia, it is a small country in Eastern Europe. However, we do have Danube River and coast line. I will try not to bother you too much with nonsense but in effort to get some help and suggestions I will have to explain some things. And…apologies for potential spelling and language errors .

Few months ago I bought American trailer with hydraulic drum brake system in the Netherlands. It is 8 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. Believe it or not, it is not possible to register American built trailer in European Union. I contacted authorities in several European countries in effort to find out the reason but no one could provide me with the answer. At the end, on one boat forum I found the answer. The reason is missing park brake and fact that emergency brake is mounted on the same system as working brake. However, I realized that you can purchase brake assembly kit with park brake which is working mechanically and it is not connected to the hydraulic system. It is more expensive but it works.

Anyhow, I went to the Netherlands (2000 km!) to pick up my trailer and boat that I purchased at the same time and….
Because of the registration limitation former owner cut off the hydraulic lines and welded brake actuator so he can use the trailer up to 750KG which does not require registration and any kind of braking system. I went on my long journey without any brakes and all together weight of nearly 2000KG.
I failed to check the wheels properly before starting the trip so I did not notice that one grease protection cap is missing. Of course it was standing outside for a long time and everything was rusty. After 400km bearings were melted and the tire almost got on fire. Luckily in Germany they were able to repair this quickly and I continued my trip. Exchange of two bearings on one wheel took one hour and $260. Yes my friends, that is Germany!

At the end I arrived safely in Serbia and parked my boat and trailer. Now is time to do some serious refurbishment and makeover. I already browsed around and found a lot of stuff but since I am rookie I will need your help en expertise in effort to get things done.

The worst problems are English terminology for parts and sizes which are in inches. I have cm/inch calculators but the difference is often very small.
By the way, such trailer with mechanic brake system registered costs in Europe around $4.000. I got mine for $1.300.

Many thanks in advance for you help!

Click to expand...

Re: New Surge Brakes and More (with pics)

Dear FastFission

Many thanks for your comment. No, we are not dealing with Soviet garbage but with European standards. However, it is different from US. I intend to order parts in the USA. I will follow your advice and I will start new topic in the trailering part of the forum.

Cheers!