Told to just disconnect surge brakes

[James P]

New to this forum or any forum so forgive my ignorance. I haven't had this boat long and have never owned a boat more than 15'. This boat is an 18' ranger 1984 375V with a 150 mercury. Boat weighs 1200, engine 400 and the trailer is a double axle with what I've been told are surge brakes. The guy that told me I might as well disconnect the brakes says they will "all" eventually freeze up or partially freeze up. I understand that you have to brake fairly hard to make this system work. I'm not noticing much difference when I brake fairly hard or hard.

Is the system easy to adjust?
How do you adjust it?
Is it true that most usually freeze up or partially freeze up?
Are most surge brakes disconnected?

I know I asked too many questions but if someone could just give me some general information that would be great..JP

[Wotam]

>"The guy that told me I might as well disconnect the brakes says they will "all" eventually freeze "

IMHO: His advice makes about as much sense as "don't check the air in your tires... they eventually blow out anyway".

Yes, brakes do need some periodic maintenance... but they put 'em on the trailer for a reason.

If you're in freshwater, your brakes will live quite a long time without a lot of maintenance time or money.

You'll (hopefully) be doing regular wheel bearing maintenance anyway... and that entails removing the hubs/brake drum assemblies. At that point it's not that big of a deal do perform some cleaning and adjusting on the brake parts inside.

There are a number of guides out on the web offering instruction on how to repack trailer bearings and service drum brakes. It's also important to replace your brake fluid periodically to extend the life of your wheel cylinders as most brake fluid attracts and accumulates water.

If you launch in salt or brackish water, the maintenance requirements go up a bit... corrosion resistant parts kits are available to help them last a bit longer... or you can retrofit stainless discs.

[TowingSource]

With regular maintanance and adjusting they should work out fine. The nice thing about drum brakes is that if they stop working...they don't lock in most cases...they just don't engage.

Step by step adjusting and troubleshooting.

[External Combustion]

Let us know who the man who told you that is. He very likely maintains his cars the same way and we don't want to be on the same road with him!

Surge brakes are quite reliable and have as long a life as any. Remember they are the same as the ones on almost all cars!

The master cylinder/ actuator is easily maintained. Just like you should flush the fluid in your car brakes once a year you should do the same for your trailer brakes. Don't do so? Neither do most vehicle owners. It shows how reliable they are. Grease the moving points at least once a year and the amount of tow vehicle braking will be reduced. You can change out the springs in most of the actuators to match what point the trailer brakes come on and how agressive they are.

Most hydraulic trailer brakes do not have automatic adjustors as cars do. Even if they did no one would back up the trailers enough to use the automatic feature. This means that you must manually adjust the trailer brakes. Once a year is more than adequite for most trailers. You may find that you only have to adjust yours once every several years.

If you dunk your trailer in salt water you will simply need to flush the brakes with fresh water and dry them by simple usage for a few minutes.

My electric brakes on my heavy trailer are now fifty years old. The last ten years they have been in and out of the water many times. Simple cleaning, drying and adjustment has been enough for them to this point. The hydraulic surge brakes on a buddies equipment trailer are just as old and he uses it at least once a week. If you want to talk brands we can, but I think there are many good ones out there.

Simple maintenance will make you happy with your trailer choice. If you wish to fine tune it you will need to change actuator spring though it is easy.

As the old hippie says, "Sweat not, peace be unto you!"

[TilliamWe]

New to this forum or any forum so forgive my ignorance. I haven't had this boat long and have never owned a boat more than 15'. This boat is an 18' ranger 1984 375V with a 150 mercury. Boat weighs 1200, engine 400 and the trailer is a double axle with what I've been told are surge brakes. The guy that told me I might as well disconnect the brakes says they will "all" eventually freeze up or partially freeze up. I understand that you have to brake fairly hard to make this system work. I'm not noticing much difference when I brake fairly hard or hard.

Is the system easy to adjust?
How do you adjust it?
Is it true that most usually freeze up or partially freeze up?
Are most surge brakes disconnected?

I know I asked too many questions but if someone could just give me some general information that would be great..JP

Listen to the advice you have been given on here and not the guy who told you to disconnect them. The reason you are not noticing any difference now is because your brakes aren't working, and the guy who sold the trailer to you knew it. He's a jerk and or a moron. You may think the trailer tows fine now, but trust me, when you repair the brakes, it will be so much better when they are working properly.

[OhWellcraft]

Don't disconnect them just do as stated above and maintain them well and they will last as long as you own the boat. I usually do mine(brake system check) at the same time I do my bearings every 2 seasons you have the wheeles off and the trailer up on stands anyway so its a perfect time to do it. Also keep a good eye on the fluid as it will get contaminated with water especially on a older rig but it is easy to replace. I have a tandem axel trailer on a 20' boat and with one side jacked up I can spin the tire walk to front and push on tongue and engage the brakes a little bit by hand. Its a pretty fool proof system and does work well if maintained a bit.

[James P]

Great information guys. When it warms up I'll get em working right! Thanks, JP

[tashasdaddy]

very good tutorial here championtrailers.com

"http://www.championtrailers.com/techsup.html"