Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

[milkyway]

I have drum style brake system and I run fresh water each after trip. Even with using salt X which is supposed to remove salt deposits, my brake kit gets all rusted every season and locks up.. Lots of work to replace the brake kit. Any better alternative? My other alternative is to remove the hub and clean the brake system before winterizing.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

any possibility of going to dics. i have had no trouble with my disc rusting. and it's a salt water boat.

 

[milkyway]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

Now how true is that? So how many years of use are the disc brakes? Which parts have to be replaced more often than anything? What periodic maintenance do you do? These are serious questions because you got me highly interested.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

I have made the switch to disc brakes. Have had them less than a year and I use my boat in salt water. The fact that everything is all out in the open makes them easy to wash off and close inspections require you to take off a tire rather than the whole drum.

I started out with stainless steel non-vented TieDown disc brakes...huge mistake. I now have vented Kodiaks. So far I really like them.

I also installed an electric over hydraulic system. I am very impressed with how this works but that is another topic.

 

[milkyway]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

Disc brakes are a lot to clean and maintain and inspect. No more lock ups, I suppose. The drum brakes I have now will be my last. Time to try another system.

 

[milkyway]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

forgot to insert the word " easier" after lot.

 

[tommays]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

If you prep the drum brakes with merc 2-4-C grease they will go and easy 3+years with no flushing

You need to pop the springs and lube the wheel cylinder piston with 2-4-C and put the rubber boot back on

And than coat the threads and cap on the adjuster so it will still work as you check them each year and you can brush some on the pivot points



Unless you go for the all SS disk brakes which run 600 dollars per set you will find out why Venture Trailers went back to drums

Tommays

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

I was thinking about going to the all stainless. They are $300/wheel for the Kodiaks. You can get the Cadmium Clad Kodiaks for $125/wheel. They have a E-coat model that is less which is what I purchased. I got a good deal on a set of 4.

Not sure if it makes much difference between the two cladding types because the rotor is basically bare steel after you use them for awhile.

I have found that if I rinse the discs off well, I don't get any rust build up.

Venture trailers still offer disc brakes as an option but carry the TieDown stainless which are not vented and are worthless as fas as I am concerned. The problem with the TieDowns is that the way they make the discs is to take a roll of stainless and slice off the material in the thickness of the disc. It is my understanding that this causes the grain structure in the metal to be aligned so that an overheat of the rotor causes a major warp. This is what happend with mine and I had a set of pads on one of the braked to wear out within 1000 miles. The surface of the rotor was also not smooth after this.

At the boat show, there were many trailer manufacturers that are using disc brakes. I didn't see one with the TieDowns.

 

[milkyway]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

Thank you for all your input. Greatly appreciated.

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: Brake Kit Has to be Replaced Each Year

LOVE! My SS Kodiak's