Trailer Brakes
Howdy Folks,
Gave the Tezzas trailer a service on Saturday which was primarily spray everything rusty with Lannox and replace the bearings though suspect my brakes are suss and am seeking advice.
It is a dual axle Tezzas trailer holding a 3t boat with Hydrastar electronic / hydraulic setup on it. Totally foreign to me.
When the trailer is jacked off the ground, the wheels dont really free spin with ease due to the brakes being pretty firm against the hub. One of the, if you try to spin the wheel, it will only do one rotation before stopping.
I did wonder if there was some sort of electronic emercency stop that when there was no power (not plugged in) that it applied the brakes though I threw a laser thermometer on the hubs (where the brake disks touch) and three sit at 30 degrees (same as the external of the hubs) and the one with tight brakes is 60 degrees after a 30 minute drive....so it doesnt go away when the plug is plugged in.
Hydraulic brakes are new to me and the box on the hitch that seems to have hydraulic fluid in it along with a battery has a test button on it, which, when i press 'test', says 'recharge'. The 12v battery in the breakaway system is showing 12.7 volts.
Do i need to go to a trailer manufacturer? Brake specialist or a a mechanic? Or is there a simile thing I can do?
I have a Redarc brake controller on the car and it works.
Please be kind....
Bucko
Posts: 138
Date Joined: 08/05/10
Ahh the classic boat trailer
Ahh the classic boat trailer maintenance post.
Well my friend, I suggest you get familar with these things cos you are going to be spending some time working on them.
There's a few things that could cause the brakes to be a bit sticky, which is likely why one wheel is warmer than the rest.
60 degrees is not hot though, if they were really stuck on you would be able to smell them or maybe even see smoke.
Anyway, its likely sticky slides or a sticky piston. Both of these are pretty common issues. Most likely the slides.
I would take the offending calliper off and see if the slides are jammed. If they are, undo the retaining bolt at the top and try and get the slides out.
Once they are out, clean them up, clean out the bore, grease it all up with white lithium grease and put it all back together.
Hopefully, the calliper will now slide free.
As I said, you will soon get good at this.
bellony
Posts: 94
Date Joined: 27/01/10
Agree 99% with Bucko. The
Agree 99% with Bucko. The other 1% is that my money is on a sticky piston. In my experience the rubber grease goes tacky and stops the piston fully retracting creating brake drag. After 15 yrs of trial and error I now clean the pistons every 12 mths when I check the bearings. The slides I now clean and re-assemble with no lube at all as I have tried every lube I could think of and they all go tacky/sticky in the salt water. I have 2 trailers with hydrastar units on them and never had an issue with either of the units so don't imagine they are an issue, although I run Tekonsha controllers not the Redarc.
Swompa
Posts: 3786
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Thanks for the tips fellas.
Thanks for the tips fellas. Looks like the trailer will be parked on the driveway for another day while I tinker and bash.
I am generally pretty good with maintenance and can figure things out (because I am too tight to pay someone else to do it) though my previous three trailers have all been different to this one (and eachother).
Scotte
Posts: 1142
Date Joined: 07/12/06
Your brake temps are very low
Your brake temps are very low I would have thought