brakes on boat trailer

[cid]

Hi all will be lifting out next week end,just checking trailer.(RM 4wheel 3500 ).My question is how loose should the cables to the brakes be when the hand brake is of.Advice as always welcome. CID.

 

[Lakesailor]

More a case of the brakes should engage when handbrake is on and the wheels be free to rotate when off. Friction in the linkage may mean the cables don't appear to slack off much, but the imortant thing is that brakes are not binding. This you can check with the wheels suspended from the floor. Jack under and support the axles not the chassis so that there isn't a change of geometry.

 

[KREW2]

Hi all will be lifting out next week end,just checking trailer.(RM 4wheel 3500 ).My question is how loose should the cables to the brakes be when the hand brake is of.Advice as always welcome. CID.

I assume your trailer has an auto-reverse braking system, so your only concern should be, is that the trailer brakes apply themselves gently as the towing vehicle brakes. If you have the cables too tight this will cause the wheels to lock at the slightest touch of the brakes, and they will most certainly lock going down a steep hill, unless you want to try and out run your load. Not wishing to state the obvious, but too loose and you have no trailer braking at all.

 

[Avocet]

Assuming your brakes are of the more modern type with the damped towing hitch, Google for the make of the hitch (and brakes if you can). I'm sure I came across setting-up instructions for ?Knott? equipment once. As has been said, too tight and they'll apply at the slightest touch of the brakes or when going downhill, OR sometimes even when going over a bump because of the weight of the cables themselves!

 

[William_H]

Trailer brakes

I wonder what sort of brakes you have. I think the common type around here have a hitch with a sliding section with a spring inside so that if the trailer starts to push the car the sliding section collapses together. This motion is used to apply trailer brakes. In the type I fitted it was a hydraulic master cylinder in my case to drum brakes from the front of an older car. You need a sleeve to drop over the collapse section for when you want to reverse the trailer. Indeed this is an easy way to test these brakes.
Common also is the cable operated brakes. The more slack in the cables the more compression of the hitch required to apply the brakes. So one should perhaps have minimum slack however with any real braking of the car the trailer will easily compress the hitch. It is as said very important that the wheels are free to turn. It is worth to my mind checking for overheating after driving a few miles and doing some braking.
I remember arriving at the marina with smoke coming out of wheels due to the slave cylinders getting corroded and sticking.
To be honest my brakes have been removed for the last 25 years due to my now very short trip to the marina. (500metres) Brakes will take a lot of maintenance if you dunk em in salt water. olewill

 

[gjgm]

as long as the handbrake brings on the brakes, the travel must be ok..but if the boat is off, I d jack up the trailer and give the wheels a spin, and make sure the brakes havent rusted up and are binding. A bit of grating noise is tolerable, but the wheel should spin. However, the wheel should not wobble at all (spin it hard) or the bearings are gone. I m afraid brakes and salt water dont go together.. if you are driving a considerable distance, I d get them serviced.. thats better than a wheel coming off, or the brakes locking.