Check your caliper for free movement

[FSH 210 Sport]

I just made this same post in my surge brake actuator thread here. https://jetboaters.net/threads/changing-out-the-surge-brake-actuator.41582/

Just wanted to shoot up a flare to the group about doing a simple check that could save you a lot of grief. Take a pry bar and gently move the calipers to make sure they are not hung up in the rails. As with most things mechanical the biggest problems come from lack of use, and brake calipers move very little if any in their rails during normal use.

So in addition to check the fluid in the master reservoir, and using a screw driver to manually actuated the brakes to make sure they build pressure with no sponginess aka work when applied, you should check to make sure the calipers slide freely in their rails.

By using a pry bar such as this…



you can gently apply the amount of force necessary to get the calipers to move in their rails. Once you have collapsed the piston and have some play, move the caliper back and forth several times to make sure it will move freely. After you are done with one caliper go to the tongue and pump the brakes up manually using the manual actuation port.



Pump this lever until you feel the it come up solid with good pressure, this will move the fluid you just pushed up into the reservoir when you collapsed the caliper piston. If you don’t you will push fluid out of the reservoir making a mess and then there very well could not be enough fluid in there when the brakes get pumped back up. Repeat the same steps on the other caliper and you can be assured that your calipers will not be hung up causing a real issue when towing on the highway.

 

[Cambo]

A picture of the pry bar showing were to pry and what direction would be helpful. My brake pad broke while doing this a few years ago but it was most likely that the pad backer plate was rusted very bad. But I do remember finding a good place to pry from and it wasn't by the pad just cant remember where.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Here you go! Be very gentle when doing this and apply pressure on different places to get things moving.

Did I mention to be very gentle when doing this? Nice and easy, take your time so you don’t wedge it off center.

These movements apply pressure to the piston to collapse it. I was able to get the passenger side moving with these first two pics.




The drivers side required a bit more pressure and I had to use the bar this way. I just kept moving it around and applying increasing amounts of pressure unit it finally started to move, the just kept moving it back and forth until I got the max throw.




This pulls it back be very careful of the little rubber piston boot.

 

[Scoop]

I am installing new calipers and have a question about the above pictures. Is the line going into the green dot the fluid coming from the actuator or the fluid going to the other brake?

I recieved two left brake calipers and had to take the little gold square with two inlet/outlet connections off the old caliper and forgot to note which connection goes to the actuator and which line goes to the downstream brake caliper.

Thanks.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Pretty sure that is the line coming from the actuator. I’ll double check when I get home

 

[Dixemon]

The horizontal input goes to the left brake caliper (green dot) , the vertical goes to the actuator. that is how it is routed on my 210 fsh shorelander dual axle trailer. Although, if you were to mix it up i doubt it would matter, it is a distrubution block that flows bi-directional either way.

 

[Scoop]

The horizontal input goes to the left brake caliper (green dot) , the vertical goes to the actuator. that is how it is routed on my 210 fsh shorelander dual axle trailer. Although, if you were to mix it up i doubt it would matter, it is a distrubution block that flows bi-directional either way.

Good to know and thank you, that helps.