Trailer brakes rubbing

[Sacamano]

I have a Shoreland'r trailer and the disc brakes are rubbing. There is a small amount of brake dust on the rims and the hubs get hot during short trips. I pulled the wheel off and things look pretty clean with no rust. The rotor was in fact rubbing, so I pushed the piston back. I wanted to pull and lube the pins, but the pins, which have 7mm hex heads, would not budge. I did not want to force and break something. I also noticed a couple of small holes in the piston dust boot.

Anyone have any experience or advice? Link to manual: http://www.boatmateparts.com/manuals/manual_5_20121217072638.pdf

 

[bigwoo]

I've noticed that my trailer brakes have done this . Hoping that it is from all the hills we have. Going down the hills causes the boat to push against the truck and applies the brakes .

 

[itsdgm]

It's possible that you have air in the brake lines or a sticky caliper. Air in the lines would require bleeding them. I had a sticky caliper on my MFI trailer a few years ago. I just went ahead and replaced both of them with aluminum ones from www.pacifictrailers.com. They were only about $60 each with new pads and mounting bolts.

 

[txav8r]

Dennis ( @itsdgm ), I looked at their site...did you go back with stock UFP DB35 brakes and just replace the calipers? I have wondered about just replacing the whole package before, but the entire set is several hundred for a basic DB35 setup. Is this the part you went with? It is just the DB35 aluminum caliper and piston.
http://www.pacifictrailers.com/model-db-35-trailer-buddy-UFP-aluminum-disc-brake-caliper-42015/

Hills are a real bear with surge brakes. In another thread, @CDENsomnia , just reported that he had smoked the brakes on his trailer in a hilly terrain environment. If you have to operate in hills too often, you may have to either alter your driving habits or route, or change the brakes. Because on a downhill grade, you probably have the boat weight leaning on the actuator and applying constant brake pressure. That can certainly cause big issues if it continues. To the point, that the hot hub will melt all your bearing grease and warp parts as well as possible blowout. Best to stay out of continuous or repeated hilly terrain. I have not had my trailer brakes heat up on "normal" winding and up and down terrain. I suspect that it takes a pretty good grade to do this, but all of us are subjected to the same conditions, and what one guy describes as hills may be totally different in the mind of someone else. Even on my street, just getting out of the subdivision onto the farm to market road, the transition is so downhill for 30' that my brakes are dragging as I exit the neighborhood right there, and I feel and hear the actuator slide "clunk" back to extended after I have turned the corner and start to accelerate. So if I were going down a long grade of that degree, it would certainly smoke the brakes.

 

[itsdgm]

@txav8r yes. Those are the ones I went with. I figures that the aluminum @ less than $5 more than the zinc were worth trying. They offer them in stainless too. But I don't plan on salt water use anyway.

 

[itsdgm]

All that being said, I'm not sure if that's what is used on a Shorelander trailer.

 

[txav8r]

Yep...DB35, same as the MFI. But I don't know if they might have used the aluminum caliper on it, I haven't climbed under there to check that closely.

 

[Boat Crazy]

While you have the tire off, check that your rotors are not warped, which can be caused by putting hot rotors in cold lake water.

 

[itsdgm]

While you have the tire off, check that your rotors are not warped, which can be caused by putting hot rotors in cold lake water.

Good point

 

[Sacamano]

Thanks for the advice guys. I bled the brakes and got air and dirty fluid out. It appears better now, but I have not road tested it yet. I also found a torn dust boot which I will replace this weekend. I believe air was introduced because I did not keep the reservoir topped off as the pads wore.

 

[spaz1868]

I'm new to trailer surge brakes...where's the reservoir located? What other maintenance should I be doing on the trailer?

 

[Sacamano]

The reservoir is on the tongue under a black cap on my trailer. I am going to check the level several times a season. You should check your bearing buddies for grease a few times a season too.

 

[jdonalds]

For those who might be reading this thread and have an MFI trailer I found this document on line. The A-70 actuator is the one on my 2006 trailer.
http://www.expediter.com/pdf folder/Instruction folder/UFP/UFP A-60 & A-70 Hydraulic Brake Actuator.pdf

I had to replace a frozen caliper on my trailer today. When we arrived home from the lake yesterday (15 miles) the rim was covered with bearing grease. The Bearing Buddy rubber cap was ready to come off. When I pulled it off grease and water came squirting out. Everything was super hot. I used the hose and steam came rising off the caliper. That caliper had been giving me trouble for quite a while.

So I pulled everything apart. Cleaned it a up. Repacked the bearing, then replaced the caliper and bled the brakes. All ready for another trip to the lake on Monday.

By the way it took much longer to bleed the brakes (alone) than it did to do the work on the wheel. Replacing the caliper took about 20 minutes including hacking up the wheel and taking the wheel off.

 

[Sacamano]

I have bled my trailer brakes twice in the past two weeks (long story). I did it once pumping the piston with a screw driver as another person opened and closed the bleeder valve. It took a long time. The second time I rented a bleeder pump from Advanced Auto for free. I did it my myself in 15 minutes (not including removing the tire). It worked great once I put Teflon tape around the bleeder valve.