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Dreaming 
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Joined: May-21-2010 Location: Tacoma, WA Status: Offline Points: 1870 |
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 Topic: Trailer brake questionsPosted: March-06-2021 at 1:18pm |
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I have a DHM tandem axle trailer set up with drum brakes on all 4 wheels. We almost always have trouble with the trailer brakes locking and releasing in kind of a skid/slide/bounce kind of way after re-loading the boat. The first few miles and stops make me "pucker" a bit as I'm not always sure how the trailer is going to react. I've always assumed that the wet brake shoes are the cause of this phenomenon, but on our last trip home from the lake last year, the trailer started "bouncing" on the surge brakes on our way down a 10% grade. @ 50 mph on a grade, it's unnerving to say the least. Is this common drum brake issue? I'd like to fix it so that I can anticipate my stoping distances and how the trailer is going to react. I can't tell if I have a maintenance issue or if I need to upgrade to Disk brakes to get smoother more accurate braking?
Tow rig is a 99 F250, so it handles both stopping and pulling pretty handily when all is working correctly. |
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Mpost
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Joined: July-05-2018 Location: Monticello, MN Status: Offline Points: 323 |
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Posted: March-07-2021 at 8:41am |
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I would pull all the drums and inspect. Sounds like you have an issue with one or more of the shoes sticking. Over the years I have had a couple of trailers I bought that had a large amount of grease on the brake pads due to a bad seal, that made then worthless.
You can find complete palate assemblies with brake shoes and all new parts for a pretty reasonable price. Could also be a Master cylinder issue, but sounds more like something wrong in the shoes.
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84 SN Sold 98 SN Lund Pro V 1975 Alumacraft
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MrMcD
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Joined: January-28-2014 Location: Folsom, CA Status: Offline Points: 3590 |
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Posted: March-07-2021 at 11:44am |
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There is a hydraulic shock in the brake actuator and a spring that help control the brakes. If yours is an Atwood actuator they are now obsolete and parts are hard to get.
As already stated a leaking wheel seal can make a mess of your brake shoes but your notes about the brakes applying on a gentle downhill sound like a bad shock or spring in the actuator. I replaced one Atwood with a titan unit, it works well.
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Dreaming
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Joined: May-21-2010 Location: Tacoma, WA Status: Offline Points: 1870 |
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Posted: March-08-2021 at 11:24am |
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Good information guys. Thanks for taking the time to give me a list of things to check! Anyone gone to Disk brakes? is it worth the expense for such a small boat and trailer set up? If I have to replace the actuator and shoes, it seems like I'll be doing all of the same work to refresh the braking.
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Jonny Quest
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Joined: August-20-2013 Location: Utah--via Texas Status: Offline Points: 2840 |
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Posted: March-08-2021 at 12:53pm |
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I also have a DHM dual axle trailer. A few years ago, I completely re-built the trailer. The drum brake surge actuator was in bad shape and I decided to replace it. Well...since I was replacing the actuator, I decided to also swap out the drum brakes for disk as I didn't like the drum set-up. The change-out was not too difficult and the disk brakes are a big improvement. I only put the brakes on the front axle and it works quite well for my little SNOB (3,500 pounds boat & trailer). I originally thought about electric brakes, but since not all tow vehicles are so equipped, I stayed with the surge actuator. The drum-to-disk conversion may be something to consider...
JQ
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Current
2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
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Dreaming
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Joined: May-21-2010 Location: Tacoma, WA Status: Offline Points: 1870 |
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Posted: March-08-2021 at 1:28pm |
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JQ - that's good to hear. Seems what I have read says that disc brakes can overwhelm the weight of the trailer if not done properly, so I am glad to see you've had a good experience with them. I hadn't considered a single braking axle. That may make the swap even more of an equal cost replacement.
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wetskier2000
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Posted: March-08-2021 at 1:39pm |
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I went the other way on my used Owen's and Sons aluminum Slide-On tandem that replaced my rusted out Ramlin. The SlideOn had seized disks on one axle... My thought was that on cars disk brakes that sit around seize up whereas I've moved lots of cars with drum brakes that still worked after years of sitting.... Of course, one factor I didn't count was having to manually adjust the drum brakes regularly... Our trailer goes 3000+ miles per year...
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Current: 1997 Nautique
Previous: 1987 Nautique 1964 American Skier |
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Jonny Quest
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Posted: March-09-2021 at 10:51pm |
I seriously doubt that you would have a seized rotor / pads with regular use. If you run in seawater, you may want to consider galvanized brake components.
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2003 Ski Nautique 206 Limited Previous 2001 Ski Nautique Open Bow 1994 Ski Nautique Open Bow Aqua skiing, ergo sum |
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MrMcD
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Posted: March-10-2021 at 2:01am |
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Thinking about this post I remembered what I went through last year with my trailer. I was having similar issues, Tandem trailer, surge brake, Atwood and front trailer drum brakes only.
The trailer brakes were skidding and locking even on light to moderate stops. Very Jerky. The answer was actually very simple. I posted this in a thread on this form with pictures but the cause was my Receiver had too much lift. The boat actually looked pretty good behind the car with the receiver I was using, I switched receivers and lowered the front of my trailer, tongue height was now about 2" lower to the ground increasing the weight on my front axles where the trailer brakes are. That 2" drop put more weight on the tires and the trailer magically worked perfect ever since. This was after I scrambled and found parts and rebuilt the Atwood, bled and adjusted the trailer brakes a couple times which was a lot of extra work. I know I should have figured this out faster but the boat looked pretty level behind our car and I never considered the weight distribution issue on the tires. Many times our boat goes out fully loaded for a 3-5 day ski trip and it was never an issue when loaded with extra weight only came up towing with the boat nearly empty. One more thing to consider for trailer brake performance. Mark
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KENO
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Posted: March-10-2021 at 6:26am |
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MrMcD
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Posted: March-10-2021 at 9:27pm |
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Thanks for the assist Ken. The Photos did not make the link so I will look for them and see if they can be added again. |
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MrMcD
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Posted: March-10-2021 at 9:48pm |
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MrMcD
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Posted: March-10-2021 at 9:58pm |
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Still trying to load both pics, it keeps rejecting them. Keeps saying error adding photo, I renamed it 3 times and and tried to load the new pic but still no joy. The system does not allow you to load the same pic in the same name twice. I can say the boat looks the same ride height in both photos, a tape measure showed the difference, it made all the difference in performance. I believe the photo pictured is with the HIGHER of the two and it looks fine to me but would not trailer well at all. Lowering fixed it with the DHM Trailer.
The DHM is very sensitive to ride height.
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Dreaming
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Posted: March-12-2021 at 1:50pm |
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Good to know Mark! I haven't adjusted my hitch height at all, so I'll pull the boat out and see where we sit level wise. I do have a drop hitch on my truck, so I think mine is more nose down than what you're showing in your photo with the X5. Definitely aware of tongue weight too. I had a wag the dog experience once with another trailer...
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MrMcD
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Posted: March-12-2021 at 11:19pm |
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If your trailer is nose down your braking axle would have more weight which would give you better braking without problems. Just the opposite of the problem I had.
How is that new engine working out?
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Dreaming
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Posted: March-15-2021 at 12:16pm |
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Love the new engine. We don't get a ton of time on it each year ( maybe 10-15 hours) but it's been fantastic to be able to go and trust that everything is going to work when we get to the lake :) I have new plugs ready to go in it this year as soon as we blow out the fogging oil
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wetskier2000 wrote: