1 of 6 brakes locked up on trailer.

[hillsideshortleg]

We put our boat in the water and parked the truck and trailer at the marina for the night. Next morning took off and noticed blue smoke in the mirrors. One tire had locked up. By the time we got to a place we could pull over the tire was no good. Removed both tires on that axle and drove home. The guys pulled the drum apart and as they loosened the backing plate up the drum freed up. I really dont know what to do at this point. everything looks OK but I dont want to reassemble without making a positive change. It's an old Calkins triple axle with Hydraulic brakes. Any advice?
Thanks

 

[scoflaw]

upgrade to disks

 

[PlayDate]

I'm guessing they loosened the adjuster not the backing plate. Loosening the adjuster would have freed the drum but the hydraulic cylinder would still be locked up.

At a minimum replace the components on that axel. Linings, drums, and hydraulic wheel cylinder and associated hardware. The hydraulic wheel cylinder locked up. If you dunk it enough times the water finds its way into the dust caps of the brake cylinder and creates rust. That one probably wasn't working for some time and at some point you hit the brakes hard and the pistons moved and did not release.

Personally I would do all four/six brakes and the wheel bearings. (I'm not sure that trailer has brakes on every axle.)

You are lucky the remaining four tires didn't blow on the way home. That was a lot of weight on them.

You can also upgrade the brakes to disk as @scoflaw mentioned but I'm guessing the drum brakes have worked well for a long time.

 

[Scott215]

Disk is really the way to go. Someone on here just changed over and loves them. But salt will eat anything even stainless given time

 

[hillsideshortleg]

LOL the rest of the story. The boat stayed at the lake, trailer was empty going home. Now more of the rest of the story. We are buying a 400 EC in a week, We are going to hang onto the 280 until we are sure we are not making a mistake. We are guessing 1 year max. For us the trailer will be used 1 or 2 times before we sell the boat and trailer. We are putting out a lot of money on the new boat and seeing a lot of money going into it, to get it where we want it. Dumping money into the trailer in not high on our priority list. So im guessing a new cylinder and tire would be my direction. If we did nothing more the new buyer would be made aware of the trailer.

 

[Scott215]

 

[PlayDate]

LOL the rest of the story. The boat stayed at the lake, trailer was empty going home. Now more of the rest of the story. We are buying a 400 EC in a week, We are going to hang onto the 280 until we are sure we are not making a mistake. We are guessing 1 year max. For us the trailer will be used 1 or 2 times before we sell the boat and trailer. We are putting out a lot of money on the new boat and seeing a lot of money going into it, to get it where we want it. Dumping money into the trailer in not high on our priority list. So im guessing a new cylinder and tire would be my direction. If we did nothing more the new buyer would be made aware of the trailer.

I'm okay with that but you should pull the other wheels off just to have a look. Hydraulic wheel cylinders don't go bad in isolation. They are dirt cheap $20 each. Replacing them all and reusing the linings (if they are in good shape) and hardware is a pretty inexpensive repair. Maybe $150 in parts and two hours of work.

Congrats on the 400 EC it is a great boat.

 

[hillsideshortleg]

PlayDate:
I like the sounds of that. How do you bleed them once the wheel cylinders are replaced? None of us have done it before on a trailer like this but have bled a lot of vehicle brakes.
Thanks


I

 

[PlayDate]

Just follow what these guys recommend. Old school stuff. The only difference is how you pump up the pressure (we used to assign the person we didn't want helping bleed to pump up the brake pedal in cars). Furthest wheel cylinder away gets bled first and then you move closer. You will be done before you can finish a Corona six pack.

This example is on disk brakes but drum are no different. Also....you don't need to bleed them every 12 months......makes me wonder who writes these articles......

You already know this but (for future thread readers) the drums have to be on all the wheels when you bleed them so you don't blow out a new cylinder. You may find only a couple of cylinders need to be replaced.


https://www.etrailer.com/faq-bleed-trailer-brakes.aspx

 

[Bill Curtis]

My oil evacuation pump is run on compressed air. I use it to suck the brake fluid out through the bleeders and have one of those reservoir auto master cyl refillers on the electric over hydraulic fluid fill. Takes me 20 minutes to completely change all the brake fluid and bleed all 4 disc calipers on my trailer by my self. Almost too easy.