Surge Brake Problems

[Mellisa7]

Sent you a PM on where to buy the aluminum wheel cylinders.

thanks !

 

[fhhuber]

Out of curiosity, what tension adjustment are you referring to? Never seen a tension adjustment on brake actuators that I have owned which have mainly been TitanDico

There will be a tension adjustment for the spring in the hitch.
Newer ones may be harder to find... but the ones I have dealt with had a very easy to see knob on the hitch with the spring behind it.

It would be surprising if there is no adjustment... You need to be able to adjust these things for the load. You can't make a surge hitch that is going to be correctly adjusted for a trailer that is heavily loaded and moderately loaded at the same time. The spring adjustment is what allows you to back up going uphill.... No load on the trailer you need nearly no spring tension. Full load you need quite a bit of tension.

 

[Mellisa7]

Problem is being taken care of. I just ordered complete brakes with backing plates, stainless hardware, aluminum cylinders, and a new actuator assembly. If that doesn't fix it I give up.....
New aluminum cylinders would have been $100 and for twice that I get backing plates with new brake shoes and all hardware ready to install. New hitch with actuator only $129 Trailer is 20 years old won't hurt to renew brake system......
Safety first !
"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail ! "

 

[bruceb58]

Problem is being taken care of. I just ordered complete brakes with backing plates, stainless hardware, aluminum cylinders, and a new actuator assembly. If that doesn't fix it I give up.....
New aluminum cylinders would have been $100 and for twice that I get backing plates with new brake shoes and all hardware ready to install. New hitch with actuator only $129 Trailer is 20 years old won't hurt to renew brake system......
Safety first !
"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail ! "

I think that was a good choice.

Just hope you didn't order TieDown...junk!

 

[bruceb58]

It would be surprising if there is no adjustment... You need to be able to adjust these things for the load. You can't make a surge hitch that is going to be correctly adjusted for a trailer that is heavily loaded and moderately loaded at the same time. The spring adjustment is what allows you to back up going uphill.... No load on the trailer you need nearly no spring tension. Full load you need quite a bit of tension.

Surge brakes compensate for the load automatically. Backing up is a different story and drum brakes need to be free backing or disc brakes need a back up solenoid to disable them.

The spring inside the coupler does very little. On most, you can push the coupler in yourself with little effort or a short screw driver as leverage.

 

[Mellisa7]

Pulled all the drums off this afternoon. Could see NOTHING out of ordinary. Everything looks fine????? Pulled all the backing plates and hardware off. New parts supposed to be here tomorrow.

 

[Horigan]

I would replace the coupler first and see how it works. It's the common thread that would affect all four brakes.

 

[Mellisa7]

All new hardware on the trailer....Works great. Still don't know what was wrong, but working fine now !