JustinR
Active Member
- First Name
- Justin
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2022
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 77
- Location
- Long Island, New York, USA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2022 Ranger/2014 MKX/2023 Nautilus/1981 DeLorean
- Occupation
- Engineer
- Thread starter
- #1
Good Evening Everyone,
I'm posting in the "general automotive" section since this isn't Ranger-related, and I'm hoping that some of the members of this forum have some more experience servicing boat trailers with surge brakes than I do. I guess I could have posted under the "Towing" forum, but since this isn't specific to towing with the Ranger per se, I figured I'd try here first. My apologies if I am in the wrong section.
I'm having I think an issue with the surge brakes on my boat trailer, and I'm hoping someone with more experience with trailers themselves than I have might see this and have some advice. It's not something I'm going to work on now, with the boat on the trailer, but something I will have to deal with next spring after the boat is off the trailer. Does anyone have any experience with replacing or servicing a surge brake system? I'm not convinced that it is working, and while my gut feeling is that the calipers have seized, I'm not sure where to start with troubleshooting. While towing the trailer the other day when I hauled the boat for the season, I could swear I smelled that locked caliper smell - I'm familiar with that smell from my DeLorean, whose front-left locked up really pretty good, and my Patriot whose right-rear failed last spring (both were easy enough to replace - I'm handy enough to do it myself and I did on both of them). Yesterday I smelled it again, backing the trailer into my driveway.
But, in the case of the boat trailer, the rotors on both sides of the front axle (the rear axle does not have brakes) are still rusty and nasty looking, as if neither one was engaging. While towing the boat, I had no difficulty stopping and stopping distances felt pretty normal (as if the brakes are working), and I had no feeling like one side was dragging either. What's concerned me is that locked-caliper smell, along with seeing neither rotor looking particularly clean after a drive.
I'm thinking I want to replace the calipers and maybe rotors too next season. That has me thinking more about the rest of the braking system on the trailer, including the steel lines they used when the trailer was manufactured (I wonder whether hoses are available as a replacement? On something that gets regularly dipped into salt water steel lines wouldn't be my first choice.)
Also that I noticed the smell while reversing has me a little concerned. It's possible that that was just the way the wind was blowing, and not that the solenoid to deactivate the surge brakes failed. There are no skid marks in my driveway, and it did not feel like I was backing up against a locked wheel (I have had that happen before a couple years ago so I do remember how that went - I had used my parents' 2002 Liberty in the past and I'm pretty sure the reverse light signal didn't properly activate in its 7-pin on occasion. That was TOUGH to back up that way; had to stop and put the override pin in the coupler then - that was not the case this time at all).
I guess I'm just looking for advice. The trailer is a 2014 Load-rite 5-Starr model, and all parts (except the taillights) are original. It goes in the saltwater once or twice a year (just to launch or haul; the boat is in the water all summer) and otherwise its main job is just to be a cradle for the boat in the off-season. It has almost no mileage on it at all. There is plenty of material on the brake pads, but the calipers themselves don't look particularly pretty.
I'm looking for troubleshooting advice. I'm most likely going to do my own parts changing; I did call the only local trailer repair place around here last spring to see if I could have him do a once-over on the trailer and replace whatever was needed, and the proprietor was somewhat cranky and nasty when I spoke to him...like I was bothering him and wasting his time by asking about his services. It seems he's the only trailer service shop around, and I'm not about to call him back, so I will do my own work. Would you start with replacing just the calipers, and see how it runs first? Calipers and rotors, maybe, since they look kind of not-so-good? Anyone with any experience on the coupler/slide assembly for the surge brakes? Honestly, I'm thinking about replacing all of it - the slide/coupler, the lines, brakes, rotors, and hubs. I found a kit with all the parts from the original manufacturer (it looks like Load-rite OEMed the parts from Tie-Down) for around $1000. I have no idea what the approximate design life is of any of these parts. I know lots of people trailer their boats regularly, every weekend even (as in the past I did, with my previous (smaller and lighter, not requiring a trailer with brakes) boat, before we bought a waterfront house), and I wonder whether in my case the lack of use of the trailer is working against it.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm just trying to figure out where to start next spring, after the boat is launched.
Thanks,
Justin
P.S. I'm not terribly worried about getting the boat to the marina with the trailer as-is for launching it this coming spring - it's all side roads, only 3 miles, and I don't have to exceed 30 mph at any point. I just want to be sure I have things as safe as I can, going forward, in general.
P.P.S. I did ask at the marina if they do trailer work; they don't. They also didn't have anyone to recommend. So yes, I did try that route too.
I'm posting in the "general automotive" section since this isn't Ranger-related, and I'm hoping that some of the members of this forum have some more experience servicing boat trailers with surge brakes than I do. I guess I could have posted under the "Towing" forum, but since this isn't specific to towing with the Ranger per se, I figured I'd try here first. My apologies if I am in the wrong section.
I'm having I think an issue with the surge brakes on my boat trailer, and I'm hoping someone with more experience with trailers themselves than I have might see this and have some advice. It's not something I'm going to work on now, with the boat on the trailer, but something I will have to deal with next spring after the boat is off the trailer. Does anyone have any experience with replacing or servicing a surge brake system? I'm not convinced that it is working, and while my gut feeling is that the calipers have seized, I'm not sure where to start with troubleshooting. While towing the trailer the other day when I hauled the boat for the season, I could swear I smelled that locked caliper smell - I'm familiar with that smell from my DeLorean, whose front-left locked up really pretty good, and my Patriot whose right-rear failed last spring (both were easy enough to replace - I'm handy enough to do it myself and I did on both of them). Yesterday I smelled it again, backing the trailer into my driveway.
But, in the case of the boat trailer, the rotors on both sides of the front axle (the rear axle does not have brakes) are still rusty and nasty looking, as if neither one was engaging. While towing the boat, I had no difficulty stopping and stopping distances felt pretty normal (as if the brakes are working), and I had no feeling like one side was dragging either. What's concerned me is that locked-caliper smell, along with seeing neither rotor looking particularly clean after a drive.
I'm thinking I want to replace the calipers and maybe rotors too next season. That has me thinking more about the rest of the braking system on the trailer, including the steel lines they used when the trailer was manufactured (I wonder whether hoses are available as a replacement? On something that gets regularly dipped into salt water steel lines wouldn't be my first choice.)
Also that I noticed the smell while reversing has me a little concerned. It's possible that that was just the way the wind was blowing, and not that the solenoid to deactivate the surge brakes failed. There are no skid marks in my driveway, and it did not feel like I was backing up against a locked wheel (I have had that happen before a couple years ago so I do remember how that went - I had used my parents' 2002 Liberty in the past and I'm pretty sure the reverse light signal didn't properly activate in its 7-pin on occasion. That was TOUGH to back up that way; had to stop and put the override pin in the coupler then - that was not the case this time at all).
I guess I'm just looking for advice. The trailer is a 2014 Load-rite 5-Starr model, and all parts (except the taillights) are original. It goes in the saltwater once or twice a year (just to launch or haul; the boat is in the water all summer) and otherwise its main job is just to be a cradle for the boat in the off-season. It has almost no mileage on it at all. There is plenty of material on the brake pads, but the calipers themselves don't look particularly pretty.
I'm looking for troubleshooting advice. I'm most likely going to do my own parts changing; I did call the only local trailer repair place around here last spring to see if I could have him do a once-over on the trailer and replace whatever was needed, and the proprietor was somewhat cranky and nasty when I spoke to him...like I was bothering him and wasting his time by asking about his services. It seems he's the only trailer service shop around, and I'm not about to call him back, so I will do my own work. Would you start with replacing just the calipers, and see how it runs first? Calipers and rotors, maybe, since they look kind of not-so-good? Anyone with any experience on the coupler/slide assembly for the surge brakes? Honestly, I'm thinking about replacing all of it - the slide/coupler, the lines, brakes, rotors, and hubs. I found a kit with all the parts from the original manufacturer (it looks like Load-rite OEMed the parts from Tie-Down) for around $1000. I have no idea what the approximate design life is of any of these parts. I know lots of people trailer their boats regularly, every weekend even (as in the past I did, with my previous (smaller and lighter, not requiring a trailer with brakes) boat, before we bought a waterfront house), and I wonder whether in my case the lack of use of the trailer is working against it.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm just trying to figure out where to start next spring, after the boat is launched.
Thanks,
Justin
P.S. I'm not terribly worried about getting the boat to the marina with the trailer as-is for launching it this coming spring - it's all side roads, only 3 miles, and I don't have to exceed 30 mph at any point. I just want to be sure I have things as safe as I can, going forward, in general.
P.P.S. I did ask at the marina if they do trailer work; they don't. They also didn't have anyone to recommend. So yes, I did try that route too.
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