Sticking Trailer Brakes

[kezawon]

Has anybody had a problem with Trojan electric/hydraulic braking system for boat trailer???? I have a Trojan system fitted to my dual axel trailer & have a serious problem with brake pad & rotor wear, Trojan are blaming the unit in the car for being incorrectly adjusted or the Carlisle hydrostar actuator unit which is not releasing the callipers. the last set of disc pad on one wheel lasted only 12,000kms & the rotor fractured, with the remaining sets 3/4 wore out & the previous set only lasted 5,000kms.. Trojan are refusing any warranty claims due this type of problem never occurring..

Cheers

[batfishing]

I totally rebuilt a mates last year, the hydrostar was only 12 months old. The calipers were crap, the trailer company that supplied and fitted it all, did one of the roughest bodgey jobs on the lines and the calipers I have ever seen. I ended up fitting new discs, calipers and brake lines.

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[kezawon]

What brand of braking system was fitted & what brand was the new system. My issue only appears to be with sticking calliper pistons where are bakerlite but this also seriously wears the stainless rotors. I have the Trojan duratorque suspension so can I change the rotors & calliper to another brand

Cheers

Neil

[batfishing]

I can't remember, but the biggest issue was the calipers, the slides had seized, so basically once the brakes are applied, the calipers either didn't release or they kept enough pressure applied to prematurely wear the pads and discs out and overheat everything whilst towing.

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[JimT]

rebuild calipers, honing/clean bores properly, clean up slide bolts with wire brush wheel and grease when fitting plus locktite on thread....all the usual stuff

Jim..

[Fab1]

Has anybody had a problem with Trojan electric/hydraulic braking system for boat trailer???? I have a Trojan system fitted to my dual axel trailer & have a serious problem with brake pad & rotor wear, Trojan are blaming the unit in the car for being incorrectly adjusted or the Carlisle hydrostar actuator unit which is not releasing the callipers. the last set of disc pad on one wheel lasted only 12,000kms & the rotor fractured, with the remaining sets 3/4 wore out & the previous set only lasted 5,000kms.. Trojan are refusing any warranty claims due this type of problem never occurring..

Cheers

What sort of maintenance on the braking system had you performed before this issue occurred?12,000km on a boat trailer = alot of dunkings in the drink for saltwater to do its magic.The usual culprit on boat trailers is frozen caliper slide pins which will prevent the pads from realising properly causing both pad and rotor wear along with extreme heat.

Another thing that can happen which is rare but does occur is the calipers piston rolls a square cut seal which will jam the piston in its bore which will have the same affect.Im not familiar with the system you have but I've seen cheaper horse float braking systems have what you describe and after diagnosing the system I found the rubber components used in the brake calipers had been eaten by the brake fluid causing small chunks to break off and lodge in the calipers ports not allowing the piston to seat back in its bore.

The same thing happened to this lady that I did the job for,the seller blamed her for not having the controller set up correctly until I went in there with the bits of rubber and photos I'd had taken.

Cheers.

[kezawon]

Snapper,

Prior to the 12,000kms, the callipers had been returned to Trojan (Trailcom) & were checked out by Trojan f\due to the previously excessive wear. They were rebuilt by Trailcom Melbourne & tested by their technical staff & I was advised that there was no apparent problems with the callipers. All four calliper were refitted to the trailer by a Trailcom recommended fitter in Brisbane. Now Trailcom are saying that they have never had an issues of this type with their calliper & are claiming it can only be incorrect adjustment of the brake controller or the brake actuator which was adjust by the brake fiiting in Brisbane....sound familiar... Most of my fishing trip are 1000kms from home & I cannot wash the braking units until I return home, then I washed down with hot soapy then wash down with a cold water pressure cleaner. So I am not sure what else you can do...your thoughts would be appreciated.. I am going to rebuild the callipers again, what do you suggest the grease I should on the rubbers & the external cups. I will have to fit new stainless steel rotors on all four wheels & new brake line from the calliper to the first junction. I don't see that I will get any assistance for Trailcom but I remain optimistic

Cheers

Neil

[Fab1]

Snapper,

Prior to the 12,000kms, the callipers had been returned to Trojan (Trailcom) & were checked out by Trojan f\due to the previously excessive wear. They were rebuilt by Trailcom Melbourne & tested by their technical staff & I was advised that there was no apparent problems with the callipers. All four calliper were refitted to the trailer by a Trailcom recommended fitter in Brisbane. Now Trailcom are saying that they have never had an issues of this type with their calliper & are claiming it can only be incorrect adjustment of the brake controller or the brake actuator which was adjust by the brake fiiting in Brisbane....sound familiar... Most of my fishing trip are 1000kms from home & I cannot wash the braking units until I return home, then I washed down with hot soapy then wash down with a cold water pressure cleaner. So I am not sure what else you can do...your thoughts would be appreciated.. I am going to rebuild the callipers again, what do you suggest the grease I should on the rubbers & the external cups. I will have to fit new stainless steel rotors on all four wheels & new brake line from the calliper to the first junction. I don't see that I will get any assistance for Trailcom but I remain optimistic

Cheers

Neil

Mate,after launching your boat,going fishing all day,leaving the trailer baking in the sun stewing then driving 1000km home and then washing down the trailer/brakes the damage has long been done as it's the saltwater left dried on the brakes for long periods of time that corrode everything.

Even if you can cart a 20-40L drum of fresh water along with a watering can and rinse your brakes immediately after launching/retrieving will help them enormously.

Even better is set up a trailer wash system.

Many people wash there boats/trailers with pressure washers thinking it is the best including myself at one stage.

Then one day I came to my senses after giving it some serious thought over a beer that the best thing is to use good old elbow grease with warm soapy water and a garden hose.

In short you want water volume/moderate pressure not low volume/high pressure.

As for what to use on the caliper slides,silicon paste period.

This is made by 3m but can be hard to come by and am out of at the moment.

A close second is rubber grease manufactured by PBR as in the photo.

I have put up a post of how I maintain caliper slides on my car that can be applied to anything with brakes such as trailers .

In short you need to find a way of getting fresh water on those brakes ASAP after launching/retrieving not 1000ks and how many hours later.

As for companies/people denying there's an issue?There'sa reason I do all my own work and don't rely on anyone.

We'll leave it at that.

Good luck.

[kezawon]

Thanks for the information, looks like we will have to somehow wash down the callipers at launch before we maybe go out to sea for two nights, then back on land for a day then back out to sea for another double overnighter, this may continue for a week to ten days then drive home 1000kms. Local trips are a hell of a lot shorter, launch in the morning, at daylight return around midday then wash with freshwater then drive one hour home & wash down asap after that... what about spraying with CRC just prior to launch will that help in the short tem??????

Neil

[Fab1]

Of course it will but you don't want it to get on your pads and contaminate them.

Silicon spray works a lot better as water rolls off it like water of a ducks back.But again you don't want it on your pads.

Better yet take a cheap garden sprayer and give them a good dousing after launch/retrieve with fresh water.

All the best.

[zmk1962]

I'm with Fab1 on his comments - they are spot on from my experience. Use copious quantities of fresh water to dissolve away the salt rather then high pressure to drive the salt water further in. When I can't get to fresh water immediately - I try and displace as much as I can.

I remember I wrote about this in a previous chat - but in short after I have launched my boat and reversed the trailer in the parking bay... I run around with a spray can of silicon spray (preferred) or Lanox (Inox with Lanolin) and using the little plastic tube I squirt a bit inbetween the brake pad and the caliper hyraudalic cylinder ram. This helps displace the salt water that's in there. This has significantly extended the time between services.

I have a set of Trigg hubs/rotors and calipers that gave me trouble with seizing for a while. Eventually a very good mechanic put a micrometer over the disc rotor and found that it was slighly oversized (probably built that way for marine use in anticipation of rust and hence allowing rapid wear down). There was just not enough clearance with the pads that were being put in (with spacers). So we looked for a different thinner brand and all has been good since.

BTW, I also run a hydrostar Carlise controller.