INVESTIGATOR 563

The weather in Sydney has improved lately and I would love to have gone sailing last weekend. Instead, I have been hassling with trailer hubs and brakes.

Decided I would fit new hubs and bearings with Durahub oil seals, so bought a pair of new gal hubs. Unfortunately there seems to be a variability in hub dimensions, and the new hub discs are in the wrong place in relation to the disc brake mounting plates. Now that I am analysing the situation, I wonder if the old hubs were incorrect as well. Getting engineering information on these things is nigh on impossible, so I am going to have to use some creative solutions. The way the set-up is at the moment, only the inside brake pads per wheel would work. i.e. the caliper will not be a caliper. One day when I am feeling rich I think I will get a complete new axle and start again!

I have come to the sad conclusion over 10 trailer sailers and 35 years that brakes and dunking in salt water are an impossible combination. Mine came with electric drum brakes which were ineffective and only lasted a month or two before rusting up. So regrettably, I now run without brakes which is slightly illegal as the outfit probably weighs in at a bit over 1000kg and unbraked limit is 750kg. But my car weighs 2400kg and has good ABS brakes and I also figure no trailer brakes are better than dodgy ones that may or may not work and may lock up if they do.

The cable disc brakes are fine if they are installed correctly. With galvanised hubs the discs do corrode, but that just makes for a bit more pad wear. I think the trick (once the mounting plates are in the right place), is to ensure that the caliper actuating arm has the approx 1mm clearance from the inner pad "bump" that the manufacturer recommends. Unfortunately, on second hand trailers that information is often lost. If you have the clearance, then when the disc rusts, the pads will not lock on. Of course, the caliper slides also need to be free to move.
See drawing in Technical section.

I have to say that towing a circa 1.2 tonne combo of boat + trailer without brakes is a risky business not to be recommended. (Remember also that the internet is an open forum to the world. See http://www.careel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=395)

I would agree Ian if my outfit weighed 1.2 tonnes plus trailer, but it really weighs about 800kg plus maybe 300kg for trailer and gear, so all up about 1100kg. I would still prefer brakes if I could manage to keep them serviceable.

Peter

Peter
I haven't personally put my rig over a weighbridge, but some who have, have reported a weight of circa 1200 kg, depending on how much gear is in the boat.