MacGregorSailors.com

The thought of towing my 26X with a Tacoma and having a blow out has been making me a nervous wreck. Not to mention, I'm in and out of saltwater...... NO MORE; I finally placed the order for the parts to upgrade to dual axel, everything galvanized; I can feel the tension melting away................
Thought I'd let everyone know that Champion trailers is have a shipping special. Free shipping with a $750 and half price with $500 or more. The total for axel, hubs, wheels, tires, fenders, springs, spare tire hanger, and all attaching hardware came to $739, so the VERY helpful folks at Champion are shipping free. The free shipping is for a very limited time, so if you've thought of upgrading now may be the time.

does that come with two axles? that is, will it match the OEM axle? what about brakes?
FYI, i pull w/ my Nissan Frontier and have experienced one such "blow-out". the biggest hassle was not having the proper gear to change the blown tire.
hint...you need a real good jack, not the undersized one from the back seat of your truck.

Bob T.
"DāBob"
'02X w/ '04 90-TLDI (14" x 11 pitch)
Dinghy Motor: '06 2.5-Suzuki

I'm doing the same mod as Chip Hine did to his trailer, except I won't have brakes. The PO pulled all the guts out of the original drum brakes and the coupler was bone dry. I've been told that if the coupler is dry your coupler is probably shot, since the master cylinder seals have been running dry. I'll be upgrading my tow vehicle soon; my current and near future towing will be "flat land" and high saltwater exposure, so I've decided brakes are more of a hassle than they're worth. I'll probably replace the original axel, and hubs in a couple of years, at which time I'll add brakes. Hopefully with new tires and dual axles, I won't be needing a jack

Ahhhhhhh......towing without brakes is not only not cool, it's also illegal. I don't know about all states, but I know that most require you to have at least one axle with brakes. A replacement master cylinder and new brakes for the one axle should not break the bank and should provide you with the comfort that in an emergency you could at least have some help in stopping. I'd re-think that idea!

Pat

Trailer brakes are needed for a variety of reasons and hills are rather low on the list. When rounding curves, or making corners while using the brakes, the trailer will push the rear of the tow vehicle sideways. At slow speeds this can cause major damage to the the trailer, boat and tow vehicle. At higher speeds, it is life threatening.

~Rich

My Mac is constantly in Salt water and I have never trusted the OEM brakes so I replaced them with a proper marine grade disc system. This was a very successful upgrade and well worth the effort. My trailer is always in a salty environment but I wash it every trip and I give the trailer a quick spray of fish oil every 3rd launch is all I need and I have no rust problems at all.

Read this.

http://www.rockettrailers.com/TrailerBrakeLaws.htm

I don't know what area you are towing in, but this should give you some idea of the legalities of what you are doing. And yes, the Mac with a trailer does exceed the usual minimum weight figures.

Pat

MadMacX wrote:Read this.

http://www.rockettrailers.com/TrailerBrakeLaws.htm

I don't know what area you are towing in, but this should give you some idea of the legalities of what you are doing. And yes, the Mac with a trailer does exceed the usual minimum weight figures.

Pat

Thanks for the link! I was trying to dig this kind of information out of various state DOT's and it was next to impossible... and here it is all packaged up, nice and neat. I have brakes on my trailer and "heard" that some states had laws... didn't think it was this extensive though.

Somewhat related... I note that the maxium trailer length is commonly 40 feet. Would anyone know how that is measured?

If its from the back of the trailer to the hitch (which would seem logical to me), do they make some kind of allowance for 5th wheels? Also, I've measured some light duty flat-bed trailers and even some big RV camp trailers that the bed/camper was exactly 40 feet... not counting the extra ten feet distance to the hitch.

Inquisitor wrote:Somewhat related... I note that the maxium trailer length is commonly 40 feet. Would anyone know how that is measured?

If its from the back of the trailer to the hitch (which would seem logical to me), do they make some kind of allowance for 5th wheels? Also, I've measured some light duty flat-bed trailers and even some big RV camp trailers that the bed/camper was exactly 40 feet... not counting the extra ten feet distance to the hitch.

This is some kind of dark science. In my race car days, we hauled a 53' trailer, however, is was with a Western Star tractor. When they measured us they measured from the front most position, to the rear most position. Sounds logical until you get into things like the front mounted air conditioner. Some states claimed that the a/c box was supposed to be included and other states claimed it was an attachment and should not be included in length, since you could not haul anything in the a/c box. We had other rules that we had to follow, like kingpin position, and drombox size. Some states would not allow us on any road, other than a Federal highway, except if our destination (race track) was not on a Federal highway. The book of rules concerning trucks, trailers and towing in the US is a hodge podge of idiotic, petty BS.

The above web site that I sighted, pretty much sums up what you have to be concerned with towing a boat or travel trailer. The one area you have to pay attention to is the requirement for brakes on "X" number of axles, given your weight and number of axles.

On a different topic, for the life of me I don't understand why they just don't do away with the whole surge brake idea and go to electric over hydraulic as a standard. It's more reliable and predictable, and given the prices of electronic controllers and disc brake packages getting so cheap, the outdated surge brake actuator makes no sense. The other day I looked at three used trailers, as I needed a trailer for my other boat, and found that each one had a rust filled master cylinder with no fluid. Two of these trailer were 2006's and all appeared to be in good condition. When I called this to the attention of the owners, two of them did not even realize their brakes did not work. The third looked at me like I slapped him with a dirty diaper. The electric over hydraulic is by no means maintenance free, but it is less maintenance intensive.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Regards,
Pat

Well, ya'll talked me into it; I'll be installing brakes sooner, rather than later. I'm only 5 miles from the boat ramp, and I'm pretty sure I'm legal, but I do plan on doing a few 300-400 mile trips this summer, so I might just as well put up a couple more boat bucks and get it done right. I guess I'll replace the drums/hubs off the original axle with the galvanized hubs I have on order from Champion, and pick up a couple of Tie Down SS brake sets for the new galvanized axle. Anyone have experience rebuilding the master cylinder on the brake coupler?
thanks
Chris

Ill disagree with that. Bleeding fluid through surge brakes takes about 15 minutes and, done annually or semi-annually, will keep them working great. The beauty of a surge brake is the braking force is kept balanced perfectly according to what the tow vehicle is doing.

My surge brakes failed last summer. I had them professionally rebuilt. I was pleasantly surprised how well they work, maybe a little better than the elec brakes on the camper trailer!

Kelly Hanson East wrote:Ill disagree with that. Bleeding fluid through surge brakes takes about 15 minutes and, done annually or semi-annually, will keep them working great. The beauty of a surge brake is the braking force is kept balanced perfectly according to what the tow vehicle is doing.

Disagree if you like, but the fact is most people don't pay any attention to the brake system on their trailer. Yes, it only takes minutes, but how many people actually do it? For that matter how many times have you seen a boat trailer along side the road with burned up wheel bearings, how many people are still trying to get five years out of their trailer tires, how many people check to make sure their lighting system functions properly? When it comes to boating, most folks focus their attention on the boat, not the boat hauler.

My reason for disliking surge brakes has to do with my own experience coming down Mt. Eagle in TN. Mt. Eagle is a 2+ mile, 6+ degree downhill road that is posted 35 MPH trucks and 45 MPH cars. I towed down the hill with a surge brake trailer and the brakes dragged all the way down the hill, I know they dragged because at the bottom I stopped and checked. The heat was so intense that it boiled the bearing grease and it seeped out past the bearing buddies. It was a mess! I did not need the assist of the surge brakes going down hill because I already had the vehicle's transmission in third gear and it would maintain the posted speed without problem.

So, disagree if you wish, but from my experience you can keep your surge brakes!!

Pat

csm wrote: Anyone have experience rebuilding the master cylinder on the brake coupler?
thanks
Chris

Very easy to do, if the present M/C is in good enough shape to rebuild. Disassemble, clean, hone, re-assemble, bench bleed and put back into service.

1) Make sure the insides are not too rusty. If they are, replace with a new one from someone like http://www.championtrailers.com/

2) If it is rebuildable get a rebuild kit from someone like Champion.

3) Disassemble carefully, clean the parts well with Brake Clean and hone the machined bore with a wheel cylinder hone, usually available at any automotive retailer, like these http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdbrak08.html Don't get crazy honing the bore, just remove the rust and any nicks you find.

4) Clean well, reassemble using brake fluid as a lubricant, bench bleed, re-install, bleed your brakes and you should be good to go.

Or, if a visual is better see this http://www.crc2onlinecatalog.com/master ... _guide.htm

Good Luck,
Pat