Brake rebuild on King tandem

[Lost Petrel]

I was going to wait until the project was finished to make a post about it, but the rain today has driven me in so I will make a start on it. After bringing “Wild Blue” down from the PNW it was clear that the brakes were going to need work. In looking them over I decided the easiest thing would be to replace the whole system after the actuator. Though I ordered a set of four Kodiak 12” kits and a flexible brake line kit on the advise of a C-Brat back at the beginning of October, I had to build a shelter for the boat before getting going on it.

Finally I started this past week on the brakes, and on pulling off one side I knew I had made the right decision to replace the whole units.

Once I had one side off I realized that I had better run the flexible lines before making it anymore difficult to crawl under the trailer. I was able to get the long line running back from the actuator into the frame for some protection with it coming back out at the junction for the tongue.
The kit comes with self tapping screws which worked OK in the frame, but when I went to mount the tee onto the axle the screw didn’t have a chance. Whether it was the thickness, hardness or construction of the torsion axle the screws would not penetrate far enough or else they would break off. Drilling and using smaller metal screws or tapping wouldn’t cut it either, so I resorted to clamping a channel onto the axle, of course the Ubolts I had were a 1/2” too short, so I have some others on order now.

So now the rains have come, but fortunately having the shop right there I can do the assembly of the new brakes and hubs inside.

 

[Sunbeam]

I know the brakes are the subject of the post, but.... nice shelter! What a great feeling to have the boat under cover just outside your home, and to know you can putter whenever you like (rain/shine/etc.).

I'd like to see how you ran the first section of the flexible brake line (next time you post, or whenever). I mean the one just aft of the actuator. This is one of the places the trailer shop messed my line up. There was a hole in the frame not too far aft of the solenoid, and they forced the cable into a tight, right-angle bend to get it down into the hole (so as to run the brake line inside the frame). When I mentioned it as I picked the trailer up, they reacted very negatively and said it was fine, they knew what they were doing, etc.

Well, it wasn't. Apparently it damaged the inside of the brake line at that bend (no big surprise), and I ended up having brake issues in the middle of Montana - had to fix them before I could go on. At that time I could only get steel line, so I used a section of that just aft of the actuator (ran it on top of the frame with chafe-guard, etc.) and then joined it into the flexible line that was still good (at the joint to the next section). It's been working fine, but I have a new section of flexible line to replace that steel bit and get my trailer back to all flexible lines. Anyway, just curious how yours looks in that area from the actuator (or however that works on EOH) back into the frame.

You'll be stopping in style next time out :thup

 

[Lost Petrel]

I meant to get a photo of where it went in and out of the frame, it has been raining all day today, hopefully tomorrow I will.

 

[Moxieabs]

I replaced my steel line with a flexible line kit this past summer after the steel line ruptured at the brass T on the axel. Upon removal I discovered several chafed areas on it's run inside the frame where it was supposedly protected from damage. It turns out it was being chafed by vibration and likely to blow out soon. I was not impressed with the clips and screws in the flex kit, which did not appear to be very corrosion resistant, so I used heavy duty zip ties to clamp the line along the frame and axel.

 

[journey on]

First, I'm glad to hear that it's raining up there, maybe some of that stuff will get down here.

I'm curious about a couple of things you mentioned. Not to start a discussion, but just wondering what your thoughts were about the brakes. For one item, what brand of brakes did you take off the trailer? I noticed that they appeared to have separate rotors and hubs. The brakes you got, and Kodiak is a good brand, look like they have one piece hub/rotors. I'm curious as to the condition of the original hubs and why you didn't keep them? Kodiak offers both rotors and hub/rotor replacement parts. Why did you get one piece rotor/hubs? How many miles were on the trailer and was it launched in mostly in salt or fresh water? Kodiak has several levels of corrosion protection. What level of corrosion protection did you get?

The brakes on Journey On's trailer came with Reliable one piece rotor/hubs. Since they don't sell replacement parts, I've been replacing those parts I needed with Kodiak and so far they seem interchangeable. When I surrender on the original rotors, I'll probably do what you did, so I'm curious as to why.

One last comment is that I've started spraying the rotors with Salt Away after each immersion. I'm not the first to figure this out, but now I've got religion and so I'm telling everybody. Seem to curt down the rust.

Boris

 

[Lost Petrel]

Boris the brakesets that came on the trailer were Tie-downs. My visual inspection told me that it was going to be a lot easier and safer in the long run to replace the whole thing. I could assume the spindle was good but I would probably replace bearings anyway so starting with all new made sense.

I went with the one piece Dacromet for price because I think I can do an adequate job rinsing them after the few saltwater dunkings they will get (up north I will be using a lift primarily).

Regarding the miles on the trailer and launches in saltwater, I will leave that to Jim to respond to if he catches this thread. I can probably say there were quite a few of both as he and Joan took Wild Blue all over, and his home water for launching was the Gulf.

And you can bet "Salt Away is on my shopping list.

Tim

 

[JamesTXSD]

Hi Tim and Boris,

When we sold it, the trailer had over 40,000 miles on it. It had mostly been in storage in the PNW the last two years. When we last had it on the road, the brakes were functioning normally.

It has been launched in salt water and fresh all over the country. We did make it a point to flush the trailer and brakes after each saltwater dunking.

When Tim is done putting new brakes on, it should be good for many more miles.

Best wishes,
Jim

 

[Will-C]

After looking over the brake lines on routine maintenance we noticed a number of spots that seemed to have started to rub into the brake lines. We replaced the effected brake lines and put them in clear plastic tubing that we slit and tie wrapped the tubing place. I thought replacing the tubing was easier than having to replace brake lines and bleed the brakes etc. I also take marine wheel bearing grease and swab it around the exposed steel parts on the brake lines and on threads of fittings on the brake lines. It seems to slow down corrosion.
D.D.

 

[Lost Petrel]

Some more photos

Here is where the brakeline enters the frame in front, it does leave the line exposed on the tongue, but I will fasten it alongside the channel.

As was the case with Sunbeam's, the hole for the metal line was too close to make a reasonable bend.

The line exits the frame just behind the front axle, the hole there was large enough for a soft bend where I will have grommet protection.

 

[thataway]

Good job! I agree with replacing the hubs. I did the same with mine, although I could have used the old hubs, and a "fit on" rotor set. I kept the best of the hubs as a "spare"

One comment about plastic "flexible" brake lines. I had those on the 25 trailer, and one shop managed to cut them when putting on new tires. After that, I went back to steel! (with braid covered flexible to each caliper)

I especially like what you ended up doing with the Torsion axle--I think that it would have been a major mistake to drill and tap into that! Your U bracket is a far better idea, and one I will copy when I get my lines in place.

I was able to pick up some nice grommets at Lowes today for the places where my lines go thru aluminum frame members.

 

[Lost Petrel]

One comment about plastic "flexible" brake lines. I had those on the 25 trailer, and one shop managed to cut them when putting on new tires. After that, I went back to steel! (with braid covered flexible to each caliper)

I am not too worried about the lines from the calipers, but intend on finding some kind of sheathing for line along the tongue.

 

[localboy]

Been there. Done that. New actuator too. The old one had frozen (rust).

 

[Lost Petrel]

Final photos and comments;

I have been having to work around the drenching we have been getting, but I am not complaining. System all buttoned up ready to be bled.

The underside routing of the brake lines;



And the protection I put over the main line on the tongue;



I have used this flexible conduit on other boat projects for wiring and like it. Non-metallic and quite easy to work with.

All in all I am satisfied with the Kodiak brakes, my only complaint is the dust covers they shipped with the brakes were not the ones described in the documentation that came with it and were not fit well IMO. The dust covers were so tight that popping them on and off to grease would not work for long. The description that came with the brakes described a dust cover with a pop out middle similar to the ones that came with the trailer originally. (The spindles are "EZ lubes" )
I received a quick response from Eastern Marine (Trailer Parts Superstore) but they said that Kodiak is now shipping all their sets with that dust cap. When I explained that I tried to pound them on with a rubber mallet and they would not I also sent a photo showing the size difference. They did forward that on to Kodiak, who responded again that they were the correct size.
My feeling is that had they been the caps with the pop out for lubing I would have gone ahead and tried harder to pound them on, but instead for now I will just replace the old cleaned up caps.