King dual axle trailer disc break questions

C

Capital Sea

New member
After getting home from our trip up north an easy drive R/T between Campbell River BC and Olympia, WA I inspected the break pads and found that they are almost gone on the outside and nearly new on the inside at each wheel.
Does anyone know what would cause this and how to fix it?
Also, at a minimum, I need to replace the outer pads, as everything else looks good, but how do I bleed the system when I am done?

I received no owners info with the trailer when I purchased it and after a long effort gave up on getting this from the dealer or from King.

Advice would be much appreciated.
 
Which brand of disc brakes? The Tie downs have two bleeding ports on the top of each cyl. There is a bar in the accentuator (surge unit) which you can work back and forth with a large flat blade screw driver. Put clear tubing on the little nipples on the bleeder, and submerge the tube in a jar (plastic is OK) of brake fluid, to prevent air from being sucked back into the line.

http://www.tiedown.com/pdf/c14.pdf

Kodiak:
http://www.expediter.com/pdf%20folder/I ... Brakes.pdf

Both of these give some information on adjustment of the calipers--but they should be self centering.
 
Depending on the type of caliper it is you could have two different problems.

If it has pistons on both sides of the caliper than it likely has air trapped on the side that has no wear. You will need to be very careful to bleed the brakes so that there is no air anywhere in the system.

If it has a floating caliper with pistons on only one side of the disk then you likely have a stuck caliper and need to pull the calipers off and make sure that when you put new pads on you also carefully lube up the slide tubes so that the caliper moves freely. Looking at the links Bob provided, both Kodiak and TieDown are using this type of caliper system. NOTE: When I bought TieDown calipers/disks for my old boat they were simply rebranded 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier front calipers with a special set of hardware. These are different than the ones in the link Bob provided but still of this same type.

Now then as for changing the pads. If you push/pry the pistons back into the caliper first and then pull the caliper off, there is no need to bleed the brakes as the fluid will be pushed back into the master cylinder. When doing disk brakes I typically use a really large set of water pump pliers to push the piston in the final bit after I used a pry bar to push them in initially while the pads and calipers are still mounted (do one side at a time!). Once I have the caliper off, I'll hang it somehow to keep from putting pressure on the brake hose, then deal with repacking bearings, etc. Then put the new pads in and put everything back together. Make sure to use something like Napa's Sylglide on the pins that hold the calipers on! In your case, I would replace the mounting hardware if possible!

If you really need to bleed the brakes, let me know. I have a pressure bleeder that can be retrofitted to work with the trailer. It works great! It is a commercial unit similar to this. Since it is just sitting on my tool box you are more than welcome to borrow it for a few days.
 
Well, I thank you both for this information. I do not think I have tiedown breaks as they are different than the photo provided in the pdf provided,
They do have two bleeder ports up on top but do not mount the same way and I do not see the hex heads shown in the photo. Each has one cylinder on the back side and I gather that the ability to slide has frozen. The disk does not spin freely when at rest. The static pressure is light but enough to cause continuous ware.

I also noted that the white wire to the flat five is disconnected. Is this a factor? The lights work fine as do the breaks though.
 
The white wire should be ground! It needs to be connected. Ground can be established through the hitch and coupling, but it will not be as relaible as the wire connection. (variable resistance due to metal corrosion and grease on the fittings) See if the lockout solenoid depolys when you shift into reverse (be sure that brakes are set in the tow vehicle, trailer tires blocked, and have someone else shift as you listen or feel the selenoid. (you can also check with a volt meter, but I prefer not to damage the covering of the wire). The Solenoid lockout wire should be blue.

I am only familiar with Tie Down and Kodiak disc brakes. Perhaps you have an older model. Excellent advice from gljjr.
 
Well, I pulled one off and they are Tiedown brand mod 46304 which has one cylinder on the inside. Pad ware was uneven on both pads and the rear pad overhang the rotor creating a 1/4" lip on the pad, the inner edge of which was rounded and looks to have held the pad away from the disk.
 
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