Trailer brakes

[boxhead]

What are the thoughts on brakes on car trailer?

I am modifying and rebuilding the car trailer I bought for the Cobra, And I will be rebuilding the brakes.
When I pulled it all apart, I have found that it has 4 wheel drum brakes, all the shoes are in near new condition, I will be replacing wheel cylinders and all hard lines (flex hoses are in good nick), I will also be buying a new master cylinder for it.

In its current form it has had the front brake pipes disconected and crimped over.
For the cost of 2 extra wheel cylinders and half dozen or so extra flare nuts I can make it 4 wheel brake again, Would I really benefit from it having 4 wheel brakes over 2?
I am happy to go either way.

Thoughts and advice appreciated.

[David Hodgson]

Dave, has it got the centre shakle rocker for axle load sharing? I haven't had a lot to do with trailer brakes but my thoughts are, if not shared equally and one axle only has say 30% load it could cause locking on those wheels.
Are they elect or overide?

Edit - of course there overide, elctric does not use hydraulics.

[bobcowan]

4 wheel brakes are nice when hauling heavy loads. Otherwise, they're just not needed.

When it's a little slick out (rain, snow), 2 wheel brakes are preferred. If you accidentally lock up the tires, two of them will still be rolling, and will help prevent the trailer from coming around.

[boxhead]

Following are some pictures of the trailer, both when I first picked it up and how it looked Saturday arvo.

It has 4 wheel independant suspension but the control arms work of a spring that is pivoting in the centre (spring is fitted upside down to that in a conventional car).

Hope this helps.

[Modena]

I love seeing the red dust in your pics boxhead

[Merv and Sharon]

As John Howard would have said, "the CCC is a broad church"! Great pics Dave. After all that rain there one can see the difference ...

What is the weight of the trailer?

[BMK]

weight....before of after he cleans the dust and dirt off...

Good to see you are busy there....

[boxhead]

I dont know what the current weight is, but when I cut the sides off including the guards, I removed about 120kg each side.

I will be refitting lower side rails, and thin steel or checkerplate guards.
Also priced alloy checker plate for floor.

Once it is all done I will get a weight, but I dont mind it being substantial as I want to use the trailer to get cars from out bush.

Those outside pictures are old, the following picture is from Sunday (date coded for insurance quote) and if you look through the Mulga trees, you can see the area where I took the trailer picture, it is alot greener now and the grass is about 4 foot tall. The tractor battery is on the charger now so I can start slashing the block, I have been holding off as it really feels like it is going to rain again soon.



Modena, the red dust is not much fun, but I do like the red color in the scenery, and with the green we now have from the rain both making things grow and washing dust off the trees, it really is looking great.

As soon as the Cobra rego comes through, Ronda and I are heading out to Glen Helen for the weekend.
http://www.glenhelen.com.au/

[just dreamin]

Never seen a suspension like that but it is the same principal as used by Boomerang Semi trailers in WA. They use it for extreme duty off road work. Whoever built this meant to use it out bush. As for the brakes I would go with the four wheels and if only two then the front axle only. The rear axle braking would be about as good as throwing out a kite because of weight transfer onto the front axle. The rear would lock up before you felt any real benefit. That's my two bobs worth!

[boxhead]

Thanks for all the input.
The trailer was built for bush work and I will be bringing cars home from each work trip I do (have my eyes on a FC ute and 2 Valiant Chargers)

I have the brakes apart and it had 1 inch cylinders fitted, the local brake guy has recomended smaller cylinders and is supplying me the cylinders and master cylinder.

So it will be returning to 4 wheel brakes.

[boxhead]

Here is a little update.
The trailer has 4 wheel brakes, I have gone down in size on the wheel cylinders. This allows a standard trailer master cylinder to be used.
It has of all things, Valiant wheel cylinders now.
The trailer is comming up a treat, it was a late night Saturday as I wanted to get the paint on to allow it to dry overnight.
In hindsight it really needed another coat of paint as it is a little thin in places, but it has plenty of primer under it.
Here is a crappy pic from my phone yesterday.


All that is left is to fit a flex hose from Master cylinder to pipe, bleed brakes and fit the wheels (tyres being fitted today)
Then off for rego.
Boy it is gunna hurt next year when all these rego's come in at the same time.

[boxhead]

Tested the Cobra for fit on the trailer today, had to bend the front round pipe but apart from that all is good, and it sits level with approx 100kg ball weight.

[LoBelly]

Your trailer looks great Boxhead

Looking forward to catching up in about a month

- Just had a thought looking at your 'ocre tones' on the cobra and thought maybe you could spit some paint over your hands in lieu of decals.

would certainly make it unique ....


LoBelly

[boxhead]

Not sure if I will go that far, although getting some dot paintings done on it would be different.

I know a few of the better Aboriginal artists.

[Merv and Sharon]

Stripes made up of dot painting patterns? Could be distinctive.