Surge Brakes

[Josh Bertrand]

Hey guys,

I'm having a bit of trouble with my surge brakes it seems. I fished this morning, got off the water and drove home no problem, as I was driving down my block right in front of my drive way I hear a loud BAM, sounded kind of like I hit an empty water bottle or something, I looked around and there was nothing in the road that I could have hit. It sounded like it came from the left side.

I backed the boat 3/4 of the way into the garage, unhooked it from the truck and left it there for a few hours. When I came back out this evening to pull it the rest of the way into the garage, the left tire was absolutely stuck. The right tire is fine, but the left side is not budging.....It's a single axle trailer, with a 1994 19' Nitro sitting on top. Does anybody have any ideas on what the problem may be?

I hope it's not enough to keep me home next weekend....

thanks in advance. Josh

 

[Jim B]

Well it could be a stuck caliper. but from the noise you described are you sure you didnt break a leaf spring and the tire is buried into the fender?

 

[Bill Gintzel]

Sounds like a spring to me.

 

[Staci Matheis]

I'll agree with Wagatlen..... The sound would be the spring snapping and the shoes slamming against the drum. You'll have to take it apart to find out.



If you've never gotten into drum brakes, this will be an experience for you!



Remove the lug nuts and take the wheel off...... Now, you've got to remove the drum. this is gonna be a b!$@# because the shoes are going to be pressing against it, Use a pry bar or BIG screw driver (preferably a pry bar) to inch the drum off. Don't worry, you can't hurt anything except maybe chipping the drum. Just be sure you put even pressure all around and work it out slowly...... Everything is now going to fall loose and hang there.



Have kitty litter available to soak up brake fluid if it gets spilled.

Do not put the kitty litter back in the litter box afterward! :lol:



If you've never done drum brakes..... Which you likely haven't..... At this point I'd sugest you get the rest to a brake shop..... Take all the hanging parts off. Leave the brake cylinder untouched. Disable the surge system so you don't blow the cylinder open the first time you come to a stop, loose all the internals and dump brake fluid all over the place.



Tow slowly and carefully to any brake shop. The parts in the brakes are regular automotive parts and anyone can work on them. Have them rebuild both sides with all new hardware while you're there.



If you do it yourself, all you have to do is take the shoes to an auto parts store and they should be able to identify them. (Well..... some auto parts stores... I don't know how good the chain stores like AutoZones are at that sort of thing... An older, independent or CarQuest or NAPA would be your best bet.)



Good Luck, Josh!

me!

 

[Staci Matheis]

Oh! I almost forgot.....

Put the barke drum and wheel back on before towing! :lol::lol::lol:



Hey! He's a teenager!

You gotta spell things out for them!

Well... At least you had to for me 40 years ago! :lol::lol:

 

[Josh Bertrand]

Thanks everyone,

We tried getting the drum brake off this morning, that was a negative.

We will have to work on it again tomorrow. Thanks again for the advice, I hope we can get this worked out as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Man.......if I was planning on spending some extra money on the boat, I wasn't planning on doing it with the $*@)$& brakes.

Josh

 

[Staci Matheis]

I am ROFL!!!

There ain't nuthin' like a brake job to teach a boy to cuss!!! :lol:

 

[Rob LaMoy]

You may have to pound it off with a hammer or even a sledge. They are self adjusting and once the shoe wears into the drum, there will be a grove and a "lip" of metal left on the drum that the shoes will not want to slide out of. Just hammer away until is frees it up.

 

[Staci Matheis]

Good point, Rob! I forgot about that..... So you've done a brake job to two, too! :lol:

 

[Josh Bertrand]

We got the drum brakes off today finally. Looks like one of the pads broke off and got jammed up on top. Now that we figured the problem out it should be an easy and fairly inexpensive fix. Thanks for the input everyone.

Josh