Car trailer help

I bought this from a kid in NH who used it to trailer his VW Jetta to roundy round events.

It has 6 lug hubs and some kind of magnetic operated brakes. Yeah, its a home built. I need to identify what I have to get parts.

Not interested in discussing 1 axle versus 2. Just want to make it work best. 

Looks like a standard electric brake axle, that was widened to suit. If the grease on the spindle is as found, it had been greased recently. As long as the bearings look good, and are tightened correctly, your good to go there.

The electro-magnet puck tries to stick to the moving brake drum, and that moves the shoes apart. just need a controller in the truck to send a current to them proportional to applying truck brakes I could explain it better in person!

Hopefully, that is one of the rear spring perches! That's called a slipper spring, and the spring should be on the frame, not on the pin - the pin goes under where the frame rests on the spring, to keep it located. Putting that in the correct place is going to lower the trailer some; if its too much, you may have to put the axle under the spring pack. And that will prolly be to high... but we can help ya there, too!

Pretty lame drawing, but I hope it makes sense.

In reply to 03Panther :

Thanks for the info. I hadn't noticed the springs. Will look into that. It does sit high IMO.

It rolled really well when I picked it up and drive it home about 50 minutes. The brakes are not functional as the wires out the backing plate were cut. Will any brake controller work?

2 general types of brake controllers.

Cheaper ones are "time" based.  They apply more voltage progressively over a set time.  Therefore, they don't really work at all, then they work a bunch when going downhill when slightly applying the vehicles brakes over an extended time.

The other type is proportional.  These have a little switch in them that determines how hard you are braking.  These need mounted in the correct orientation to work properly.

If you have a single axle and only 1 set of brakes (1 axle, duh...) i would highly recommend the proportional because the other type won't don't crap for an emergency stop.

Yes, they are universal.  I believe either type needs power, ground, and a brake light signal.

 wvumtnbkr :

All correct.

I had a cheapo time based controller in my 92 Astro back in the late 90's, I just had it mounted on the seat mount, and could reach down and use the manual apply button... not really the safest plan in an emergency, but I still had the reflexes for it back then! Helped a time or two, as well.

Without seeing it in person, the brake hardware looks to be in decent shape. Since the magnets are dragging to work, they all look like that. As long as the work electrically, they are fine. The parts are available individually, if needed, and the whole backing plate, loaded can be bought as well.

Agri Supply  does do mail order, but if there is one nearby, I've found their prices are great.

Looking at the brake shoes I can see they need replacement. I just did some service on my open deck auto trailer. I heard a noise when towing it and when I checked each wheel I found that one of the brake drums had lost all of it's lining. Since the axle is made by Dexter i was able to get a set of shoes at a local trailer/RV parts store. I have since ordered 3 more sets of shoes so I can do all of the brakes.  This trailer is 27 years old and I would bet it's done less than 10K miles in those years so the bearings are still good.  I have cleaned and repacked them at least twice over the years. Since it's not a boat trailer the bearings are never submerged in water so they will last a long time if you keep them greased. With only one axle you really need to have a spare wheel& tire if you don't already have one.

wvumtnbkr said:

If you have a single axle and only 1 set of brakes (1 axle, duh...) i would highly recommend the proportional because the other type won't don't crap for an emergency stop.

You want a Tekonsha Prodigy 2 or 3.

I've found that you're much further ahead to just order complete brake assemblies.

You get a complete, loaded backing plate and a new drum for around $150 per side. 

Just unbolt the old assembly and bolt the new one on, connect two wires, adjust brakes and you're good to go.

Beats swapping shoes to find out the magnets were shot anyway.

In reply to ShawnG :

If ya had to pay a shop to fix your brakes, then all you would have to do is hand 'em a CC. Sadly that would only give you a 50/50 chance of them being fixed right. Or you could take the time to do a little bit of troubleshooting, and only replace the parts that are bad. Without seeing them in person, at a glance, they look ok. I'd def. check the magnet function before throwing shoe at it, but personally do not have $300 to throw at an axle without finding out first.

Depending on the view, its had to tell for sure, but right there it seems to be a good amount of lining left.

03Panther said:

Looks like a standard electric brake axle, that was widened to suit. If the grease on the spindle is as found, it had been greased recently. As long as the bearings look good, and are tightened correctly, your good to go there.

The electro-magnet puck tries to stick to the moving brake drum, and that moves the shoes apart. just need a controller in the truck to send a current to them proportional to applying truck brakes I could explain it better in person!

Hopefully, that is one of the rear spring perches! That's called a slipper spring, and the spring should be on the frame, not on the pin - the pin goes under where the frame rests on the spring, to keep it located. Putting that in the correct place is going to lower the trailer some; if its too much, you may have to put the axle under the spring pack. And that will prolly be to high... but we can help ya there, too!

So I took a closer look at the slipper spring at the perch. The spring sits between two pins. One larger diameter pin above and one thinner diameter below. Can this be correct? I can't seem to find any pics of this particular set up.

Like this?

Another vote to just buy the whole assembly. You can convert to never adjust brakes for not much more. Just depends on how much you want to spend. Try to find any number off the old bearings, or goto etrailer, and you can usually figure it out from lugs - bolt pattern- and some id/od  measurements.

Do not buy a time delay brake controller, they are miserable and I think unsafe. I've been using the same tekonsha p3 since 2007/8? Looks exactly the same as the current production. I've used a p2 and they work fine as well. I use the load preset on the p3 all the time, depending on what trailer I'm towing. I also adjust voltage frequently as well. E.g. my dump trailer empty may be 5v preset 1, dump trailer at 14klbs is 14v preset 3. There are some new less intrusive brake controllers, and I always liked the idea of the ones that sense off the master cylinder, but the inertia unit I have works fine, just mounted it to where I could reach the override -just in case.

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Parts is where I get most of my trailer parts. You can get a tire mounted to a wheel shipped to you, sometimes cheaper than a tire mounted locally. They also have really good customer service/ tech support. 

I decided to regrease my bearings last night. Good luck finding a double lip rear seal locally. I have 4 in my etrailer cart for the next time I re-lube, or these single lips fail. Most of the box stores seem to have gone to generic grease as well, which doesn't list the temp range or drop point.

For greasing bearings I prefer the press into palm method.

thashane said:

I've been using the same tekonsha p3 since 2007/8? Looks exactly the same as the current production. I've used a p2 and they work fine as well.

Yeah, I've used both a P2 and a P3 and they basically work the same (which is to say really well).  The P3 has a fancier display and a memory, so if you regularly pull multiple trailers with different settings then that's a win.  Otherwise the P2 is a little cheaper.

Anyone care to comment about the slipper spring perch question?

The slipper is between two pins, so it's fine and safe where it is.  If you want to lower the trailer a little you could shorten the bracket or add another pin to move the spring up and the trailer down.  

ShawnG said:

I've found that you're much further ahead to just order complete brake assemblies.

You get a complete, loaded backing plate and a new drum for around $150 per side. 

Just unbolt the old assembly and bolt the new one on, connect two wires, adjust brakes and you're good to go.

Beats swapping shoes to find out the magnets were shot anyway.

Interesting timing that this thread came back up- I JUST changed the brake assembly on my old trailer- 10 x 2.25 brake assemblies for about $150 for both.  I got them at a local trailer shop, who had a bunch in stock.

I could have gotten them on line, but I had no idea what was on my trailer.  Given that I changed both at the same time, I was able to update to a pretty modern brake system.  And the basic electric brake controller will work great.

But one more suggestion to just remove the whole assembly and swap it at once.  After panicing that I needed a new axle, the brake swap was one of the easiest things I've done on this trailer.

In reply to alfadriver :

What was the price of the individual parts you actually needed?
I was once recommended that exact same advice (in a condescending manner, by a professional parts replacer that claimed to be a mechanic)... it cost me $18.28 (and two cheap butt splices) to install a new magnet. And a can of brake clean (generic, btw) each side. For guys old enough to have learned wrenching back when disc brakes were exotic, drums are quite simple, and individual parts are quite cheap. 

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Anyone care to comment about the slipper spring perch question?

Sorry it took me so long...

Assuming the second pin you describe is where I marked in  red, then djsilver is correct. I have not seen a slipper done that way, but no reason I can think of not to!

In reply to 03Panther :

Correct. Larger diameter pin at that point in red on your image. 

Any reason I can't move the slipper between the larger pin and the frame to lower it? Any reason I shouldn't lower it? I would think lower center of gravity would be a good thing.

I zoomed in for a closer look, and saw the smaller pin! The slipper spring bears the weight of trailer on larger pin in red, and the smaller pin in blue keeps it from piping out. Nice setup. If you can weld, cut some out of the bracket, and weld back to frame so big pin is closer to frame to lower. 

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to 03Panther :

Correct. Larger diameter pin at that point in red on your image. 

Any reason I can't move the slipper between the larger pin and the frame to lower it? Any reason I shouldn't lower it? I would think lower center of gravity would be a good thing.

I can't se any reason. Extra bracket length hangs down a bit, but I would not expect a clearance issue there. 

Low is usually better, except for two things, of top of my head. Some low trailers need a drop hitch (hitch taller than trailer -seems backwards!) to set level behind average ball height (typically about 16" is average ball height)

and clearance to not drag rear (or other parts) of trailer. Driveways, speed bumps. Etc. 

But at a glance at the pictures, you will like it better. 

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

thashane said:

I've been using the same tekonsha p3 since 2007/8? Looks exactly the same as the current production. I've used a p2 and they work fine as well.

Yeah, I've used both a P2 and a P3 and they basically work the same (which is to say really well).  

I have never heard anything bad about a p2 or p3... and that's a huge endorsement!

My first controller tied into the brake line, and used an adjustable resistor (open coil of resistive wire with a slider) under the hood to fine tune! Late 70's. 

Next was the 92 Astro, with the cheapest timed based money could buy. I had that brand in a couple tow pigs along the way, and was good enough, at the time. But I'm no longer indistrutable!

Ive only used a couple lower end inertia type, and hated them. One came in the 03 350 when I bought it, and it's complete pos. I'd be happier with just a variable trailer  brake lever. But timed based is definitely not the answer, either,so one day, I'll have to spring for a p2 or 3. Right now, I just reach down and manually adjust the angle of the controller, to apply as much brake as needed!


 

03Panther said:

In reply to alfadriver :

What was the price of the individual parts you actually needed?
I was once recommended that exact same advice (in a condescending manner, by a professional parts replacer that claimed to be a mechanic)... it cost me $18.28 (and two cheap butt splices) to install a new magnet. And a can of brake clean (generic, btw) each side. For guys old enough to have learned wrenching back when disc brakes were exotic, drums are quite simple, and individual parts are quite cheap. 

I don't have the receipt in front of me, but they were something like $70/side plus tax.  I needed to get the whole assembly, as there were a lot of parts missing from both sides.  Thankfully, there was enough there on one side to figure out what it was.