Smoked the brakes last night and.......

[Only Toyota For Me]

all the buddy bearing caps popped off including the inner rubber plugs. WTH?

All the grease shot out that i just put in before we left, and it was so hot it was bubbling as well.

The brakes overheated & it made the grease expand and come out all over the place?

Or did i just overgrease? Or is it driver error being the first trip out this year and i was allowing the brakes to ride (sort-of-speak) all the way down the hill?

Just so you know, we were coming back from a slow day fishing at strawberry reservoir and the canyon is known as one of the steepest around here (10 miles or so long). Coming down we had to slow way down about 3-4 times for deer, and then i really had to mash on the peddle for a damn moose right in the middle of the road.
It's quite interesting to me that, my brother's boat ahead of us didn't have a problem but we did. He doesn't have 4-wheel disc's on his, only 2 have brakes.

I'm a little concerned about our upcoming trip to lake powell in 2 weeks, so what do you think i should do?

[Ktown]

If you over grease...you will definitely get grease coming out.  However, I have not seen the caps popping off like that.  You may want to ensure that the brakes were not sticking along the way or at least are not now.  Could you feel the brakes actuate and de-actuate?  Were the brakes brand new?  Were they a tight fit?  As for your brother's boat, unfortunately, the 4W discs are only better in the stopping category.   I would definitely take another spin around town to check things out before heading to Powell.

[brad]

I've had way too much experience with overheating brakes here in Utah.  Several things to check out: was the brake lock engaged - release lever under the tongue; was the trailer level or tilted down - raise ball height; are the calipers sticking - replace calipers; are the bearings pitted or worn - replace bearings and races; did you quick cool the hot brakes and grease by launching your boat before they cooled down?  There may be other issues and solutions, I've just done all these in an effort to reduce the frequency of mine overheating.

Going down long steep grades, I've even reconnected the wiring connector (brake wire to headlight position) to bypass the trailer brakes and use the engine brakes and go slow.  When my brakes would overheat on a long trip on flat grades, I would drain the brake fluid (no trailer brakes) in order to make it home (probably not the safest solution).

Good luck!

[wakejunky]

what grease did you use? some generic greases will break down at even normal operating temps. I had the same thing happen to me. all the caps blew off, grease was everywhere, even on the boat. brakes were smoking. I got home tore it down and there was nothing wrong. bearings were perfect. calipers were fine, well other than being covered with grease. I changed the seals. cleaned off all the grease. my brakes were smoking because it spit grease on to the rotors.  repacked with the proper grease and I havent had a problem since.

for the most part im on flat ground. So given your driving Utah canyons I would definitly check it out.

[larryscribe]

This same exact thing happened to me Saturday morning.

We spent a week on vacation at a lake about 25 minutes away. The boat (99 Epic 22) stayed in the water all week, so the trailer sat in a parking lot.

We put the boat in our driveway upon the return home, and I get a distinct smell of breaks coming from the trailer. I look down, and all four wheels have grease all over them. One of the rubber caps has popped off entirely, and the other three are halfway off. The hubs were extremely hot.

This is troublesome because I recently towed the boat almost six hours when I bought it, and no problems at all.

I read somewhere else on this site that the breaks can apply when the actuator goes bad. Could that be what's going on here? Or could it have been the extreme heat (pushing 100 degrees) on the day we towed it home?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!


 

[brad]

Yes, your brake actuator may have gone bad as well.  I've replaced this component too.

Another explanation that I got from the dealer was the possibility that my tow vehicle had too short of a wheel base, thus causing the brakes to engage too often (i.e., rocker effect).

If you take the extreme approach, you can replace the whole trailer like Cal did last year.

Sorry I don't have the magic answer for this problem.  If someone can find it, I'm anxious to hear it.

[Only Toyota For Me]

If you over grease...you will definitely get grease coming out.  However, I have not seen the caps popping off like that.  You may want to ensure that the brakes were not sticking along the way or at least are not now.  Could you feel the brakes actuate and de-actuate?  Were the brakes brand new?  Were they a tight fit?  As for your brother's boat, unfortunately, the 4W discs are only better in the stopping category.   I would definitely take another spin around town to check things out before heading to Powell.

I will check & make sure they aren't sticking on me now. They may have been though, that's for sure with that long grade.

Yes, i could feel the brakes go on and off. No, the brakes are as old as the boat & in good shape.

I will take it for a spin before we go. Thanks for the tips.

[Only Toyota For Me]

I've had way too much experience with overheating brakes here in Utah.  Several things to check out: was the brake lock engaged - release lever under the tongue; was the trailer level or tilted down - raise ball height; are the calipers sticking - replace calipers; are the bearings pitted or worn - replace bearings and races; did you quick cool the hot brakes and grease by launching your boat before they cooled down?  There may be other issues and solutions, I've just done all these in an effort to reduce the frequency of mine overheating.

Going down long steep grades, I've even reconnected the wiring connector (brake wire to headlight position) to bypass the trailer brakes and use the engine brakes and go slow.  When my brakes would overheat on a long trip on flat grades, I would drain the brake fluid (no trailer brakes) in order to make it home (probably not the safest solution).

Good luck!

The trailer sits pretty level on my truck, (maybe a tad bid high on the nose). I don't beleive the calipers are sticking, but i'll make sure.
I haven't physically checked the bearings yet, but i think i'd better tear them down i guess.
No, i didn't quick cool the brakes because it was on the way home when it happened & it was very cool outside (45 degrees F).
Are you talking the reverse wire? So basically when the lights are on the brakes won't work? I guess that would be a temporary fix for it.

[Only Toyota For Me]

what grease did you use? some generic greases will break down at even normal operating temps. I had the same thing happen to me. all the caps blew off, grease was everywhere, even on the boat. brakes were smoking. I got home tore it down and there was nothing wrong. bearings were perfect. calipers were fine, well other than being covered with grease. I changed the seals. cleaned off all the grease. my brakes were smoking because it spit grease on to the rotors.  repacked with the proper grease and I havent had a problem since.

for the most part im on flat ground. So given your driving Utah canyons I would definitly check it out.

I used super tech walmart special grease in it this time & i usually use valvoline durablend. Could this possibly been the reason?

It is the first time i have ever used good ole walmart special grease.

Thanks for the info.

[Only Toyota For Me]

I just crawled under the boat last night, and it looks like both rear seals are gone. Grease all over inside the hub.

Why would just the rears be gone and not the fronts as well? Or is it only a matter of time before they'll go?

I can't decide if i want to pay my dad's shop $80 per axle, or do it myself.

How bad of a job is it?

[cyclone]

You can do it yourself but it sucks. Theres only a back seal, the front is the fake ass bearing buddy. I remove the grease fitting and install real Bearing Buddies, that gets rid of a lot of the grease problem.

Sticking calipers is common as is snapped brake lines, my two Epic (ameratrail) trailers have both broken the right rear brake line and lost all fluid.

I have had so much trouble with the trailer that I'm considering buying a Boatmate with oil bath bearings.

[Only Toyota For Me]

You can do it yourself but it sucks. Theres only a back seal, the front is the fake ass bearing buddy. I remove the grease fitting and install real Bearing Buddies, that gets rid of a lot of the grease problem.

Sticking calipers is common as is snapped brake lines, my two Epic (ameratrail) trailers have both broken the right rear brake line and lost all fluid.

I have had so much trouble with the trailer that I'm considering buying a Boatmate with oil bath bearings.

Well i just got done with the job last night and it wasn't so bad. My boy & i got er done in about 3 hrs. Bearings were in good shape and didn't have any metal filings in the grease.

Why would you want to remove the grease eark? I like the eark myself because when you grease them, it actually does get the back bearing as well. Without the eark, you never get the back one and so you have to repack & replace seals again in a couple more years.

What i found interesting though is, 3 seals were gone & 1 was still good (replaced it anyway). The one that was good was the smaller type, and the other 3 were the type with a 1/2" metal sleeve attached & were a beotch to remove. The good one popped off very easily. Why would they use 3 of one type, and 1 of another?
I replaced them all with the same as the good one.

I've had good luck with our ameritrail trailer, other than it's about time for a new paint job from all the dings. The only problem i had was when my wife was towing it and ran over a tire gater & ripped out the brake lines. So we have all new brake lines on the trailer now.