Trailer Questions please help

[tryme]

i have a 99 epic 21.  it is on the single axle Toyota trailer.  i just had the bearings replaced and packed cause i thought the hubs felt very warm.  i brought the trailer back home and same thing.  I know the trailers have surge brakes but they shouldn't make the hub and rim very warm should they.  they are almost hot to the touch.  is it possible my brakes are sticking form over the winter?  how do i check that and what can i do?  thanks 

cant wait to ski

mike

[eagle1wi]

Very possible that your calipers are stuck. I can touch my hubs after towing my E21 over 200 miles so I would say that them being warm is probably an issue.

Have you looked at the trailer maintenance PDF in the Maintenence section of this site?  It may be as simple as replacing the fluid and bleeding the system.

How is your brake fluid level?  Is it dirty?

I haven't had to do anything to unstick my calipers on the trailer but you "may" be able to remove the tire and caliper to get the caliper moving again with a c-clamp. That may not be feasible though.  Use your best judgement. Probably a temporary fix, it will probably do it again even if you get them broken free.

Does it seem like the brakes are helping when you are stopping? 

Does it feel like they are dragging all the time? (ie the trailer will stop the vehicle if you coast)

Let people on this board know more info, there are way bigger gearheads than me that stop by here.

[cyclone]

Funny you should ask, I redid my brakes a coupla weeks ago and am writing a doc on how to bleed and fix your brakes. If your brakes are stuck, you should replace the calipers and bleed the brake system.

[tryme]

do you have part numbers for the calipers?  where i can get them?

[eagle1wi]

Ameritrail

407-892-1100

Ask for Mark, they are in Florida.

I searched this site and Derek seemed to have some luck getting parts directly from them.

I would try dis-assembling and go to an autoparts store and see if it is the same setup as a 91 Plymouth Acclaim.  Most places will be helpful in this regard.

I agree with Cyclone, if they truly are stuck the "real" solution is to replace. If they are straight off a car like the Acclaim the $ damage shouldn't be too terrible.

[Windy2]

Just towed mine from Salt Lake City to Calgary.  After some of the worst hills (mountains?) - 7,000' to 3,000' - up and down and up and down, and up and down again - on the second day the front left and right rear hubs got ever so slightly warm and their packing bled a little (what a mess) on  the rims.  The others stayed ice cold.  At no time did the rims ever warm up.  The brakes were working fine - or I wouldn't be here...  If yours are getting hot, something is dragging.  Find it, fix it.  Calipers are a lot cheaper than getting pushed into oncoming traffic.  Cheers.

[tryme]

if i just had the hubs repacked.  The rims hubs were very hot to the touch.  could breaks heat up the hubs and rims that much? 

[cyclone]

Yep. Like I said, I'm working on a doc, I'll try to get it finished tonight.

[lesman01]

My single axle hubs get warm. Always have. Never too hot to touch, kinda just luke warm. I always check when I stop cause I burned up a bearing a few seasons ago, the chrome wheels are always cool. My guess is that with only one axle, that pressure point is a bit more than a double. The bearings in a single axle are a LOT bigger than the ones in a double axle. SO, i don;t worry about them being a little warm. And, if I burn one up I can blame Pete cause he helped me repack them a while back. 

I'd be keenly interested in the brake doc. Pete, is that the first time you redid your brakes? I'm sure I'm due.

[westtx]

My hubs felt a little warm last week too -- then I remembered it was 97 degrees and the whold black trailer felt a little warm too. I proceeded with no apparent damage to the bearings 

[toyotafreak]

One of my friends was mountain biking up near Big Bear and stopped to take a break. While he was sitting next to hisd bike, the tire blew up. He went over and grabbed the wheel and realized that the brakes had heated the rim, which heated the air in the tire which expanded till it blew.

I told him to lose some weight.

Gotta just take them wheels off and spin the hubs - are they dragging or not?

We all should be replacing our brake fluid and checking the pads annually, so just do it and see what you find.

[cyclone]

http://www.dhmtrailers.com/online/home.php?cat=105

These are the calipers, they are very common trailer calipers. They are stainless, and are not off a plymouth! They run 59.80 ea. This is for a tandem trailer, not sure what's on a single axle. You can't go wrong calling Ameratrail directly.

[eagle1wi]

My bad, I didn't realize they were real stainless.  Pete can you edit my post so nobody takes my "off" advice.

I should have ended my post with Ameritrail's phone #

[cyclone]

no big whup, I always try the cheap route first! most times you save some bucks, this is a rare case where "marine" actually means something!!

[cyclone]

Ok, here are two documents. One is a PDF from the trailer brake manufacturer outlining most of the pieces parts and some maintenance procedures. The second is a very crude doc showing pics and some hints from when I did my brakes a coupla weeks ago. I would have spent more time on it but it seems like it is a hot topic these days!
http://www.epicmarine.com/docs/Trailer Brakes.pdf

http://www.epicmarine.com/docs/Epic Brake maintenance.pdf