Trailer brakes

If one of us were dead and responding to your posts, could you tell?

If the brakes are designed for 12V, and it's a 12V system, then connecting them up in series was probably not the right thing to do.

There might be, but unless he's towing with a 72 volt system it would not make any sense.

If he were my autoelectrician I'd probably call him an r-soul.

On a boat trailer that gets a salt water dipping, I can barely keep the tail lights and wheel bearings running.

Trailer brakes are a flash in the pan.

You really have to seal those tail lights well. I've used a whole tube of silicone caulk to seal two lights. I loosen the lenses and caulk under the rim; cover the screws with caulk before driving them in; and seal the wires inside and out. On the outside, after applying a gob really well, I forced silicone into a strip of fiberglass cloth and wrapped it around the wires until they were too stiff to move at the light housing.

That made a big difference on a trailer that was dunked at least once a week for 25 years. As for the bearings, I'd hose them every trip and re-pack every other trip. I made a re-packing fixture out of two pieces of aluminum die plate and a Zerk fitting. It made re-packing a five-minute job, and it forced grease from one side of the bearing to the other.

That, sandblasting, and a coat of zinc-filed epoxy brushed on the trailer frame, and then covered with Rustoleum, kept it in good shape for many years.

On that particular subject, I doubt it will ever go into the water.

The travel-hoist cost less than replacing all the rusted stuff..

"Ed Huntress" fired this volley in news:4eb9764f$0$13489$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:

One should be careful to use the Silicone-II formula, which releases methanol upon curing. The acetic acid released from the original formula can do some pretty nasty damage to electrics.

LLoyd

"Ed Huntress" fired this volley in news:4eb9764f$0$13489$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:

One should be careful to use the Silicone-II formula, which releases methanol upon curing. The acetic acid released from the original formula can do some pretty nasty damage to electrics.

LLoyd

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Aha. Well, this was around 30 years ago, so it probably was the original stuff. I remember the acetic acid smell in general use -- I used that stuff a lot in those days -- but we were fortunate that it didn't appear to cause any problems in that application. That is, assuming that it was the stuff that released acid.

However, that's something to keep in mind, should I ever do it again. Thanks for the tip.

If the tow vehicle is heavy enough, and you take it easy, you can probably get along without trailer brakes for a while - till you need to make a Panic Stop for an Idiot that cut you off, and then you are in huge trouble.

"Ramming Speed, Scotty!!" and smile as he goes under.

I'd still get them fixed. though - your insurance company and the local law enforcement won't be amused.

Well yeah, if somebody let it go that long... Stay on top of the rust and decay and it isn't so bad.

You always run Bearing Buddy greasers on the trailer axles, the spring keeps positive pressure on the grease to keep the water out. Have your own grease gun on hand to fill them up with Marine Blue grease before each launching. Then you only have to tear the hubs down for cleaning and repacking once a year or so.

The tail lights work best if you mount them up on stalks with the bunker side guide rollers - and they are good aiming points if you ever have to load at night. "Call the Ball!"

Keep the tail-lights out of the water AND seal them up good - LED lights are best so you aren't taking them apart for lamp changes.

Use jacketed STOW or STJOW thermoplastic extension cord for the wiring, and put the splice box up high on the trailer tongue near the loading winch - keep it all dry, and rinse off everything with fresh water when you are done.

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