AL-KO surge brakes--??

[irvingj]

I'm hoping some of you with a lot more experience than I can help.... I've gone through the owner's manual carefully, and can find nothing on the surge brakes for my T@B camper, other than that "it has them."

As near as I can figure, after removing coupler's plastic cover and crawling around under it, there is no electric or hydraulic connection to the brakes at the wheels, only a cable, just like the parking brake on a car. There is also no electrical connection anywhere to the parking brake or the coupler. (Don't know why they used a 7-pin round-- one size fits all?)

The knobs on the front- the topmost red knob is the wheel jack --which turns "backward" by the way, clockwise for lower!-- the red-handled tall/long lever is the parking brake, and the smaller red-handled piece on the left side of the wheel jack is a lock for the wheel jack's shaft; wheel and shaft are lifted up into the frame for storage after connecing to tow vehicle.

The red cable is a breakaway cable, and is hooked into the base of the parking brake lever, so it actuates the very same steel rod the parking brake does.

There is nothing going back toward the wheels except the steel rod, which ties in to a "Y" cable on the rear axle.

I haven't yet taken the wheels off, but I will! I'm just wondering about the system: it appears to be strictly mechanical, and must have some provision to allow for backing up, but I don't yet know what it is.

The system is a German design, and may not be regularly seen in this country...? Any ideas and/or experience with these?

 

[Diamondpilot]

You are right, they are not the typical surge brakes. All I have ever seen were hydraulic, yours are mechanical. You are right, there seems to be no provision for backing up so you must have a free backing type of brake actuator or simply none at all like in Dargos boat ramp story.

The main thing now is to get the red brake-away cable fixed as I described before. It should be a length that allows you to turn freely but pull fully and lock up the brakes before the safety chains get tight in a couple or ball hitch failure situation.

Now for the 7 round. I assume the trailer has a 12 volt battery. The reason they use the 7 round is its now the standard and it allows the on board battery to be recharged via the tow vehicles alternator. Could be needed if camping at a site with no power.

Chris

 

[irvingj]

Diamondpilot, Thank you! I was beginning to think I was nuts....

Finally, after finding & then scouring all paperwork that came with the camper, I located a piece of literature I thought I'd seen before. It details the adjustment procedure for the "AL-KO Mechanical Brakes." It's the same as my ol' Blazer's parking brakes.

Sure glad the previous owner saved all that stuff, because it doesn't appear anywhere else that I've found- not on line (yet), either.

Thanks also for the tip about the breakaway cable; I'll make sure it's set up properly. The previous owner towed this thing behind a Subaru Outback --by himself-- all the way to Alaska and back 2 years ago. Other than that, it's hardly been used at all!

 

[Renze]

This is a newer version of what i have under my 2.5 ton tandem trailer.
I bet this is an OEM Alko undercarriage on which a trailer builder put a living.

Dont know what exactly your question is, its just as straightforward as shown in the scheme you posted. A month ago i replaced two brake bowdens, which cost me 13 euro each. These bowdens need frequent replacement because the steel cables brush off when they get rusty, and stick in the liner.

Its a bit too complicated to describe how to replace the brake shoes and cables, but its so straightforward that if you can take it apart, you must also be able to put it back together.

 

[irvingj]

Thanks, Renze- you've confirmed my suspicions: it's a European system. The AL-KO coupler is on a T@B camper trailer, which, if not built in Germany, is certainly of German/European design. And you're right, the entire frame is also AL-KO Kober.

My original question was referring to backing up, to avoid the sort of trouble the Tundra got into-- I couldn't find anything about it in the literature that came with the camper, and I'd never had a trailer with brakes before.

I still haven't seen a description of just how that works, but I suspect it must be a self-releasing set-up for backing up; I haven't had any problems backing up with it yet, but that's been on level ground.

What you refer to as "bowdens" --would that be what we call brake "shoes" or is it something else?

PS-- Enjoyed a rather quick trip through NL back in 1967, but simply could NOT get a handle on your language!

 

[Skyco]

I'm hoping some of you with a lot more experience than I can help.... I've gone through the owner's manual carefully, and can find nothing on the surge brakes for my T@B camper, other than that "it has them."

From T@B's website- http://www.dutchmen-rv.com/scripts/pdfretail/get.php?id=263

a 72 page manual that pretty much details all about the braking system they use, interesting system

Lots more AL-KO info here on their site- http://www.dutchmen-rv.com/scripts/pdfretail/?m=Dutchmen&category1=All&category2=AXLES-SUSPENSIONS-BRAKES

 

[Wis Bang]

That diagram mentions a reverse lever...but it looks like part of the actuation system

 

[TheKid]

If you look at the top link that Skyco posted, the bottom of page 16 talks about the reversing mechanism. There is something built into the brake assemblies that releases the shoes when your backing up.

 

[irvingj]

OK- that's got it!

Thanks for the links; I've printed up the service manual. Just what I was looking for, and not to be found in any of the paperwork I already had. I had searched for quite a while for "Al-Ko surge brakes" and found lots of interesting stuff, but not the info your link has!

Also see what "bowdens" are -- the twin cables that connect to the wheel/brake assembly. (Never knew they were called that!)

I had seen the "reverse lever" in my info; my take was that it served to reverse the direction of motion of the flexible coupling, hence its name. Car slows, felxible link pushes rearward, bottom of lever pulls brake cable forward.

You guys are great. Thanks to Skyco, The Kid, Wis Bang, Renze, Diamondpilot..... Now, more homework!

 

[Diamondpilot]

That is definitely a unique set up. I have dealt with 100's of trailers, maybe more, and have never seen that setup. Glad the guys got the info you needed.

Chris