AL-KO surge brakes--??

[irvingj]

As an aside, I noticed that the literature I had concerning brake adjustment referred to the actuating lever as the "Reverse Lever," but in the service manual on the link they call that the "Overrun Lever"; the "Reverse Lever" is the thing that disengages the brakes when backing up, located in the brake drum.... (I changed the wording on my copy!)

Thanks again to all-- we head for New Brunswick with the camper for its maiden voyage next Thursday-- gonne see if I can catch a salmon on the Miramichi!

 

[Renze]

When your trailer starts braking poor, in the next 5 years, its most probably a rusty or wire brushing bowden cable. As i said, they cost me 13 euro each, the first hub cost me an hour (trying to figure out how the brake shoes are mounted with springs to the backplate) the 2nd just a half an hour.

There is a toothed wheel visible through a slot in the brake backplate which is used to adjust the brake lash. Start adjusting there (pry the toothed wheel with a screwdriver untill the wheel stops turning, then back it off a few ticks) then adjust the rest of the play by the threaded pullrod off your surge head.

Maybe your Alko axle has automatic brake adjusters, i'm not sure, at my previous employer we only mounted Knott and WAP under new trailers.

 

[Waysha]

Yep, when the surge is compressed when reversing , pressure comes off the brake shoes

 

[irvingj]

Boy, an old thread resurrected! Yep, the brakes worked as I (with help) discovered, and they've worked well every time. Trip to Miramachi went off without a hitch, though I didn't catch my salmon. (I did, however, return the next spring and got several.)

T@B has not seen a lot of use, but this summer it's making a trek to Missouri & back --the long way-- and I'll be using daughter's Buick Teraza (AWD mini-van) to tow it. The van's much wider & taller than my Jetta, so hopefully we won't experience the extreme drag at highway speeds that we had with the Jetta.

I found that if I kept it at 55mph or below I'd get close to 23mpg with my little diesel, but if I went up to 65-70mph the air resistance on the much larger trailer dropped mileage to 15 or so, even though the Jetta could do it. Like dragging a parachute around. So, we kept to "back" roads, avoided the interstates, and the T@B towed very well behind the Jetta.

Hopefully, the pic below will illustrate how much wider & taller the T@B is compared to my Jetta wagon. I will say that the rubber-mounted torsion-bar type of AL-KO suspension on the T@B was superb! The trailer tracked extremely well, even on some of the heavily-crowned and bumpy roads we travelled on. Surprisingly smooth. Not once did I sense that the trailer was pulling the Jetta around.

The pic is from Lake Umbagog area in Maine.

 

[Renze]

Hah, here in Europe they pull camper trailers that size with a 900kg Fiat Panda.... I allmost rear ended one once, whilst driving the right lane with the cruise control at 140kmh on a 7% hill near Liege where this Panda was creeping uphill at 40kmh... dang it came close so fast... Since then i never take hills in the right lane...

My brother used to pull a 1300kg Tabbert with his 70hp Mondeo 1.8 turbodiesel... Which meant taking off at the ferry ramp with spinning tires so wheelspin would reduce the gear ratio low enough to prevent engine stall... Now he has a 130hp Mondeo with the French 2 liter CR diesel which is quite less thirsty because he can now tow in 5th instead of 3rd

 

[irvingj]

Thanks, Renze! I'm going to stick my neck out a bit here, but… in all my travels it seems that only in my own country do many folks feel they have to have 200+ HP in a 5+ liter gas engine, in a vehicle that weighs upwards of 4000 pounds, to go to the store.

Guess my car is called a Bora over there? Still love it. Wish we had more diesel options available here! irvingj

PS: I had never heard of that manufacturer before before, but one of my former students and his Dad have a Zetor that they're planning to restore.