Not really funny, but got quick laugh from surge brakes

[irvingj]

Wow. That must have been interesting. I've never had a trailer with brakes until now...

My wife got a super deal on a barely-used T@B camper. It has an AL-KO coupler with a telescoping section that applies mechanical (?) brakes to the single axle as the tow vehicle slows.

I have to admit it never occurred to me about the backing-up issue until my younger brother (medium-sized sailboat driver) mentioned it just last night. He also mentioned the lock-out pin, though this camper doesn't appear to have one, and I don't recall reading anything about it in the manual. Guess I'll start doing some more homework, but if anybody has any ideas I'd welcome them!

 

[Diamondpilot]

Wow. That must have been interesting. I've never had a trailer with brakes until now...

My wife got a super deal on a barely-used T@B camper. It has an AL-KO coupler with a telescoping section that applies mechanical (?) brakes to the single axle as the tow vehicle slows.

I have to admit it never occurred to me about the backing-up issue until my younger brother (medium-sized sailboat driver) mentioned it just last night. He also mentioned the lock-out pin, though this camper doesn't appear to have one, and I don't recall reading anything about it in the manual. Guess I'll start doing some more homework, but if anybody has any ideas I'd welcome them!

Never seen a coupler like that one but I am guessing one of the red handles is the lock out mechanism. My best guess is by pulling one of them it prevents the coupler from sliding making the brakes inoperative.

Also, what is the red cable that is sticking out from the brake actuator section of the coupler? Looks like it may be a broken off Surge Brake Safety Actuator or Brake-Away. Its hard to tell in the pic but all Surge Brake Actuators have a cable that attaches to the tow vehicle. If the trailer becomes separated it pulls the brakes on and holds them set. I have replaced many of these due to people un-coupling and removing the safety chains and driving off forgetting to remove this brake-away. Come back to the boat next weekend and it will not move due to the brakes being locked up. If you have to replace make it a length that will allow it to set the brakes before the safety chains are fully extended. If too long it will not do its job.

You could also have a lock out solenoid. It will be just aft of the master cylinder and have 2 wires going to it. One wire going to ground, the other going to the wiring harness. It closes via a signal from the reverse lights on the tow vehicle and prevents brake fluid from flowing to the brakes from the master cylinder. If it does have one of these the wiring adapter you have will not work. Its been taken from a 7 round plug to a 4 flat and the 4 flat does not support this type of wiring. You will have to have the tow vehicle re-wired to 7 round to support the trailer and get rid of the adapter. All the 4 flat supports is running lights, brake lights, and turn signals. By going to 7 flat you add the ability to run a reverse lock out solenoid and a charging circuit for the campers on board battery via the tow vehicles alternator.

Chris

 

[two_bit_score]

I think he was beating the wrong thing, he should have been mad at himself and whacking his head with the stick for not being familiar with his equipment and knowing its capabilities

I really hate boat ramps, too many idiots at them, you know the ones, they get their boat on the ramp, then untie the tiedowns, load the ice chest from the car into the boat, look for the drain plug, hunt for their tackle box in the car, got to go chase the kids etc. etc. All stuff they should do in the staging lane before blocking the ramp. If you aren't in a hurry it is good entertainment though

Better than fireworks on the Fourth of July!

 

[buckle97]

I got a quick laugh from this thread!

 

[Charlesaf3]

I wouldn't have known surge brakes would have done that in truth, but I also wouldn't be dumb enough to test out if something is too steep by driving my truck down it first. That's just outstanding, thanks for sharing.

Another reason I'm a bit biased against surge brakes (not that I really know enough, in truth)

 

[Diamondpilot]

Surge brakes are actually great. They are much stronger than electric brakes (disc style), totally proportional, and need no adjusting or tow vehicle mounted actuator. Like I said, I get mine all with lock out solenoids or you can add one for under $40 and you are all set. Very nice if you tow a trailer with multiple vehicles.

Chris

 

[hackalot]

I think he was beating the wrong thing, he should have been mad at himself and whacking his head with the stick for not being familiar with his equipment and knowing its capabilities

I really hate boat ramps, too many idiots at them, you know the ones, they get their boat on the ramp, then untie the tiedowns, load the ice chest from the car into the boat, look for the drain plug, hunt for their tackle box in the car, got to go chase the kids etc. etc. All stuff they should do in the staging lane before blocking the ramp. If you aren't in a hurry it is good entertainment though

Not to hijack the thread, but when I bought my 1st bass boat I went over to local launch ramp to observe people launching their boats. My goal was to learn something before I tried to launch my own boat.

A couple came in with a pickup with a camper bed and boat trailer. After backing onto the ramp and aligning the trailer, the husband got out of the driver's side and the wife assumed the drivers role. The fellow undid his trailer tiedowns from the boat, got into the boat and waited for his wife to back down the ramp for launch. Their signal for the wife to hit the brakes must have been for him to blow the horn on the boat. The ramp is near a busy highway south of charlotte. Well about 15' from the water a truck blew its horn crossing the hwy. bridge, the wife hit the truck brakes and launched her husband on the concrete ramp well short of the lake.

If I was a divorce lawyer I'm sure I could have picked up a client right there.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Never seen that one but have recovered about a half dozen boats off the ramp due to the stupid EZ-Loader Trailers. You know, the ones with 40 rollers instead of wood bunks. Each and every time it was a broken winch strap/cable that lead to the disaster. Nothing you can do but drag the boat down the ramp back into the water. Tears the **** out of it even if you try to use some old telephone poles. You could not give me one of those trailers although a 1.5' piece of safety chain would have prevented this from occurring. Look at the bottom of any boat with some weight that spent its life on one of those trailers, looks like a wash board. All the boats I sell come with a Safety Cable or Chain and if I am servicing a boat and it does not have one I add it at my expense, well not really, I make it back one way or another.

Chris

 

[jeffster]

All the boats I sell come with a Safety Cable or Chain and if I am servicing a boat and it does not have one I add it at my expense, well not really, I make it back one way or another.

Chris

I have a bunk trailer as well, but that is the number 1 reason I don't unhook my strap OR my safety chain from the boat until it is in the water. Why take the gamble? For some reason though, safety just seems to be something a lot of boaters just don't comprehend. Don't get me started on the 16-25 year old spoiled brats in their parent's ski boats. About they only thing they can operate correctly is the stereo...

 

[Skyco]

Well at least Tacoma guy kept his truck out of the water. I arrived at the ramp at one of the local rivers a few years back and there was quite a commotion. One could barely make out an S10 pickup completely submerged in the river about 50 ft out

 

[Renze]

Surge brakes are actually great. They are much stronger than electric brakes (disc style), totally proportional, and need no adjusting or tow vehicle mounted actuator. Like I said, I get mine all with lock out solenoids or you can add one for under $40 and you are all set. Very nice if you tow a trailer with multiple vehicles.

Chris

Over here in Europe, Knott, WAP and BPW have good functioning autorelease surge brakes, that let the brake shoes retract even if the bowden is pulling them out, when the direction of rotation is reversed.
Alko also has a system but its prone to get stuck.

Older trailers around here, have this manual latch to prevent the brake from being actuated when reversing. the last 10 years all trailer axles have backmatic brakes as standard. Also automatic slack adjusters.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Talk about things in the water, about 10 years ago we had a trash truck go in. He came to empty the dumpster and then thought he would take a look like this guy. What a mess. Another time we had a big Diesel Pusher. I was told it was worth nearly $300,000! We have a truck and trailer go in about every 4 weeks between May and August. It really picks up to about 1 every other week in late August through the October as everyone gets the boats out for the winter lay up. Usually its the boats gain weight because people bring so much junk to the lake and leave it in the boat. I know my uncles boat gains 2,000# but it weighs 18,000# empty so its all relative. We also see plenty of broken drive shafts/U joint on trucks. When the wheels spin they always want to keep on it and put people in the bed or on the bumper and then they jump up and down and pow. Happened Sunday to a brand new GMC 1500. Got pulled out boat trailer and all with one of my trucks.

Chris

 

[Inspector507]

With him trying to 'help' and back up, I literally dragged his boat up the ramp most of the way with his boat tires skidding.

He probably made the situation worse. If he was trying to back up his truck, he was activating the brakes. If you had pulled him up with him freewheeling, the brakes would have not engaged. Or at least it seems that way to me.

 

[Diamondpilot]

He probably made the situation worse. If he was trying to back up his truck, he was activating the brakes. If you had pulled him up with him freewheeling, the brakes would have not engaged. Or at least it seems that way to me.

You are 100% correct. This happened to us once at Lake Cumberland, but not at the ramp. If any of you are familiar with this lake, in Southern Kentucky, the terrain is a task getting the last 5 miles to the lake. Many grades in excess of 20% and curves that would make a snake jealous. Anyway we were driving to the water on a 1 way road that looped around at the ramp back up to the top, probably 2-3 miles. We got 100 yards from the ramp and the road was under water. They got 3 inches of rain the night before and we must have been first down the road, lucky us. Anyway my buddy had just a Jetski on his 4x4 V6 Ranger so we un-hitched it and he turned around and pulled each rig up with a tow strap backwards. We locked out the brakes on the trailer but it would have been about impossible to drive up backwards without some help pulling. He got us all up before anyone else tried it then went back and got is Jetski and we went down the up lane to the ramp, it was not under water.


Chris

 

[Dargo]

I gotta admit, you guys are an informed bunch. I was sort of afraid that I'd get a bunch of replies saying "I don't understand" or something similar. I couldn't find his lockout for his brakes, but I was sort of in the frame of mind to just get him outta my way as fast as I could.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I gotta admit, you guys are an informed bunch. I was sort of afraid that I'd get a bunch of replies saying "I don't understand" or something similar. I couldn't find his lockout for his brakes, but I was sort of in the frame of mind to just get him outta my way as fast as I could.

You did right. I would just want him out of my way also. Just curious why you used a ski rope though? I keep a tow strap and a 5' length of chain with a grab hook on one end and a open hook on the other in each of my vehicles, even my Saturn. Not towing anything with the Saturn but have been in the snow drifts before when guys showed up saying I would tow you out but don't have anything.

Chris

 

[Skyco]

Me too. I keep several long tow straps, several chains and a high lift jack in my truck at all times. Unfortunate thing is nowadays you gotta be real careful who you help out. Some folks would sue you if you damaged their stuff helping them

 

[irvingj]

Diamondpilot, Renze, and any others.... I'll post another thread on the surge brakes on my trailer-- still have some questions! Thanks for the info so far!

 

[Dargo]

You did right. I would just want him out of my way also. Just curious why you used a ski rope though? I keep a tow strap and a 5' length of chain with a grab hook on one end and a open hook on the other in each of my vehicles, even my Saturn. Not towing anything with the Saturn but have been in the snow drifts before when guys showed up saying I would tow you out but don't have anything.

Chris

Snatch strap was in my tractor. I wasn't gonna use my jumper cables.

 

[Charlesaf3]

I was talking to a friend at a barbecue recently, moaning about my marina bill and saying it'd be nice to have a trailerable boat. He told me I'd regret it quickly, as I couldn't even guess the amount of idiocy you can see at a boat ramp.

You guys aren't helping my side of the argument much.

How do you break truck parts loading a boat? Trying to get too small a truck/too big a boat up a ramp by shock loading? Seems to me if you were doing things right nothing should break (though the boat might not move)?