Seized brakes on trailer

[Billatstarbrite]

The brakes on my trailer - a dual-axle Performance with disc brakes - have seized. How do I loosen them?

[Prime Time]

Star Brite Spay Lubricant.........

[Billatstarbrite]

Yeah, I thought of that and a BIG hammer.

[floridadeckie]

before you go wacking away at it and spraying it with all kinds of solvents, what caused it so sieze? are the brakes corroded so that they wont turn, or are the bearings cold-welded to the spindle?

[Billatstarbrite]

I don't think it's frozen bearings - it's only been on the highway once when the boat was delivered - since then it's been 1.1 miles to/from the ramp 7 blocks away at maybe 15 mph, so there's been no opportunity to fry them.

It's been sitting idle, so I am guessing rust is the problem.
I'll be yanking off the wheels this weekend to take a look.
I discovered it wouldn't budge last night at 7pm - the wife wisely suggested I not take it apart in the dark.

[FXRScotty]

Do you have the elctric deal where you need the pin in if not plugged in?

[gottaflylee]

Bill, a couple of things...can you back it up or go forward at all?? If you can not go in reverse, its a plug thing and you need to get a 6 prong (I think it is) plug adaptor for your truck. The other is once you free it up, when you pull the boat out, you should run the trailer far of long enough to completely dry the hubs out. Best thing to do is first rinse or flush the salt off the hubs and then run it long enough to completely dry them out, a couple of miles will not do it...

[floridadeckie]

Originally Posted by Billatstarbrite

I don't think it's frozen bearings - it's only been on the highway once when the boat was delivered - since then it's been 1.1 miles to/from the ramp 7 blocks away at maybe 15 mph, so there's been no opportunity to fry them.

It's been sitting idle, so I am guessing rust is the problem.
I'll be yanking off the wheels this weekend to take a look.
I discovered it wouldn't budge last night at 7pm - the wife wisely suggested I not take it apart in the dark.

my advice before you go diving in headfirst, start small. check to see if the bearings are greased at all. even if you dont run them much, with no grease they will get real hot, real fast and burn up. check for grease, check to see if anything is binding, or if anything is caught up in the backing plates.

if not, then pull everything off wheel by wheel, and go over them slowly. sometimes some heat=>hammering=>heat=>WD-40 will break things free

[jawz12]

Originally Posted by Billatstarbrite

I don't think it's frozen bearings - it's only been on the highway once when the boat was delivered - since then it's been 1.1 miles to/from the ramp 7 blocks away at maybe 15 mph, so there's been no opportunity to fry them.

It's been sitting idle, so I am guessing rust is the problem.
I'll be yanking off the wheels this weekend to take a look.
I discovered it wouldn't budge last night at 7pm - the wife wisely suggested I not take it apart in the dark.

before we start pulling out the big hammers and beating the hell outta stuff....perhaps we should try the "diagnosis" first...whatta ya say ???
if it's a new trailer,and it's indeed disc brakes,check to see if the brake pads have rusted to the rotors-this can and will happen,the pads are somewhat mettalic...pulling out hammers and spraying wd40 isn't allways the best approach ther boys...
here's a real new idea...it's called rinsing the trailer after sumberging it in saltwater...bunk trailers,these trailers have to be really submerged to get the boat off,that means the brakes are completley under water...failing to rinse these parts with fresh water can and will cause all kinds of problems...here's another one...use corrosion block spray,wd40 as well as starbrite lubricants are about as useful as peeing on a forest firethe only products i'm aware of that actually neutralize salt are corrosion block spry and crc...

[Billatstarbrite]

Guys, thank you very much for the great advice.

It may be the brakes locked up when I backed the trailer into place. Apparently that's common with these things while backing up. The trick seems to be to then pull forward a few feet to unlock them. There goes the neighbor's fence...

Jimmy, I SWEAR I rinse the crap out of the trailer every time I use it - I think I'm the reason Lake Okeechobee is so low. And I use a lot of Star brite corrosion protector spray (I get it for free, so I use it "liberally"). That being said, I am still expecting to see rust when I pull the wheels off.

I already have the 6-prong plug, so that's checked off the list. The brakes are not electric, so there's one more.