surge brakes, 03 ramlin tandem

[obd666]

reachin out to some of our trailer brake gurus ... anyone know how to smooth out the hard stops/clunks with the hydraulic brakes on the old ramlin trailers? the actuator holds fluid, and the brakes work well when they finally engage. it seems to just take more back pressure to compress the tongue than it should. kinda goes from no brakes to full brakes with little in between. can the shock in the tongue be replaced? greased/lubed? its close to working as it should, just needs to be smoothed out.

[ski4evr]

The actuator can be lubed on the pivot points, and the shock can be replaced as well. It sounds like the brakes need to be adjusted if they are drum brakes. I used to have to adjust my last trailer annually or it would act as you said. The more the brake shoes have to move, the farther the actuator has to move. If you have disc brakes as I do now, not sure other than to make sure the tongue is level while under tow for actuator to operate smoothly.

[obd666]

thanks for the feedback. yes they're drum brakes, and i guess they might need new shoes. what did you typically do to adjust your trailer that had drums?

[ski4evr]

there was a rubber plug in the backing plate that when removed gave access to the adjuster screw which you could turn with a screwdriver. You should be able to search adjusting drum brakes on the net and get some good info.

[obd666]

thanks again. i grabbed this from another forum regarding drum brake adjustment. seems pretty straight forward, am hoping this is all it needs ...

1. Jack up trailer and secure on adequate capacity jack
stands. Follow trailer manufacturer’s recommendations for
lifting and supporting the unit. Make sure the wheel and
drum rotates freely.

2. Remove the adjusting hole cover from the adjusting slot on
the bottom of the brake backing plate.

3. With a screwdriver or standard adjusting tool, rotate the
starwheel of the adjuster assembly to expand the brake
shoes. Adjust the brake shoes out until the pressure of the
linings against the drum makes the wheel very difficult to
turn.

4. Then rotate the starwheel in the opposite direction until the
wheel turns freely with a slight lining drag.

[jtryon]

with the same style actuator, has anyone had an issue with the lockout lever not going down all the way until the boat is towed for a mile or so? i replaced the whole coupler which included a new MC and all new internals two seasons ago so it's not even that old, but this year the lever won't go down and the brakes won't grab as a result. is there any adjustment to be done on that lockout assembly?

[SilentSeven]

Yes. This. I just rebuilt 4 wheels on my drum brake trailer. After you do this, tow the trailer and do several stops. Check each drum to see if they are warm. Any wheels that are not are either misadjusted or have internal problems like a frozen cylinder.

thanks again. i grabbed this from another forum regarding drum brake adjustment. seems pretty straight forward, am hoping this is all it needs ...

1. Jack up trailer and secure on adequate capacity jack
stands. Follow trailer manufacturer’s recommendations for
lifting and supporting the unit. Make sure the wheel and
drum rotates freely.

2. Remove the adjusting hole cover from the adjusting slot on
the bottom of the brake backing plate.

3. With a screwdriver or standard adjusting tool, rotate the
starwheel of the adjuster assembly to expand the brake
shoes. Adjust the brake shoes out until the pressure of the
linings against the drum makes the wheel very difficult to
turn.

4. Then rotate the starwheel in the opposite direction until the
wheel turns freely with a slight lining drag.