Brake Repairs
August 2017

The trailer has surge brakes and I was pretty sure the master cylinder unit was bad when I bought the boat. I had popped the cap off the master cylinder and saw rusty crap rather than brake fluid. That's a pretty good sign, it's not working.

The boat and trailer are fairly light for the F150 (probably weighs less than the CEF trailer I pull which has no brakes), so running without brakes isn't a major issue. But in a panic stop, it would be good to have them, and in the case of a break away it would be good to have them.

Last Saturday after I put the boat in the garage, disconnected the trailer but forgot to disconnect the brake unit safety cable. When I pulled the truck way, I heard the cruch-bang. What was that?! On inspection I see the safety cable laying on the driveway. So now maybe it's time to fix the brakes.

So on Monday I started working on it. It took a lot of work to drive the holding pins out. I couldn't figure out why they would be so difficult to drive out. Even if they were rusty, that should break loose with the beating I was giving them.

Once the were out, I see why. They were not only rusty, but well worn too. The wear grooves added to the resistance.

A littlle difficult to see the wear in this photo, but you can see how the pins fit into the brake unit and trailer tongue.

Here you can see the wear a little better.

Once I had the pins out, I had to take the brake line loose at the back and then the thing slid out pretty easily.

The master cyclinder is broken at the mounting point. It's a little difficult to see in the photo above, but you can see the break at the mounting pin hole. So, since the master cylinder has to be replaced, and the pins need to be replaced, it makes sense to just buy a new unit, rather than rebuilding this one. A new one is about $150.

I want to check the brake cylinders. If they are bad, I will order them with the new master cylinder unit.

September 1 update

I pulled the hub off the right side brake. They look pretty rusty. I couldn't operate the brake to get some estimate of the condition of the cylinder. I did some investigation and it looks like I can get disc brakes for both wheels for under $300. That seems like the way to go to me. Since I'm replacing the surge/master cylinder anyway, I might as well convert to disc brakes and have a great set up.

September 10, 2017

I'm waiting on the new actuator to arrive so I'm cleaning the wheel cylinders in the meantime. Here's the right side all apart, cleaned and ready to go back together.

I used rubber cement around the push rod where it goes through the cover and rubber cement on the cylinder where the cover seals on it. I hope that will help keep the water out. There was rust inside the cover, which is very typical.

November 25, 2017

I got a lot of the brake work wrapped up over the past couple of days. I got the brake line hooked up on the new surge unit and I got the new aluminum cylinders installed. I actually had one installed weeks ago - the one to replace the iron cyclinder that I couldn't rebuild. The piston is stuck hard and fast in the cylinder, so I bought new aluminum cyclinders. I'm hoping these will be much more able to survive being dipped in the lake.

The new surge unit installed and ready to go (except for bleeding the cylinders)

The old rebuilt cylinder.

The new aluminum cylinder.

I'm having a little trouble bleeding the brakes. I used a vacuum pump and got the right side filled, but the left side won't fill. I'm suspecting the line is blocked with crud. I'll try pumping the master cylinder next.