Trailer Questions-Converting Drum to Disc

[Its A Keeper]

Looking for some help

I have a 1995 2 Axle Trail Right Galvanized Trailer. That has drum brakes.

The Brakes are shot, the master cylinder is shot. Was thinking pretty hard about converting it over to Disc Brakes.

So for you guys that have done this before, Is it simple or should I bite the bullet and take it somewere and have it professionally done>

[Backlash]

I did the same thing this past spring. It's a piece of cake. I replaced the actuator, brake lines, removed the old backing plates,drums and bolted the new stuff on in an afternoon.

[Its A Keeper]

can you pm me with the estimated cost of this.

[royalewitcheez]

Originally Posted by Backlash

I did the same thing this past spring. It's a piece of cake. I replaced the actuator, brake lines, removed the old backing plates,drums and bolted the new stuff on in an afternoon.

Dude, he's also an Experimental Engineer with probably all kindsa hardware experience.. so the above mentioned difficulty level may not be relative or is it? well.. you know what I'm trying to say.. BTW. I did the same thing and as a pretty decent DIY guy, it was to say the least, a BIAAATTTCH for me.

[Hooked]

I just convered my Trail Rite trailer from drum brakes to Tie Down stainless steel disc brakes. Try www.championtrailers.com.

http://www.championtrailers.com/TIED...BRAKE_KITS.HTM

For a single axle, it costs around $465 with shipping for the single axle kit which included a new hydraulic actuator, new stainless steel lines, reversing soleniod valve & shipping.

I have never replaced brakes, packed bearings, etc, but I was able to do all of the upgrades myself. I spread it out over a couple of evenings and finished it over the holiday break.

When you call Champion Trailers make sure you tell them you have a Trail-Rite trailer because the seal sizes are not standard and they have to change them out.

Good luck... you can email me with questions.

[historic]

Go for it, it's not hard to do if you have some basic mechanical skills. I changed mine out a couple of years ago and went with the tie down stainless disks. They are not very good in my opinion. The wore out really fast and ran really hot.

I replaced them with Kodiak's last spring and they are much better brakes. I would pay the few extra bucks and go with Kodiak's for sure. The Kodiak's also have a gear oil hub instead of a grease-able hub, might be why they run cooler? Tie down does make a ventilated disk now which is probably way better than the unventilated disks I used first. Also, I would never go back to drum brakes on a boat trailer.

One tool I found helpful since I was working alone was a vacuum pump for bleeding the brakes without having to operate the actuator.

I reused my master cylinder but replaced all of the lines with stainless steel units. I read recently about a flexible hose kit for boat trailers that sounds like a good system. I don't remember who made it but it was around 100 bucks for a single axel trailer. That's about what I paid for ss lines.

Go for it, you won't be sorry

[Its A Keeper]

Finished up the replacement last weekend.

All in all, its very simple to do. Just requires a couple of tools and time.

Getting the old drums off was a bitch. A 12lb sledge did the trick. The hardest think was finding a new Disc Brake Accuator. Had one on back order for a couple of weeks, still didnt show up.

Made a trip into Santa Ana and picked on up at Trail Rite Trailers. Good people to do business with.

Anyway, I have new disc brake hubs, brakes, lines accuator and new wiring. Works like a champ.

My advice, get all the parts in before you start the job. I had the disc brake kits installed and was waiting on parts for two plus weeks.....

[neversink2]

Originally Posted by historic

I reused my master cylinder but replaced all of the lines with stainless steel units. I read recently about a flexible hose kit for boat trailers that sounds like a good system. I don't remember who made it but it was around 100 bucks for a single axel trailer. That's about what I paid for ss lines.

Go for it, you won't be sorry

I think you're better off with hard line and just use hose to get from the trailer to the axle. Hoses stretch a little under pressure which will make the brakes mushy. That's why everything is hard lined - cars, trailers etc.

Also - just put the brakes on 1 axle. It's less maintenance and they work fine on my rig.

[Its A Keeper]

The Hard Brake Line kit was about $55, the flex line was about $85.

I pretty much a cheeeeep bastard, so it was an easy decision.

[Saluki]

We need to do a brake job.... now ya got me thinking about going with disc brakes....

Thanks for the post, ver good info.

[Its A Keeper]

Saluki,

You will run into a problem of getting the Disc Brake Accuator. EPA regs forced Zinc/Galvenized coating of metal overseas. Most of the producst are coming in from Japan.

Anyway, to make a real long story short. Trail Rite Trailers in Santa Ana has a special on a complete package to retrofit drums to discs.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU CALL THEM FOR A PRICE. They would have saved me about $125....But I bought some parts from my local guy and waited around for back ordered parts before I found them.

You can get everything you need from Trail Rite.

Hope that helps.

[Saluki]

Cool, thanks.

I'm gonna look back at this post when we get around to working on the trailer.