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A 10-Inch Disc Brake Kit With Optronics LED Trailer Lights Gives New Life to an Old, Used Boat Trailer
Regular maintenance is rarely stressed enough, and trailer safety is often a direct result of a good preventative-maintenance schedule. Just like changing the oil in your tow rig, it’s easy to suffer from the “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome.
Having seen many miles of over-the-road/boat-ramp service, this ’70s trailer was in sad shape and needed an overhaul. Tie Down Engineering was selected for its replacement disc brake kit that would modernize the old drum brake system. To complete the overhaul, a set of Optronics LED lights also was installed for trouble-free operation.
Trailer maintenance is very much the same; if you don’t keep up your preventative-maintenance schedule, components and systems will deteriorate over time. There are the obvious trailer-maintenance checks every time you hook it up. Walk around and check that all the lights are working, are not intermittent, and that the brake lights and turn-signal lights are fully operational. A walk-around helps, but what about the wheel bearings, the brake lines and wiring hookups? Is the trailer brake system connected, and are the safety chains and hitch in proper working order? What is the condition of the tires? You want a sound trailer when pulling your boat, and if your trailer has been neglected, it should have a complete once-over before putting it on the road.
Here is a trailer undergoing an overhaul, including new-style disc brakes for additional stopping power and a set of Optronics LED lights for increased visibility and vehicle safety. Depending on what type of trailer you own, or whether you have electric or hydraulic-operated trailer brakes, and if it has the older-style drum brake system or the newer disc brakes, maintenance will differ, including maintenance intervals that these items require.
With the old actuator removed, a new tongue was fabricated from 3-inch-square tubing. The tongue length was determined by measuring the new actuator and determining where to place it compared to the position of the original. Once the location was finalized, it was fully braced and welded.
Here, an older early-’70s-vintage trailer was given a new lease on life, and that included replacing the dated, 30-year-old drum brakes with a new set of disc brakes. The upgrade began by adding a modified tongue for the new master cylinder, followed by the installation of a Tie Down Engineering Model 66 10-inch disc brake kit. And to complete the picture, and to make the trailer more visible, the lights were upgraded with Optronics LED lights.
The Tie Down kit proved to be a straightforward bolt-on that was basically as easy as removing the old drum brake assembly and bolting on the caliper-mounting brackets directly to the axle to accept the new disc brakes. With the brakes installed and the lights hooked up, the brakes were bled, double-checked and tested for operation.
The new system worked as expected, and it adds a great deal of comfort knowing the trailer is safe for towing a boat, and this goes a long way toward providing that secure feeling for all those aboard. The entire assembly took only a few hours of work. Here’s how it was done.
