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Post by inca on Apr 12, 2022 13:35:09 GMT 10
What about the hand brake mechanism OT? Is it included with the 4 units or do you need to use your old existing ones?
I am following your post as I need to reline my brakes after this years trip north.
The Trojan units are certainly value for money. I checked with a local brake dealership and their price per set of relined shoes was over the top. One would certainly be foolish not to go withTrojan units.
I would be pleased if you could let us us know what the freight charge for the 4 unit set is also OT.
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Post by Old Techo on Apr 12, 2022 15:41:37 GMT 10
Ian,
The link I posted originally goes to a pic of the assembly and you can see the handbrake lever.
Also in the words under the pic it states handbrake lever included.
The units weigh nearly 5kg each and the 4 I ordered were despatched as 2 separate packages of 10kg each via OzPost. Total freight cost $42 or $10.50 per unit.
I got the off-road magnets at $110 but regular magnets are cheaper and vary according to stock numbers.
Presently left side are $105 and right side $93 each. Refer... www.caravansplus.com.au/rv-trailer/brakes/electric/
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2022 18:05:41 GMT 10
So mention has been made re Nyloc nuts for the backing plates, I had been led to believe the nuts were welded to the backing plate. Reason I mention it is because I have read where once the backing plate shoe assy is attached and the drum replaced the assy is adjusted for position by adjusting the brakes on, THEN you do up the attaching bolts for the assy. This gets the brake shoes concentric in the drum.
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Post by Old Techo on Apr 12, 2022 19:17:46 GMT 10
Mike,
Eight years ago I replaced my axles with straight versions to gain 45mm of road clearance for the like of the Birdsville Track.
You can see the difference in the pic and also the star washer imprints on the old axle. No factory welding employed.
You are correct about centreing the backing plate but after doing that the nuts are merely tightened.
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Post by inca on Apr 13, 2022 7:28:51 GMT 10
Thanks for the reply OT. It was remiss of me not to refer back to your original post.
The freight price is very reasonable.
I will look forward to your installation report.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2022 20:57:51 GMT 10
Thanks for your answer OT. I assume the nuts are "nipped" up then the backing plate is centered by the brakes on method. Regards,
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Post by Old Techo on Apr 26, 2022 17:28:16 GMT 10
Mike,
I have just begun the brake process.
I removed a brake drum and decided it needed machining on the magnet rubbing area. It was a bit scored and had a few thou of runout. The brake shoe area was good with only half a thou of runout. Next I removed the old backing plate and fitted the new one with the 4 retaining nuts finger tight.
I did the usual clean up of the drum bearing area, washed the bearings in petrol, regreased with a bearing packer, fitted a new seal and whacked it back onto the axle. I’d already measured the brake shoe diameter of the old and it was about 9.9 inches and closely matched the new assembly. It seems that out of the factory the brake adjustment chosen provides enough clearance to replace a drum so I didn’t need to back it off before fitting.
Once the drum was on I adjusted the brake until the drum was tight, rotated the backing plate within the bolt hole slop of 2 or 3mm in the direction it would go under braking, and then tightened the 4 bolts. I then backed off the brake 8 clicks and the drum was free to rotate.
So it all went pretty smoothly. When I’ve done all 4 and put the wheels on I’ll do a test drive to check brake feel and measure brake drum temps. After that I’ll adjust all 4 brakes again by tightening the adjuster until I can’t tighten it anymore then back off 10 clicks and do another test drive. I’ll submit more progress reports.
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Post by Old Techo on Apr 27, 2022 17:54:24 GMT 10
I finished the job late today.
A bit too late to take it off the stands and out of the shed for a test drive.
Tomorrow
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Post by Old Techo on Apr 28, 2022 18:01:43 GMT 10
Job 99% finished and 15km test drive done this arvo.
The first test was magnet current when I connected the Prado. It was about 10% higher than the old brakes so that was a pleasing start
As typical of new pads/brake shoe linings the brakes were dead hopeless as I drove out of my shed. I was a bit worried as they were so bad.
Once out of my front gate onto the bitumen I immediately applied max manual override and it was not much better. Two km down my road and things improved quickly enough for me to join traffic with confidence.
Towards the end of my 15km all rural road run the brakes were too good and locking on bitumen at less than max current
There had been a bit of pulling left/right in the early stages but I put that down to bedding-in.
So now I'll have to back off the brake controller setting to get a proper tug/van brake balance.
In summary... very happy with the results and much better than the old brakes
Tomorrow I'll re-adjust all 4 brakes now that they have at least partially bedded.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2022 18:08:14 GMT 10
Top result OT, nice when it all comes together.
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Post by Old Techo on Jul 2, 2022 13:04:10 GMT 10
We are now at Toowoomba and done over 1,500km.
The new van brakes are very good. Even too good
I assume the linings are fairly soft to achieve a high kinetic coefficient of friction. I've had to back off the controller.
With the old brakes, max volts (13) was not enough to lock a wheel or provide confident braking. With the new brakes I've wound the controller back to around 7 volts. I reckon that was about where it was when the van was new 18 years ago. Since then I replaced the shoes/linings with www.cbaus.com.au/brakebonders-1 and was never happy.
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Post by Old Techo on Jan 12, 2023 15:04:30 GMT 10
I was reminded by a member that I did not do any reports after that 1,500km one.
On our Charters Towers and elsewhere trip we did a total of 6,270km of which only 156km was NOT towing so the new van brakes had plenty of work.
During and at the end of the trip I remained very impressed with the brakes. It was so easy to lock wheels on bitumen with not a lot more than 70% of max brake current and the van brake balance (left vs right) remained perfect. As said... I was very impressed and it was just so much better than the previous brakes
Before this winter trip north I plan to pull the wheels off for a close inspection of all the new parts but I don’t expect to do any bearing maintenance given the kms travelled.
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Post by Old Techo on Mar 16, 2023 18:12:14 GMT 10
Yesterday I did what I said
I pulled off 2 wheels and brake drum/hubs to inspect the new cheapy brake assemblies after those 6,000 odd kms last year.
All looked very good and inspecting 2 was enough to convince me that all 4 were good
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Post by Old Techo on Nov 6, 2023 16:20:29 GMT 10
We got back home from Qld on Sept 8th.
Another trip of nearly 6,000 caravan kms. So that is now over 13,000kms on the new brake system.
They still work very well with no issues at any time
Early next year I'll pull all 4 drums off for a complete inspection.
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Post by inca on Nov 8, 2023 18:11:54 GMT 10
Thanks so much OT for the rehash of your experiences with the selection and replacement of the brake components. It is valuable information for all.
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