cucvrus
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Anyone has any tips on bleeding the trailer surge brakes? I will be learning tomorrow, I guess.
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I think you would like to hear from someone with actual experience doing this procedure. I'm also sure you know you could google it on the internet. So for what it's worth, etrailer.com has a good video and detailed information on the process. As a well-known member on this site would say, you got this, you can do it. Keep up the good work, and thanks for all your efforts.Anyone has any tips on bleeding the trailer surge brakes? I will be learning tomorrow, I guess.
If I lived near you I’d be over there helping out. Never lose an opportunity to learn from a person with your experience, or earn a favor.It is currently 15* and I don't get much in willing helpers to get this done. It's too cold is the answer I get back. I guess the mighty vac will be my only helper. I will throw a moving blanket on the ice cap and have at it. Full report when the mission is completed. Be Safe and pace yourself. Small steps forward are progress. Sitting around is regression. No regression here.
Well put Squibbly, I'll bet the majority of the members here feel the same way and would happily give not just Rick a hand but most members on this site.If I lived near you I’d be over there helping out. Never lose an opportunity to learn from a person with your experience, or earn a favor.
“It’s too cold” are words that should never come out of a man’s mouth. That’s what long underwear, layers and torpedo heaters are for.
When I first moved to the south after getting out of the military I still had the mindset of “I don’t know how to do that thing, so let me hire someone who does that thing because if I try it I’ll probably mess it up”.
I had a neighbor who I always saw working on cars in his driveway, or putting a new window in his house, or just doing stuff that I thought to myself “That guy must have gone to a lot of trade schools to know how to do all this stuff”.
I needed new brakes at one point, and I went over to ask him how I could find out what I really needed the mechanic to do so I didn’t get ripped off.
He looked at me like I had three heads, and questioned why I would pay so much to do an easy job. He then told me to bring my car over, went with me to the AP store to get what I needed, and walked me through doing the job myself by pointing and explaining everything and having me do the whole job myself. The sense of pride I had knowing I did that job myself was worth more than he will probably ever know.
Over the next many years we became great friends. He was not trained in any of the skills he had. He learned them because he grew up poor in WV, and you did things yourself out of necessity. He was an exterminator by trade, but I swear was Mensa smart like I had never witnessed before. The guy knew how to do everything, and what he didn’t know he just figured out with logic.
All of the cars I had seen him working on were from widows, single moms, and other needy people at his church, and he did the work for free, and only occasionally charged for parts of the person could swing it. I was constantly at his side learning and mostly slowing him down at first asking questions, but over time we were able to knock out jobs quickly, while tipping back a few frosty brews, and discussing life.
During this time I had picked up a beautiful old perfect condition 1982 Toyota pickup, that with my new minimal skills and tools I loved working on and tinkering with. Best truck I ever owned. Sipped gas. Manual transmission. No rust. Perfect paint and interior. He used to comment how nice that truck was and what a find it was.
At some point he decided to head back to WV to take a position as a coal miner because the extermination business wasn’t paying the bills like he needed.
While talking to him one day when he came to finish up the sale of his home, he told me he was struggling because the pickup he had was on its last leg and he might not be able to make it to the mines. The body was mostly rust, there were holes all over and it wouldn’t pass inspection.
I handed him the keys to my prized possession, my Toyota pickup. Free of charge. I couldn’t believe I did it either, but it seemed right after everything I had seen him do over the years for other people. He drove the mess out of that thing for many years, until he worked his way to mine supervisor and was able to get a nice new vehicle, and move his family into a nice new home.
When I saw the truck again, he had hit 3 or 4 deer with it (they are everywhere in those mountains), the body was done (there is no way around it when you have to travel to the mines), but it still ran like a champ, and had gotten him where he needed to go in life. Well worth it to me.
The morale of the story is helping someone out one day, may save your bacon some day in the future.
Good luck, Rick. I know you’ll get it done. You seem like the type.
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Way to go Rick, job well done.WE HAVE TRAILER BRAKES. I didn't spend money and buy a special pressure bleeder. I was going to, but I thought about it all day and at 3PM when I came home from work, I worked my magic. I tried the prybar and the long lever. The lever looked like a good tool to knock my teeth out or slip and fall on my knee again. I went and retrieved my HD ratch strap. That was the winner. I had the pintle off and I removed the gas shock. I applied pressure to the pintle ring, and it bottomed out quickly. I did have some brake application and the drums were harder to turn but I could still turn them with resistance. I removed the pintle ring and replaced the gas shock in the pintle ring. I ratchet strapped it tight again and I see the springs on the master cylinder move away as I am tightening up. I go over to the drums and they are tight. Not locked up but tight. I open both bleeders and have perfect airless purple DOT 5 flowing. I mean just cracking the
bleeders and no air all clean fluid. I am convinced that the ratchet strap still cannot duplicate a full stop at 60 MPH and the trailer loaded with 4,000 lbs. I am happy with the results. The trailer brakes work as designed. This is my in-stock designer tool for bleeding surge brakes. I had everything right there and just needed to think it out.
View attachment 856905
Anybody know what this is. I found it in the toolbox along with 4 ft copper grounding rods. View attachment 856906 View attachment 856907 I removed the rear stabilizer leg. View attachment 856908 It was destroyed in the bracket. View attachment 856909 I am going to cut these fasteners off and get that support leg bracket off the frame. I think I can straighten that bracket. Challenge accepted. So, I have brakes and that was my goal for today.
Did the trailer carry a generator? Maybe ground rods for operating the generator in the field? Just guessing. So removing the shock made operating the surge brake easier, that's the way to do it.WE HAVE TRAILER BRAKES. I didn't spend money and buy a special pressure bleeder. I was going to, but I thought about it all day and at 3PM when I came home from work, I worked my magic. I tried the prybar and the long lever. The lever looked like a good tool to knock my teeth out or slip and fall on my knee again. I went and retrieved my HD ratch strap. That was the winner. I had the pintle off and I removed the gas shock. I applied pressure to the pintle ring, and it bottomed out quickly. I did have some brake application and the drums were harder to turn but I could still turn them with resistance. I removed the pintle ring and replaced the gas shock in the pintle ring. I ratchet strapped it tight again and I see the springs on the master cylinder move away as I am tightening up. I go over to the drums and they are tight. Not locked up but tight. I open both bleeders and have perfect airless purple DOT 5 flowing. I mean just cracking the
bleeders and no air all clean fluid. I am convinced that the ratchet strap still cannot duplicate a full stop at 60 MPH and the trailer loaded with 4,000 lbs. I am happy with the results. The trailer brakes work as designed. This is my in-stock designer tool for bleeding surge brakes. I had everything right there and just needed to think it out.
View attachment 856905
Anybody know what this is. I found it in the toolbox along with 4 ft copper grounding rods. View attachment 856906 View attachment 856907 I removed the rear stabilizer leg. View attachment 856908 It was destroyed in the bracket. View attachment 856909 I am going to cut these fasteners off and get that support leg bracket off the frame. I think I can straighten that bracket. Challenge accepted. So, I have brakes and that was my goal for today.
.WE HAVE TRAILER BRAKES. I didn't spend money and buy a special pressure bleeder. I was going to, but I thought about it all day and at 3PM when I came home from work, I worked my magic. I tried the prybar and the long lever. The lever looked like a good tool to knock my teeth out or slip and fall on my knee again. I went and retrieved my HD ratch strap. That was the winner. I had the pintle off and I removed the gas shock. I applied pressure to the pintle ring, and it bottomed out quickly. I did have some brake application and the drums were harder to turn but I could still turn them with resistance. I removed the pintle ring and replaced the gas shock in the pintle ring. I ratchet strapped it tight again and I see the springs on the master cylinder move away as I am tightening up. I go over to the drums and they are tight. Not locked up but tight. I open both bleeders and have perfect airless purple DOT 5 flowing. I mean just cracking the
bleeders and no air all clean fluid. I am convinced that the ratchet strap still cannot duplicate a full stop at 60 MPH and the trailer loaded with 4,000 lbs. I am happy with the results. The trailer brakes work as designed. This is my in-stock designer tool for bleeding surge brakes. I had everything right there and just needed to think it out.
View attachment 856905
Anybody know what this is. I found it in the toolbox along with 4 ft copper grounding rods. View attachment 856906 View attachment 856907 I removed the rear stabilizer leg. View attachment 856908 It was destroyed in the bracket. View attachment 856909 I am going to cut these fasteners off and get that support leg bracket off the frame. I think I can straighten that bracket. Challenge accepted. So, I have brakes and that was my goal for today.
That's what I was thinking but I could not figure out why there is a hole in the top of the driver, maybe there is a piece missing?.
It appears to be a manual ground rod driver.
Was there ever even a doubt you’d figure it out?WE HAVE TRAILER BRAKES. I didn't spend money and buy a special pressure bleeder. I was going to, but I thought about it all day and at 3PM when I came home from work, I worked my magic. I tried the prybar and the long lever. The lever looked like a good tool to knock my teeth out or slip and fall on my knee again. I went and retrieved my HD ratch strap. That was the winner. I had the pintle off and I removed the gas shock. I applied pressure to the pintle ring, and it bottomed out quickly. I did have some brake application and the drums were harder to turn but I could still turn them with resistance. I removed the pintle ring and replaced the gas shock in the pintle ring. I ratchet strapped it tight again and I see the springs on the master cylinder move away as I am tightening up. I go over to the drums and they are tight. Not locked up but tight. I open both bleeders and have perfect airless purple DOT 5 flowing. I mean just cracking the
bleeders and no air all clean fluid. I am convinced that the ratchet strap still cannot duplicate a full stop at 60 MPH and the trailer loaded with 4,000 lbs. I am happy with the results. The trailer brakes work as designed. This is my in-stock designer tool for bleeding surge brakes. I had everything right there and just needed to think it out.
View attachment 856905
Anybody know what this is. I found it in the toolbox along with 4 ft copper grounding rods. View attachment 856906 View attachment 856907 I removed the rear stabilizer leg. View attachment 856908 It was destroyed in the bracket. View attachment 856909 I am going to cut these fasteners off and get that support leg bracket off the frame. I think I can straighten that bracket. Challenge accepted. So, I have brakes and that was my goal for today.
THAT is what it is ALL about!! Getting things done AND enjoying it!!! Thanks for the reminder, Rick!I received my new replacement LED lamp and bracket. I still did not receive the recessed black plastic brackets that attach the lights to the body. I went out and looked at the light and I attempted to remove the ground wire. I was surprised that the ground wire had standard zinc nuts and not Stainless-steel nuts. I am going to drill all the rivets out that hold that aluminum corner on the main body and use my skills to straighten and align the bracket again. I will wait till I have a title and get it inspected. Right now, I will be getting the light working and getting some tires. I need 1 more Chevrolet wheel so I can get them sand blasted and painted. In the end I will be painting the trailer 1 color and want it to look good. Camouflage with the Rock Crusher is not in my plans. View attachment 856964This lamp was broken by an overzealous forklift operator. It will all work out. And I am enjoying the adventure as I used to in old days. Take Care and Be Safe.
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