On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 15:54:52 GMT, Don White
wrote:

Terry Spragg wrote:
John Chaplain wrote:

I have a tandem trailer with freebacking brakes and I need to replace
same. My question is should I replace the existing brake set with
freebacking brakes or just a standard brake set?

It sems to me that I had a lot of problems with my brakes sticking
this season and I'm wondering if it has been due to having
freebacking brakes? Do they tend to stick and jam more than standard
brakes?

TIA
John C.


Hydraulic trailer brakes require a properly maintained and adjusted
backup solenoid circuit to disable trailer brakes while backing. This
works off the reverse gear lamp circuit.

If working good, no problems.

Else, problems.

Terry K

Can't you just jump out of the tow vehicle and flip a little
lever/switch on the coupler to de-activate the brakes for backing up?

There is no lockout ( electrical ) for the hydaulic brakes on my
trailer. There is a pin that I can pull that will cause the hydraulic
cylider to not actuate, so that's fine.
But, the trailer also has free backing brakes. These are a special
kind of brake shoe system that allows one of the the brake shoes to
pull back out of position when backing up.

The problem is that my brakes tended to lock up a lot this season.
I think I need to add a flush kit because I'm doing all salt water
boating and I also need to replace the brake shoes. But back to my
question, should I go with standard or freebacking replacement shoes?
Has anyone noticed that freebacking brakes tend to lock up more than
standard?

John C.