Trailer Brakes: No fluid, need help

[JMPassch]

Need some help with my trailer brakes.

Purchased a 99 Maristar with dual axel trailer and surge brakes. I just popped the cap to the brake filler and found it to be empty with rust residue inside. I didn't think the brakes were working but have never owned a trailer with the surge system.

I'm wondering if topping it off with brake fluid will do more damage then good at this point. If I fill it up with fluid will it need to be bled? How do you bleed the brakes with no pressure on the brake system? Do I use normal brake fluid or something else?

We are pulling the boat to the cottage this weekend. I don't mind pulling with no trailer brakes but prefer to get them working. Just don't want to make the brakes inoperable for the weekend.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

[CantRepeat]

Need some help with my trailer brakes.

Purchased a 99 Maristar with dual axel trailer and surge brakes. I just popped the cap to the brake filler and found it to be empty with rust residue inside. I didn't think the brakes were working but have never owned a trailer with the surge system.

I'm wondering if topping it off with brake fluid will do more damage then good at this point. If I fill it up with fluid will it need to be bled? How do you bleed the brakes with no pressure on the brake system? Do I use normal brake fluid or something else?

We are pulling the boat to the cottage this weekend. I don't mind pulling with no trailer brakes but prefer to get them working. Just don't want to make the brakes inoperable for the weekend.

Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

Disc or drum?

You can top it off but your are will need to bleed the brakes for them to have a chance at working. Moreover, you can use this to check for leaks and a starting point for repairs. IE checking wheel cylinders, linings, adjustments and the leak down part.

It is just DOT 3 fluid.

If they do lock up just open the bleeder valves but I do not think that would be the case.

[Thrall]

It's worth a shot to fill it, bleed it and see if they're servicable or not. One of those cheap 1 man bleeder kits worked great on the boat brakes.
Worst case you have to install a new master cyl and rebuild the wheel cyl or calipers.
Best case it just ran dry and you may get some life out of it.

[JMPassch]

Thought they were drums but just checked and they are actually disc brakes. I've never bled brakes before. I'm planning on running up to the auto shop in the morning to get a bleeder kit. Any advise on bleeding the brakes? Thanks for the help!

[Thrall]

The basic premise of bleeding brakes is to get all teh air out of the lines. Manually, this is done by pumping up the brake pedal (or tongue hitch in your case) and hold pressure on the pedal while cracking open a bleeder screw. Pedal depresses, air and/or fluid come out, keep pedal depressed, close bleeder, release pedal, pump up again and repeat until all fluid and no air comes out. Start with the wheel farthest from the mastercyl and work to the nearest. Don't ever let the master cyl go empty while doing this or you'll re-introduce air.
This happens to be a pain on the boats compressing the tongue/mastercyl/shock.
The bleeder kit has instructions, but IIRC, you fill teh supplied reservior with brake fluid and attach it where specified (above the bleeder I believe). hook hose to bleeder screw, crack open bleeder, pump the brakes and it will expel air and draw fuild back in on the release of the pedal (tongue) getting the cyl and lines filled much quicker.

[GoneBoatN]

Good instructions at http://www.championtrailers.com/techsup.html#bleed_brakes for bleading breaks. If you see lots of rust in your fluid reservoir I suspect you will find your leak rather fast. When this happened to me I found that my seals on the reservoir were shot along with some other parts. Ended up for me best to just replace the whole surge brake unit. Bleading the brakes is a two person task although I read an article where someone used a pressurized sprayer and a spare reservoir cap to make a remote bleeding device so that it only took one person.

Try to determine the manufacture and model of the surge unit. A lot of times you can find the maintenance manual for these units online (e.g. use Google) easily. I looked on the mastercraft web site and did not see a trailer manual earlier than 2007.

[FrankSchwab]

You probably have a UFP A-60 (http://ufpnet.com/Actuators/tabid/54/Default.aspx) actuator (manuals at the link above).

[JMPassch]

Thanks for the info! I'm going to tackle the brakes once at the lake with no boat on the trailer. Hoping for quick fix!!

[JMPassch]

Well, I think I'm getting lucky! Haven't had much time to tackle the brakes with a bleeder so I've filled the reservoir to see what happened. I've opened the bleeder valves the last few times out and have release both some air and some dirty brake fluid. The brakes are now working but probably not to their fullest. I hope to bleed them the correct way soon. So far, so good.

[sc00ter_17]

Your lucky. My 2003 MC tandem axle trailer was a nightmare. First could not get cap off mastercyclinder and destroyed that. Notice brake pads were very wore, so ordered new ones to find out the Reliable Calipers were bad. Would not retract. So ordered new calipers and of coarse you couldn't get just calipers because they all came with pads and at $70 a pop I desided to just do the front axle. Get new calipers installed, go to bleed the brakes and odd no fluid going to the calipers. Mastercyclinder is bad also. Now I have 2 spare sets of pads and working brakes.

[lanier92prostar]

What happens to the rust when you bleed them? Won't it clog the brake lines?