TRAILERS
(and cars)
Your brakes may
disintegrate – its official!
Trailer
brakes are a controversial subject but if the maximum permitted weight of the
trailer and its load exceeds 750Kg or if it exceeds half the weight of the tow
car then the law says that brakes have to be fitted, they have to be legal and
they have to work. Some owners only use their trailers twice a year to take the
boat a couple of miles home for the winter and out again in the spring. Every
time that I go sailing I have a minimum return tow of 140 miles and sometimes I
take the boat to far off places towing 1,500 miles or more, often at higher
speeds than are permitted in the UK. Accordingly, I take a keen interest in the
correct servicing and operation of my brakes. This is the story of how my
trailer brakes failed and how the
government regulators stated that they find disintegrating brakes on cars and
trailers acceptable – but they will still prosecute you if they don’t work!
The
story starts in 2006 when I serviced the trailer and adjusted the brakes before
a 240 mile round trip. I also looked through the hole
provided in the back plate and checked that the remaining thickness of brake
lining was adequate. When I arrived at my destination I had to disconnect the
trailer from the car on a gentle slope but found that the hand brake had no
effect whatsoever. I narrowly avoided being run over by 900Kg of trailer but
managed to get the trailer across the slope and stopped before any damage was
done. As soon as I could arrange it, the brakes were dismantled. It was
discovered that the brake linings which I had seen through the back plate were
not actually attached to the brake shoes!
There
are three brake shoes in this picture. One new one for comparison, one old one
with lining attached and one old one with the remains of its completely
detached lining lying by its side. The cause of this first occurrence is
uncertain. At the time I put it down to rust having jacked the lining off the
shoe. This in turn could have been due to an occasion when the trailer was
immersed in salt water against my wishes by the launching team at a festival in
a south coast harbour. It could also follow possible fresh water immersion by the
original owner who kept the boat on Ullswater.
However, the rest of the brake mechanism was in good shape as can be seen from
the next picture which was taken after the shoes had been replaced but before
the drum was put back on.
After
that experience I made sure that on no occasion would the brakes ever again be immersed. Imagine my distress therefore when the problem
later recurred with completely new brakes which had never been immersed in
water of either the salt or fresh variety! In 2009 I planned a trip to the
The
pictures below were taken when these brakes were less than a year old.
Above
is a detached lining from one of the brake shoes and
this is a picture of the brakes on the
other side where just half the lining has come away.
As
this had now happened to me twice, I wondered if brake linings
coming adrift was a common problem. So I contacted seven organisations.
Both of the major caravan clubs, the manufacturer of my trailer, a boat builder
with extensive second hand trailer experience, two other boat trailer
manufacturers and one manufacturer who makes all kinds of trailers except boat trailers. From this
investigation three things became abundantly clear.
Firstly,
detachment of brake linings is widespread. One trailer manufacturer said “It
happens all the time”.
Secondly,
it was not confined to ALKO, (the manufacturer of my axle and brakes) but also
to Knott, the other major maker of light trailer brakes that are sold in the
Thirdly,
it was clear that the problem was not confined to boat trailers. That
conclusively proved that immersion was either not the cause or was not the only
cause.
ALKO
promptly replaced my brake shoes under warranty. I wrote to them calling
attention to the apparent widespread problem and the special problems of ALKO
brakes i.e. the special tools and ‘one time’ nut involved in dismantling in
order to inspect their brakes. I also mentioned the over adjusting that can
result if their brakes are adjusted in the same manner as car brakes with a
similar mechanism. I received no reply to that letter nor
to a follow up letter.
I
wrote to the Vehicle Certification Agency to inquire if forthcoming changes to
the type approval scheme would address this issue. They said in effect that
provided the brakes worked when new they had no jurisdiction! They referred me
to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency “VOSA” who manage recalls and who
at the time were under attack from the Consumers Association for being
toothless. After an exchange of correspondence I formed the opinion
that not only were they toothless, but their object appeared to be to
protect the industry from consumers rather than consumers from the industry.
Remarkably, in a letter of 21st April 2011 their representative said
“We are aware that the issue of brake lining detachment can occur on any type
of vehicle including cars” and later in the same letter “I acknowledge that it
can and has happened; so therefore, I accept that it can occur”.
Finally
I wrote to my member of Parliament, Philip Hammond,
who at the time happened to be the minister of transport. He said “The safety
record of light trailers on
Personally
I find ALKO’s refusal to even talk about the subject
frankly disgusting. I also find it unbelievable that the government find
disintegrating brakes acceptable. What is needed is a system where type
approval can be withdrawn when safety related parts are subject to widespread
failure in service. This will not be achieved without a drastic change of the Government’s attitude.
However, I can do no more. So if the brakes on your car or trailer fall apart
don’t expect anyone to care - except the manufacturer. He will be rubbing his
hands with glee since he will profit from the sale of yet another set of
replacement brake parts!
In
the mean time if anyone knows where I can get an explanation as to why it is
impossible to make brakes that don’t disintegrate please let me know. Also I
would be happy to try some riveted brake linings if I could find any.
Appendix
Those
who have followed the above story about AL-KO brake linings becoming detached
from their shoes will not be surprised to learn that when we got the brakes off
Appuski Too's four wheel trailer - yes we discovered
that the linings on the nearside rear and offside front wheel sets were
floating free. How this affected the brake adjustment process I dread to think.