essentially you take them down to the depth of the deepest furrow.
That may be 2-3mm but even so, on older cars with massive castings not exactly machined to the micron in the first place, that was probably as good as new anyway ;-0
The key was to get the SAME braking effort from both sides. Yes scored drums work, but there is less reatradation from the scored side, especially with newish pads. AND in time you get rubbing especially with self adjusting ones.
I don't like brakes that pull.
£10 a side versus my life seemed a reasonable deal.
Legally, yes you'd have to. The police have been known to set up checks and pull in every trailer and caravan to check them over, although that is usually on routes to the the ferry ports. I would think that a simple sticky label would do the job, but it's not something I've looked into. As far as I am aware, the police simply require a figure stated on the trailer that they can check against the tow vehicle specs and if necessary on a weighbridge. I don't think that there is any requirement for it to be the official, original, manufacturer's label or anything.
That's right.
Another one to catch you out is that every unbraked trailer maufactured (or made yourself) after 1st Jan 1997 must have a secondary coupling (safety chain) to keep it attached to the vehicle if it becomes unhitched. This is a proper, heavy duty chain, not the little ones that simply apply the brakes on a braked trailer. This also means that you need an attachment point on the tow vehicle, although I think that if one is not available, it is allowed (but frowned upon) to attach it around the towball.
It's actually useful to have such a chain, as if your hitch is of the type that can only be locked when disconnected from the vehicle, as the safety chain can be arranged to secure the trailer if you need to leave the vehicle unattended.
I've been caught up in one of their binges on vans a good few years ago. Pulled up 5 times in as many weeks and only done for the one I was morally innocent of! Exceeding the speed limit of a goods vehicle (50+ in a Morris Minor van on a otherwise 70mpg dual carriageway). ;-(
Check. I think I've seen them at the likes of GT Towing.
Thanks.
Yup, I have such on the little Caddy and the Ex RAC motorcycle recovery trailer.
'Breakaway cable'?
I think I have a spare pair of mounting holes on a ball back plate that I've put a shackle though but one of the benefits of trailers and the 50mm ball is that they can be moved between vehicles (all 4 of ours have towbars).
Yeah, good point. On this new (to us) trailer it was threaded on one of the hitch mounting bolts but on the Ex RAC trailer it was welded on (so a little bit more secure when used as a security device).
Mind you, when you hear what the scrotes will do to get this sort of stuff I'm not sure there is much point?
My homemade, but not by me, trailer hadn't a secondary coupling. Was never very happy about the "single point of failure". It's a box trailer approx 6 x 4 x 2' laden with junk for the dump it's pretty heavy. Not something I like the idea of taking its own course at
50mph...
Went to the local indepension shop and bought one. Two crimped loops in a length of approx 7mm steel cable one big enough to snugly pass over the tow ball and the other with a thick bit of steel with hole in to fit under one of coupling bolts. All the secondary couplings on their manufactured trailers are only long enough to go around the tow ball. I queried the sensibilty of this but didn't really get a satisfactory answer.
TBH finding a strong enough point to attach a secondary coupling that isn't the tow ball on most cars would be tricky. At least not without having a long coupling which would allow the trailer to move about an awful lot making big holes in expensive wrap around plastic bumpers...
Being home made there is no weight plate either. AFAIK there is no requirement for such a plate.
I use a pretty hefty piece of chain - specifically chosen as most of the similar sized chains were rated at around a third of its loading.
Although not the preferred option, the reasoning is that the ball is very unlikely to break or pull loose - it's the hitch that's likely to pop off, so a chain or cable around the ball is "okay".
I use a plate that is sandwiched between the towbar and the ball and has a hole through it. It looks like this one.
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's very solid. In an emergency I needed to tow a Citroen C5 using a solid bar that's designed to clip onto a towing eye, but my towing eye was covered by the towbar and the bar wouldn't clip to the towball. There was no problem towing it using the breakaway bracket, although I wouldn't want to make a habit of it.
I'm pretty sure that there used to be such a requirement, I don't know if it is still in force, but it's best to play safe. Just Letrasetting "1000kg MGW" or whatever used to be enough.
It was still fairly popular amongst model / home engineers when I bought mine (s/h) over 25 years ago and it's done a whole range of stuff for me over the years.
I used to true up all my RC electric racing car tyres when they were foam you glued onto a plastic wheel.
I made all the transmission components for my 'Electrolight' (electric endurance racing machine) on it, gear carriers and bearing adaptors etc.
In between there have been loads of repair bits for cars, trailers and for the first time recently using it as a mill (with the job in the tool holder and an end-mill in the 3 jaw).
I have turned loads of bearing / bush pushers and removers to use in conjunction with my 10 tonne hydraulic press.
Oh, I turned up a threaded collar that I Lumiwelded into the top of a standard Ford Escort thermostat housing that would take a Fiat electric fan switch for the kitcar.
My lathe is still scaled in imperial so if I'm making a metric sized part I use a converting digital caliper to quickly work out how much to cut. ;-)
I really don't know what I would do without it now, nor the big Record q/r vice, angle grinder, MIG or B&D Workmate and probably a good few more I've forgotten. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
p.s. I've had a s/h 4 jaw chuck and new back plate for /years/ and for the few times I've needed a 4 jaw I've held it in the 3 jaw (not very nice or safe but ..). So recently I actually mounted the 4 jaw on it's boss. Better (15 years) late than never!
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