Taking Care of Your Boat Trailer

by Mike Semenec

Most bass fisherman spend tons of time on rods and tackle because that’s what gets lunker lips into the boat. But you can’t get to that fish without your boat and that hunk of metal it rides on—your trailer. It’s got to be in great working order or else an expected great day on the water could end up to be a terrible day at the garage. So I sat down with Steve Sunday, the Service Manager at American Truck and Trailer in Manassas, to get the low down on trailers. Steve agrees that anglers certainly take care of their boats, but is amazed at how many of them don’t worry about their trailers. So here is some general information about boat trailer, what you should look out for, and what you can do to make sure you get to the ramp without a hitch (no pun intended).

There really aren’t that many components that make up the trailer. As far as running gear is concerned you have the axle, the axle spindle with bearings, the hub, wheel assembly, braking system, and the tires. Beside the running gear you have the electrical components consisting of wires and lights, the coupler at the front of the trailer that attaches to the vehicle, and the frame.

Axle and Frame
You can check the condition of your axle when you’re going down the road. Look in your side view mirrors and check to see that the tires are running true—straight up and down. If you have a bow one way or the other it could mean that the axle is bent as a result of the bouncing of your boat that can bend your axle and cause your tires to "kick out". That can also cause your tires to wear unevenly. If your tires are running sideways it could also mean that your bearings could be loose and in need of a repack.

How often do bearings need to be packed? Steve recommends every 10,000 miles, or at least once a year at the beginning or end of the season. Steve’s crew takes the hub off, pulls the back grease seal out, pulls the bearings off, washes them down completely in a parts washer, inspects them to see if they are pitted, rusted, makes sure the race or cone is tight, and there is no play in it, and if everything is fine just repack the bearings with marine grease. They reassemble everything, also put in new grease seals every time they pull the wheel off so there is no leaking. All of this is something that the fisherman can do himself with a little bit of knowledge. Just make sure there is grease throughout the whole bearing, because if you put a bearing back that is only partially packed it will seize up. If it seizes up 9 times out of 10 it will score the axle and you have to put a new axle on it, and that can get expensive.

If you decide to do this yourself don’t pump too much grease into them. Too much will blow out the seal and result in the grease getting all over the brake shoes and wheel cylinders, and they will not work properly. The rule is to put only one or two pumps of grease in until you see the spring barely start to move. You can buy a kit with a grease gun and 3-4 tubes of grease. You don’t have to add grease every time you go out-- once every other time will be plenty, but don’t over grease.

An important part of the frame is the coupler at the very front—make sure it is locked onto the hitch properly and you have a pin through it so the unlocking latch doesn’t come up while you are going down the road. Connect the brake away cable to the tow vehicle. If the coupler were to break away, the pulling on the cable would activate the master cylinder and engage the brakes on the trailer. Make sure your safety chains are hooked up. Steve’s personal preference is to cross the chains to keep the coupler off the road surface in the event the trailer separates from the tow vehicle. However there isn’t any wrong or right way to hook the chains, as long as they are connected to the front vehicle.

Many of the older trailers are made of steel and you should check your frame for rust. Some of the frames these days are galvanized so you really don’t have to worry about the frame rusting.

A galvanized trailer is worth the added expense if you plan on keeping your boat for a while.

Tires
I’ve heard some fisherman say that you can run passenger car tires on your trailer. I guess you can but there are differences between the two tires. Automotive tires must maintain traction during all driving conditions—pulling, stopping, turning and swerving. Consequently, they have more flexible sidewalls to maintain tread to road contact. Trailer tires don’t need that kind of flexibility. Another difference is in the load rating. The sidewall rating on a trailer tire is a lot heavier—rated for more weight. If you use passenger tires on a trailer you will note that the tires are bulging on the sides because the sidewall is not as strong as it should be. If you use passenger tires you can actual accentuate trailer sway problems, whereas trailer tires help control and reduce sway. The inflation psi also varies. Most trailer tires have a 50 psi rating, while passenger tires generally require between 30-35 psi. The higher inflation gives you more capability to bear a heavier direct load. Furthermore, trailer tires do not have to be balanced like passenger tires. However, Steve occasionally performs rotation (front to back) on dual axle tires if the owners insist. The best thing is just don’t put passenger tires on a trailer. They are built to provide a comfortable ride for the passengers and not to bear a direct heavy load.

Steve recommends that before you get on the road check your tire pressure (to include the spare), and examine your tires for dry rot. This is especially true if you store your boat outdoors. Look for cracks in the tire wall. A couple may not be of great concern but if there are numerous cracks then you should replace the tires or you could suffer a blow out. If you have a locking nut on your tire rim make sure you carry it in your tow vehicle. Also examine the tires where the grease cap is and make sure there is no grease coming out and check for grease in the hub.

Brakes
Brakes are a major component of the trailer. Most trailers have a surge brake system, whose major component is a master cylinder on the coupler section at the front. When you apply the brakes on the vehicle it causes the coupler to compress against the tow vehicle, which sends fluid through the master cylinder back to the braking system on the trailer. The wheel cylinder inside the drum housing pushes the brake pads out and this slows you down. When the vehicle starts speeding back up the coupler is released and the pressure is reduced on the master cylinder and the brakes are released on the trailer. Major brake problems result from not maintaining the brake fluid at proper levels, letting the master cylinder go dry, or moisture or rainwater getting in there and brake lines rusting out. Nine times out of ten when a boat trailer comes in it needs major brake work. Gunk also collects in the master cylinder and consequently your braking system doesn’t operate properly. Brakes and pads normally last about 3-4 years unless you are going into salt water a lot. Salt will eat up your wheel cylinders and damage brake lines. In brackish water we fish in the Potomac it should not be of concern.

These days fisherman have the option of getting disc brakes on their trailer, and Steve considers them superior to drum brakes as far as performance and the set up in general. They also require a lot less maintenance. You don’t have to worry about the wheel cylinders corroding but you still have to be mind-full of your master cylinder. Disc brakes also provide a much smoother and less jerky stopping motion. Disc brakes are a couple hundred dollars more expensive but they are worth the added investment, especially if you use the trailer all the time. If you only go out once a month or so you might not want to pay the extra money. However, if you are out every weekend or a couple times a week it would be a good idea to go with disk brakes.

Trailer brakes are obviously exposed to water, and according to Steve you really don’t have to do anything special after coming out of the water and can immediately park the trailer. The water will drip out and the brakes will dry.

When backing your trailer up hill or through very soft ground you should deactivate your brakes by engaging the latch knob that is usually located on the side of the coupler unit. This will prevent burning up your brakes. There is also a reverse solenoid which you can hook up to the reverse-wire on your vehicle, and as soon as you put it in reverse it bypasses the master cylinder and automatically disengages the brakes, so you don’t have to get out of your car to engage the latch knob.

If you are going on a long trip over a couple hundred miles, it would be good to check the fluid level in the master cylinder. Otherwise, you should check the fluid once a month. Look on the inside of the wheels to make sure there isn’t any fluid dripping out or evidence of a broken line. If you run over road debris like a recap that came off another vehicle—it can do some damage to the brake system lines. You should stop and inspect your trailer to make sure it can operate properly.

The presence of brakes on a trailer is the determining factor in whether or not your trailer needs a Virginia State inspection, according to the Virginia State Police Safety Office. If you have brakes on your trailer—you must have the trailer inspected once a year.

Electrical
Lights and wiring seem to be an issue on a lot of trailers. The most common problems according to Steve are broken or frayed wires. Wires can get pinched or corroded from the trailer’s exposure to water. However, there is a "Dielectric" grease that you can put on all your fittings or places where the wire is spliced, or where it attaches to your lights, and it will keep the moisture out. You can also apply the grease to the electrical connecter you plug into the plug housing on the car to keep it from corroding. The second most frequent problem is the simple burned out bulb. Before you get on the road you should check all your turn signals, parking lights, and running lights along the sides of your trailer and the three lights in the middle of the rear of the frame. You can even check your brake lights by yourself if you depress your brake pedal with the right length slick placed between the brake pad and your seat.

Hope this information helps you better understand the workings of your trailer and that it gets you to the ramp without any problems. If you would like to get to really know your trailer, check out the web site at www.championtrailers.com.