Trailer Rigid Brake Cable Replacement

whackywoody · 04 March 2013, 19:31

Hi, I have a indespension trailer but believe the brake cables are aftermarket and I am looking for a replacement as mine snapped over the weekend. The cable as you can see from the photo is rigid (stainless?) and there is one of these per wheel (single axle) and then a long one from damper coupling by the tow hitch to a rotating cam (located on axle). The part in question runs from the cam at the axle to the wheel and its has a nipple on the end (which then attaches to a standard knott brake shoe assembly). Does anyone know where I can get a replacement from as I can't find any on the internet

?

Thanks Gareth

P.S. The cable overall length is 87cms

P.P.S. I would prefer to stick with this setup as I want to avoid the usual flexible cable set up as I have one on my other boat trailer and don't rate them!

Trailer Guy · 04 March 2013, 20:19

Homemade jobbies I reckon.

You can buy Knott stainless cables now. Clearly a huge improvement over standard mild steel. They are told apart by the blue outer sheath, rather than the standard black. Likely £15 to £17ish each.

If you're after a solid bar to run from the compensator to the coupling then M10 brake rod is the ticket. Off the shelf item in 3m lengths. If you're after stainless for that too, then buy a length of M10 stainless and then tap the end that goes in to the M10 clevis on the coupling.

whackywoody · 05 March 2013, 09:18

Thanks for the response trailer guy!

Think the m10 threaded bar looks a good idea! Could I use the m10 Clevis on both ends of the bar so that an extended Clevis would connect to the shoe expander in the drum as the bar won't have a nipple?

Thanks again

Gareth

9D280 · 05 March 2013, 11:42

Just be careful mixing stainless & mild steels in "homemade" gear - one of them will become a nice anode!

As TG says - M10 rod works well. Glav or shearardised might be a better bet. The reason you can get away with stainless in the flexis is that there's next to no "wet" surface area avaiable to complete the battery when you compare the cables to the rest of the brake gear.

A stainless brake rod will alter that balance somewhat!