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PulNSerenity · 03-17-2022, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGhost

Hate too say it but it seems many of these companies are failing due to the lack of competent employees. Many hope for a return to normalcy but I'm afraid this IS the new normal until people get tired of the incompetence. I won't go any farther than that but you get where I'm going with the inference......

Yes it is impossible to find good help! Not only do you have to hire subpar employees but now you have to pay them $16-20/hr. I do not see this getting any better any time soon. Nobody wants to work anymore & if they do they do not take pride in there work. It is really sad.

Jerry Burks · 03-18-2022, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PulNSerenity

...now you have to pay them $16-20/hr. I do not see this getting any better any time soon. Nobody wants to work anymore & if they do they do not take pride in there work....

Why would they want to work and be proud of it if they effectively make less money than their parents in the 70's. They may put up with it, given that homelessness is no real alternative.

At $16-$20 you are still on the poor side, especially given the cost of housing.

O.K. I guess now I have highjacked my own thread. Back to the brake disks...

I installed the disks and calipers today. Took about an hour per wheel and everything fit together so far. After the first wheel I went and bought an electric grease gun. Packing the bearings and filling the large hub made my fingers almost fall off with the manual grease gun.

Tomorrow I will route the hydraulic lines, install the actuator and wire it up.

Jerry Burks · 03-20-2022, 06:00 PM

Last update: I received the full refund from etrailer.com
Other than being angry for a few days and 4 weeks lost on the project schedule no further damage and even a few hundred Dollar saved. After all, I got the complete disk brake conversion now for about $1800 and 3 days of my own labor.

I installed the hydraulic lines and the wiring and to my surprise everything works as intended. The disk brakes are WAY more effective at stopping that thing.

beerdude · 03-21-2022, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry Burks

I installed the hydraulic lines and the wiring and to my surprise everything works as intended. The disk brakes are WAY more effective at stopping that thing.

Oh and they get even better. Be prepared to dial back/recalibrate your brake controller setting a few digits after a couple hundred miles of bedding in. Otherwise, that tire smoke wafting by you at a stop light might just be from you.

Jerry Burks · 03-22-2022, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerdude

Oh and they get even better. Be prepared to dial back/recalibrate your brake controller setting a few digits after a couple hundred miles of bedding in. Otherwise, that tire smoke wafting by you at a stop light might just be from you.

Good to hear that. I do a quick brake test anyway every time I leave and set the controller to just not lock up at low speed and full lever stroke. Right now it is set to 7.5 so I can adjust up or down as needed. There is a fraction of a second delay before the trailer brakes bite but overall much more confidence-inspiring.

I towed 80 miles today and will now check and re-tighten the spindle nuts and bleed the brakes one more time. I hope then I will be ready for my 2 months/7000 mile trip starting mid April (Colorado-South Florida-Toronto-Regina and back). No, I am not mentioning the diesel prices...

Gsykora · 03-22-2022, 02:52 PM

I definitely need to do this upgrade to our 5'er. I feel I could do it (pretty mechanically inclined) but just worried that if something messes up (ie: I mess up), our trailer would be down for the count at the storage yard, until a mobile tech could come out and "fix" whatever I did. I know it's way more, but I may just contact Performance Brake and have them come do it, or take it to them to do.

Jerry Burks · 03-22-2022, 03:09 PM

It was not really a difficult job. Especially replacing the drums with the disks was maybe an hour each wheel, messy with all the grease but easy to do with some basic tools (impact wrench to remove the nuts, torque wrench to reinstall). I did buy an electric grease press to avoid my fingers falling off after 10 minutes grease pumping or more per wheel.

Routing the hydraulic lines was also not that difficult. I followed the chassis beams from the outside and only had to crawl under to go across to the other side. In some installation videos they routed the tubing above the Coroplast which I did not like (too wobbly). Instead I added another 4' of metal brake line from the auto parts store and used the slinky storage tube as support to go across. From the Propane compartment I only needed a hole in the front storage wall to get to the actuator there.

The electrical part was more interesting. The instructions are more for utility trailers that do not have a battery. Then you need a special breakaway battery kit to support power for the actuator. Since the 5th wheel already has ample battery I tweaked the wiring to avoid that (let me know if you need a diagram).

So, after all I am quite happy I did that myself. Not easy at my age to crawl around on the ground for 3 days and my hips and knees are still complaining. But at least it is now installed like I want to. Having a random person install it your results may vary.

Gsykora · 03-22-2022, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry Burks

It was not really a difficult job. Especially replacing the drums with the disks was maybe an hour each wheel, messy with all the grease but easy to do with some basic tools (impact wrench to remove the nuts, torque wrench to reinstall). I did buy an electric grease press to avoid my fingers falling off after 10 minutes grease pumping or more per wheel.

Routing the hydraulic lines was also not that difficult. I followed the chassis beams from the outside and only had to crawl under to go across to the other side. In some installation videos they routed the tubing above the Coroplast which I did not like (too wobbly). Instead I added another 4' of metal brake line from the auto parts store and used the slinky storage tube as support to go across. From the Propane compartment I only needed a hole in the front storage wall to get to the actuator there.

The electrical part was more interesting. The instructions are more for utility trailers that do not have a battery. Then you need a special breakaway battery kit to support power for the actuator. Since the 5th wheel already has ample battery I tweaked the wiring to avoid that (let me know if you need a diagram).

So, after all I am quite happy I did that myself. Not easy at my age to crawl around on the ground for 3 days and my hips and knees are still complaining. But at least it is now installed like I want to. Having a random person install it your results may vary.

Thanks - I've watched numerous Youtube videos on how to do it and it does seem fairly straightforward.

Edd505 · 03-23-2022, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry Burks

Why would they want to work and be proud of it if they effectively make less money than their parents in the 70's. They may put up with it, given that homelessness is no real alternative.

At $16-$20 you are still on the poor side, especially given the cost of housing.

O.K. I guess now I have highjacked my own thread. Back to the brake disks...

I installed the disks and calipers today. Took about an hour per wheel and everything fit together so far. After the first wheel I went and bought an electric grease gun. Packing the bearings and filling the large hub made my fingers almost fall off with the manual grease gun.

Tomorrow I will route the hydraulic lines, install the actuator and wire it up.

So how does this effect us retired on fixed incomes? Back to brakes, I did my own and ran the brake lines inside the frame, where the lines cross to the other side I went across at cross members, follow the coroplast screws. For me the hardest part was fishing wires into the pin box. After having the disc brakes on this 5W I will never own another with out, the braking is so much better the should be required from the factory. Find a vehicle, car or truck, that does not have disc brakes, there is a reason.

Jerry Burks · 03-24-2022, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edd505

... For me the hardest part was fishing wires into the pin box....

That is why I changed the wiring. I left the breakaway switch cold side connected to the blue controller wire as it had been for the electric brakes. With that I did not have to run an additional wire from the pin box.

Also, since the actuator is supplied directly by the trailer house battery, it does not draw 20-30 amps from the truck 12V as described in the Hydrastar diagram. Anyway, it works well.

I did notice, while the Hydrastar actuator is nicely sturdy, small and compact, the brake fluid reservoir is really small as well. I had a hard time bleeding a single caliper without running the reservoir dry. That required frequent refills and I made quite a mess, spilling the fluid.

I fixed that with a small hose in a rubber stopper plugged into the actuator fill hole so that the actuator can siphon more brake fluid directly from the Prestone bottle when bleeding. Together with a remote switch on a long cable, bleeding all brakes took only 5 or 10 minutes.