Kodiak Brakes vs Tie Down

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Hey Guys:
I have had my trailer at the trailer guy now for over two weeks and he is just getting to it today and I am supposed to be departing Friday for the Keys. UGHHHHH!

Anyway, the calipers are seized up in the open position, so the wheels spin but I have no brakes. I am looking to buy today either Kodiak Stainless steel set or the Tie Down G5s. I know Magic Trail does not use either of these brands on their trailers or did not back in 2008. So, what are your thoughts on this? Thanks.

 

[Parthery]

Time to find another trailer guy, I'm afraid.

If it were me, I'd go - in this order...

Deemaxx
Kodiak
Tie-Down G-5.

I'm assuming your slow moving trailer guy can get all 3? If not, it's going to be whatever Eastern Marine can overnight to you tomorrow.

 

[CatTwentyTwo]

My only experience is with the stainless steel Kodiak's and they have been trouble free.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Thanks Guys. Kodiak is the buy and my trailer guy is really an RV guy who can work on boat trailers. He does not use suppliers for boat trailers so I ordered those from e-trailer and eastern marine in large part because I can get them for a little less but also because they can be here Wednesday and the shipping was free. Eastern was going to charge me $200 extra to get them here Wednesday.

 

[grady23]

I just replaced the drum brake system on my trailer last year. I went with the SS Kodiak units w/ the cadnum rotors. Boat has been in/out many times and only thing I do is rinse with Salt Away and fresh water. Plan on replacing your bake lines as well. Btw -- I did mine myself in about 1/2 day's time.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Grady 23, yeah I contemplated doing it myself as I have done my cars brakes before. It cant be that hard. I own a couple of stores here in the Smokies and we are getting busy and I need to do 100 other things to before I depart, so I am paying to have it done. We are doing the whole thing. The trailer is only 4 years old and sees saltwater maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I rinse it and the brakes they installed are crap. within 12 months the manufacture replaced the actuator because it was corroded out. The rub is the master cylinder piston is not in a place where you can easily rinse it. My other trailer on my old boat had Tie Down stuff and we never had a problem and back then I was living in Florida and the boat saw saltwater weekly.

So when we hit the Keys on Saturday, it will likely be the only time the trailer sees saltwater when I splash it Saturday and then take it out when we head home. The rest of the season the boat will be in Lake Fontana until September. Maybe we take it out and head down to Lanier over to the TN River or something. Who knows.

 

[fish_hunter]

I put kodiaks on my last trailer and they worked great. much better than the drum brakes. you will need to replace your actuator also when you switch to disc brakes and install an electric override solenoid so you can back up. easy to install the override solenoid, you just tap into your vehicle backup light wiring.

i also installed the kodiak oil bath bearing hubs which also worked flawlessly.

I did all the work myself on the trailer and it was relativley easy, the only difficult part was removing the old rusted on hubs.

 

[wrxhoon]

I use Kodiak all S/S here in Australia on all the trailers I set up, never had a problem other than warn pads and warn rotors; I buy them from Sturdybuilt, these are the brakes I use: http://www.sturdybuiltonline.com/Kodiak ... p_476.html
I know they are expensive to buy for you guys but I have to pay shipping on the top at about $3.80 per pound, although I buy them at a discount to their list price .
They now come standard with S/S backing on the braking pads, before they used painted mild steel, not a problem because you wear the pads and replace them.
I use either Dexter or Hydrastar electric actuator. With this set up you can lock the trailer brakes anytime by pulling the lever on the P3.

I wouldn't even dream of using drum brakes on a boat trailer, they will NOT work more than a few times after you submerge them in salt water.
At the very least I would use S/S calipers and none S/S rotors, they are ok if you use the trailer on a weekly basis or more often .

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

wrxhoon,
My trailer is made by Magic Trail and they hung crappy disc brakes on it. In 4 years and I bought it new, it has seen sea water maybe 16 times and I rinse the wheels each time. In the first year the actuator and calipers seized and the brake guys replaced the parts only. Magic Trail did not do squat. so in Year 4 just 3 years after all new brake components and maybe 12 sea water launches the calipers failed again. My old trailer was a Performance and they used Tie Down components and never did we have these problems and I lived in Fla at the time and my boat was in the ocean nearly every weekend possible.

I hope the hype is true with the Kodiaks. By the way, does the water in the toilet really spin the other way in the southern hemisphere? lol....

 

[trapper]

Unfortunately there is no spin at the equator. I have Kodak disk brakes, but not the stainless. I believe most of the salt damage is done after launch while sitting in the parking lot for hours, not after I get home and have a chance to wash them down well. I pack a 2 gal pesticide pressurized hand pump with a mixture of Salt Away and spray down brakes and hubs in the parking lot after launch. Takes about 2 minutes and seems to lengthen the life of those expensive brakes, especially when law requires brakes on both axels. Cheers trapper. p.s. If I am miles from the launch (unusual here) I spray down before heading home.

 

[grady23]

Good move on the Salt-Away --- I use it every trip after the trailer comes out of the water. The crew gets upset sometimes because they are ready to go. I just tell them they can shell out an extra $20/guy to replace the brakes and then the all SHUT-UP.

 

[wrxhoon]

I hope the hype is true with the Kodiaks. By the way, does the water in the toilet really spin the other way in the southern hemisphere? lol....

[/quote]
Of course its does, not just in the toilet, in the basin as well.
If you haven't been to AU, you don't know what you are missing!!! If you wait another year or so your $ should buy a little more $AU than it does now to ease the pain.
I'll be over to USA West cost and Canada in August and I can see it's costing me more every day, when I booked everything the $AU was buying $1.03 US, now its only 93 cents and free falling!!

I don't know why you guys bother with anything other than S/S as far as brakes go, you have them there and they are quite cheap now for only $600 per axle you will have trouble free brakes for many years dunking them in the salt every week. Here we have annual roadworthy inspections on our trailers so the brakes must work.