Trailer rework

[Geoff]

The over run damper on my 2tonne snipe trailer is shot, so I decided to give the trailer a treat. The damper is very obviously well past it as every time I apply the car brake or throttle I get a healthy jolt from the trailer. As the reverse brake cylinder also looks quite rusty I decided to replace that as well. I was amazed at the cost of the parts - damper, brake thingy and coupling rubber sleeve came to £80. I had thought about getting a complete new hitch assembly, who knows how much that would have cost? ( Andy does as he has just done one). I shall try to fit the new parts tomorrow. Geoff.☺️

Edited May 18, 2021 by Geoff

[suzook12]

Bout £250 ish I beleive..... Good work, crack on 👍

[Geoff]

I think £250ish sounds much better value for money than my £80. Andy was probably wise in opting for a new hitch as I think fitting the new bits may be very time consuming. Geoff.

[GPSguru]

2 hours ago, Geoff said:

The over run damper on my 2tonne snipe trailer is shot, so I decided to give the trailer a treat. The damper is very obviously well past it as every time I apply the car brake or throttle I get a healthy jolt from the trailer. As the reverse brake cylinder also looks quite rusty I decided to replace that as well. I was amazed at the cost of the parts - damper, brake thingy and coupling rubber sleeve came to £80. I had thought about getting a complete new hitch assembly, who knows how much that would have cost? ( Andy does as he has just done one). I shall try to fit the new parts tomorrow. Geoff.☺️

Actually, that is not a bad price.

In the past Snipe used Avonride couplings and axles, which is now Knott-Avonride.

Dampers are really expensive, and I am guessin you probably have an AV27 coupling, so I would expect to pay something like £60 - £80 for the damper and another £50 ish for the energy store (it needs the energy store, so the handbrake works in reverse).

 

[Andy135]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

I think £250ish sounds much better value for money than my £80. Andy was probably wise in opting for a new hitch as I think fitting the new bits may be very time consuming. Geoff.

I wasted a couple of hours of my weekend attempting to free mine off then decided that my time was worth more than any savings made by reusing it. I got a pleasant surprise when I ordered a new one... there were two different couplings for my trailer, and the correct coupling was the cheaper of the two, then the trailer company I ordered from were running a 10% off voucher code, so I got a brand new coupling delivered for less than £180.

#smuglittleginge

[Geoff]

1 hour ago, GPSguru said:

Actually, that is not a bad price.

In the past Snipe used Avonride couplings and axles, which is now Knott-Avonride.

Dampers are really expensive, and I am guessin you probably have an AV27 coupling, so I would expect to pay something like £60 - £80 for the damper and another £50 ish for the energy store (it needs the energy store, so the handbrake works in reverse).

 

Thanks GPS - you are quite correct, my hitch unit is Avonride and the "brake thingy" is the energy store. It does sound like I did not do too bad, but compared to the whole assembly it just seemed a bit expensive - especially when compared to the £180 that Andy paid for his complete new hitch. Perhaps mine is a bit heavier duty - who knows. Geoff.

[GPSguru]

11 hours ago, Geoff said:

Thanks GPS - you are quite correct, my hitch unit is Avonride and the "brake thingy" is the energy store. It does sound like I did not do too bad, but compared to the whole assembly it just seemed a bit expensive - especially when compared to the £180 that Andy paid for his complete new hitch. Perhaps mine is a bit heavier duty - who knows. Geoff.

 

A replacement would be a Knott coupling, the nearest I can find would be a Knott KFG27 (2.7T), which is £227 .................

A coupling with a pressed steel hitch (2T), rather than a cast hitch is a tad cheaper at £198..........

I prefer the cast hitch with a lock in the top of it...................

You have been a bit unlucky as dampers usually last years. My old GP trailer that I built from anything I had to hand in 1997 had an old  Bradley hydratow coupling (3T) circa 1984 and the damper was still going fine when I sold the trailer last year and got the Ifor Williams! .......... I guess it has done many thousands of fully loaded miles over the years.

Edited May 19, 2021 by GPSguru

[suzook12]

10 hours ago, Andy135 said:

I wasted a couple of hours of my weekend attempting to free mine off then decided that my time was worth more than any savings made by reusing it. I got a pleasant surprise when I ordered a new one... there were two different couplings for my trailer, and the correct coupling was the cheaper of the two, then the trailer company I ordered from were running a 10% off voucher code, so I got a brand new coupling delivered for less than £180.

#smuglittleginge

Good deal all round 👍

[Saintly Fish]

So the moral of this story is ........ don’t let JonC sit at the rear of your trailer whilst under way. 

[Geoff]

18 hours ago, GPSguru said:

 

A replacement would be a Knott coupling, the nearest I can find would be a Knott KFG27 (2.7T), which is £227 .................

A coupling with a pressed steel hitch (2T), rather than a cast hitch is a tad cheaper at £198..........

I prefer the cast hitch with a lock in the top of it...................

You have been a bit unlucky as dampers usually last years. My old GP trailer that I built from anything I had to hand in 1997 had an old  Bradley hydratow coupling (3T) circa 1984 and the damper was still going fine when I sold the trailer last year and got the Ifor Williams! .......... I guess it has done many thousands of fully loaded miles over the years.

Thank you Ian, I should have waited until I had stripped the hitch before buying the parts. there was nothing wrong with the energy store other than a bit of surface rust and after stripping I realised that somebody must have refitted the hitch and not anchored the back end of the damper thus leaving it floating around, just relying on the end stops - no springing or damping at all. The old damper was fine so I have just refitted it and the new bellows, wire brushed and sanded the rusty surfaces and gine them a quick blast with a zinc rich primer. Hopefully all sorted, but now have a spare damper and E store - going cheap if anybody needs them. My hitch is the cast type, but the lock barrel is missing. I would gues they are fairly easy to get replaced?  Geoff.☺️

[Saintly Fish]

26 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Thank you Ian, I should have waited until I had stripped the hitch before buying the parts. there was nothing wrong with the energy store other than a bit of surface rust and after stripping I realised that somebody must have refitted the hitch and not anchored the back end of the damper thus leaving it floating around, just relying on the end stops - no springing or damping at all. The old damper was fine so I have just refitted it and the new bellows, wire brushed and sanded the rusty surfaces and gine them a quick blast with a zinc rich primer. Hopefully all sorted, but now have a spare damper and E store - going cheap if anybody needs them. My hitch is the cast type, but the lock barrel is missing. I would gues they are fairly easy to get replaced?  Geoff.☺️

#noproofreadingdoneheretutttutt

[Geoff]

4 hours ago, Saintly Fish said:

#noproofreadingdoneheretutttutt

Correct - and it is an Allen Bradley hitch assembly. Geoff.☺️

[GPSguru]

51 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Correct - and it is an Allen Bradley hitch assembly. Geoff.☺️

 

So, i am guessing it is an Avonride coupling, but somebody has fitted a Bradley cast hitch, probably a D201.

There will be a locking hole in the side of the hitch, which is usually covered by a small swivel plate. The lock assembly fits in the hole to lock it, and is completely removed to unlock it. The lock is about £15 for genuine Bradley and about £11 for a 3rd party lock. If you get a lock, don't lose the keys as they are an exceptional pain to drill out !

If it is a complete Bradley coupling, then it will be an HU3, and the dampers for those are very expensive. The HU3 is a direct replacement for the Hydratow that I had on my old GP trailer.

[Geoff]

The hitch and the coupling are both Bradley (the Allen bit came from some electronic bits i have!!!) there is the swivel plate that you mentioned, so I should be able to source a lock for it. Thanks for the info. It may be of course that a previous owner has fitted a different coupling assembly. It may be a bit older than your one was. The cast hitch is a D5050 and has 2750kg cast in. The coupling plate is very difficult to read, there is a mark that I think reads RD203 that may be the type. Geoff.