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 👍

[JonC]

https://fb.watch/5ABHBia1g1/

[JonC]

Just now, JonC said:

https://fb.watch/5ABHBia1g1/

One of my trailer videos. 

[Saintly Fish]

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

[JonC]

7 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

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

Do you recon they went down to Tesco to film that at the til? 

[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.