Reply With QuoteIts normal. Its part of the actuator that engages the trailer brakes. Ig the thunk is really bad, you probably either have air in the brake lines or the brakes need adjustment (at the brake drums as the shoes have worn)
I'm tired of living with this thunk every time I start out from a stop sign while towing my boat. The trailer tongue has the slot that the tongue slides along and I'm assuming that when I start moving, it slides to the end of the slot and makes the thunk.
I talked to a trailer shop and they took it for a tow ride and said it was normal. Any thoughts on this? Thanks.
Its normal. Its part of the actuator that engages the trailer brakes. Ig the thunk is really bad, you probably either have air in the brake lines or the brakes need adjustment (at the brake drums as the shoes have worn)
Its normal dude....you can always do what i do......CRANK IT UP A LITTLE LOUDER!!!!!! The clunk will eventually be drowned out. LOL
Timer,sorry to say but it's not OK to have a "thunk" .If you have a surge brake system like Atwood,the thunk comes from the actuator hitting at the end of travel,caused by a depleted shock absorber [oil dissipated trough the seal],can't believe that trailer shops couldn't figure it out.
rivercrazy, the brakes were just replaced and the lines bled, etc. by this trailer shop.
BLOWNDRAGBOAT, I used to have another boat with trailer brakes and it never did this, althouth it didn't have the more modern trailer tongue on it (with a slot).
spectras only, yes it's a surge brake system. The trailer shop said it wasn't the damper (shock absorber). They didn't replace that when they earlier replaced the brakes, so they had an incentive to say it was bad, but they didn't; so I assumed that they were giving me the real scoop.
I'm thinking there is something wrong. It's got to be the damper which is the only thing that works when the tongue is lenthened when starting to accelerate, right????
Timer ,I still think it's your little tubeshock.When you brake, the master cylinder cushoning the actuator from hitting hard ,but when you pull again the actuator just slides too quick ,hence the clunk.If you locked the actuator out [stopping it from moving] you won't hear a clunk.You can remove that shock easily and check for resistance by pushing and pulling on the rod,it should be a two way damping.
[This message has been edited by spectras only (edited August 28, 2001).]
spectras only, so what you're saying is that the damper (tube shock) is what cushions the pull so it won't thunk? So if I remove it and test it by hand, I'm probably going to find that it's easy to pull open if it's bad?
Some amount of thunk is normal in actuators made by UFO. It shouldn't be excessive though. Travel on the actuator should be roughly 1/2 on hard braking.
Timer, that's it!
spectras only, I thought of something since yesterday: It's very difficult to pull the trailer tongue forward by hand. Won't it be just as hard to extend out the tube shock by hand once I remove it from the tongue??
(I guess no matter what the answer is, you're suggesting I replace the tube shock.)
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