Trailer braking while reversing under load

MfMan

As the title says, when reversing the cattle trailer with stock on board(Nugent 4-5 years old), the wheels seem to lock with the result that the jeep is pushing hard and sometimes even cuts out. When I hop out to look, there's a noticeable smell of burnt rubber. Is it a sign of a worn damper, or the brake drums sticking in the wheels? Trailer itself was serviced barely 6 months ago so the damper shouldn't be too bad.

Rovi

The trailer hitch is doing what it's meant to do: apply the brakes when it gets compressed.
Most over-run hitches like this have a manual lock of some sort to allow you reverse without applying the brakes.

MfMan

Rovi wrote: »

The trailer hitch is doing what it's meant to do: apply the brakes when it gets compressed.
Most over-run hitches like this have a manual lock of some sort to allow you reverse without applying the brakes.

Thanks for reply. If that's the case, would the brakes not apply every time the trailer is reversed?

pakalasa

It depends on the load on the trailer. The piston at the hitch needs to be pushed in to work the breaks.
If you have cattle in the trailer and reverse it downhill slowly, it wont come on. Reverse uphill with cattle and defo should come on.
It's working as it should do. Whoever serviced it did a good job....:D
If you ever break suddenly with a load, you will actually feel the trailer pulling you back.

Milton09

MfMan wrote: »

As the title says, when reversing the cattle trailer with stock on board(Nugent 4-5 years old), the wheels seem to lock with the result that the jeep is pushing hard and sometimes even cuts out. When I hop out to look, there's a noticeable smell of burnt rubber. Is it a sign of a worn damper, or the brake drums sticking in the wheels? Trailer itself was serviced barely 6 months ago so the damper shouldn't be too bad.

I would have thought that a relatively new trailer (like yours) would be fitted with an Auto reverse braking system, this allows the overrun mechanism to compress when reversing but still not brake the wheels. If it has auto reverse fitted then there is something wrong with the mechanism in the drums.

Having said that I have a trailer with supposedly auto reverse and like yours, when reversing under load its performance is suspect.

JohnBoy

anything that new should be auto reverse alright, which is actually a very simple system when you see it, it's all the the brake shoes. not sure what needs sorting but basically with auto reverse brakes that shouldnt happen.

MfMan

Perhaps they're not applying properly. Didn't always have this problem so maybe it's since the service that this has arisen. Trying to reverse up an incline with cattle on is a nuisance though, as a couple of my sheds are so situated.

pakalasa

You could put in something over the hitch plunger , while reversing, to stop it being pushed back.

thetangler

Hithe last nugent I had was doing the same. It needs to be adjusted at the hitch from memory there is 2 nuts and a adjustment thread.

johngalway

pakalasa wrote: »

You could put in something over the hitch plunger , while reversing, to stop it being pushed back.

We've a Murphy trailer, there's a large crinkled shroud over the hitch plunger. It's a proper pain to reverse with it in some situations. Don't get me wrong, when the brakes are needed they work well. But, sometimes it causes more problems than are needed when reversing to load or unload uphill (and we've some dingers of hills), or if reversing in mucky conditions it does us no favours :rolleyes: Have to reverse to hit the trailer a little to override the brake. We had an Ifor Williams or some such years ago that had a metal clip that could be slipped over the hitch just for reversing, that worked well. There'll be the argument oh you might forget to take it off, fair enough, but I reckon all trailers need something like it on them, or at the least something you can carry in the vehicle and put on the trailer in tricky spots.