Brake Caliper Pin Failure causes Catastrophic Failure

tginz

tginz

New Member
Jan 7, 2008
148
Guilford, CT
Boat Info
2004 240 Sundancer
Engines
5.0 w/ Bravo 3
Thought I would share some information about trailer brake calipers. I have a Load Rite Aluminum I-beam trailer with Kodiak 225 disk brakes in all four wheels. These are linked to a Dexter electric over hydraulic unit and Dodge in-cab controller. A simply incredible system that has performed without a fault for 10's of thousands of miles...Until Saturday. The lower caliper slide pin on the rear right wheel sheered off while braking in traffic from 60 mph down to 30-something. The caliper became lodged between the rotor and aluminum wheel rim. The cast caliper literally carved the aluminum rim like hot butter. When fully jammed, the caliper bent the caliper bracket completely over into the rotor - jamming the rear wheel into never turning again. From the center lane of 95, I dragged the whole mess to the side of the road where the tire blew. :grin: Much like the finale ending a good fireworks show. As a side note - the smoking tire helped clear the path to the side and the 6.7 Cummins dragged it with easy at about 30 mph. - Impressive.:smt043

Damaged/Destroyed List is: one Load Star tire, one custom aluminum rim, one brake rotor, one brake caliper, one brake line, one caliper bracket, and all seals & bearings. The worst of all it was on the way to the water, not back from.....

Even though, I overhaul the trailer brakes and axles each season so that trailering is trouble-free, it doesn't prevent the failure of simple parts like a stainless steel caliper pin, which can lead to catastrophic failure. Oh yes, the pins were new in 2010 and torqued the specified 40-lbs.

Tginz
 
Yeah, I wouldn't call that catastrophic as only parts were damaged. It wasn't your boat, the trailer in whole or any human life.....that would be catastrophic.
It sucks to have your day ruined but it could have been worse. Best of luck getting her back together.
 
Nehalennia said:
Yeah, I wouldn't call that catastrophic as only parts were damaged. It wasn't your boat, the trailer in whole or any human life.....that would be catastrophic.
It sucks to have your day ruined but it could have been worse. Best of luck getting her back together.
Click to expand...

Todd, Not to be picky, but what happened is a "catastrophic failure" as I understand it to mean. He did not say catastrophic accident or incident, he just highlighted the the system failure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophic_failure

Also, Thanks for the suggestion of the fire door seal for my bath cabinet you suggested last year. It seems to keep the cab SR put no seal on dry now. I tried to take photos of it installed but it doesn't show up well. Thanks again, MM
 
Thanks for the info on the Kodiak disc brakes, which I just installed on my triple-axle trailer this spring (on two axles). Any reason you can think of why the pin sheared? Combination of pin manufacturing and and the stress of braking at that speed and in that situation? Or installation location issue, design issue...?

Tom
 
MonacoMike said:
Todd, Not to be picky, but what happened is a "catastrophic failure" as I understand it to mean. He did not say catastrophic accident or incident, he just highlighted the the system failure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophic_failure

Also, Thanks for the suggestion of the fire door seal for my bath cabinet you suggested last year. It seems to keep the cab SR put no seal on dry now. I tried to take photos of it installed but it doesn't show up well. Thanks again, MM
Click to expand...
Well, yes, by definition, I suppose for that in particular component yes. It was exactly what he was stating, I just felt it was not that big of a deal. Glad the seal worked well.
 
Good to hear you kept your cool and got the rig off the road without injury. As they say "even the best layed plans.......". Hope you get her back in shape without spending a kings ransom.
 
OK The Dodge pulled it to the side of the road with ease. Of course it did.

True story...

About 10 years ago my cousin-in-law was a die hard chevy guy. He once said he would rather have 3 sisters that were whores than a brother that drove a Dodge.

Anyway one day at a stop light a Dodge pulled away from him and his 350 vortec.

But that was not why he drives a Dodge now. Nope.

There was a 25 foot 5th wheel behind that Dodge that pulled away from him.

But that's still not why he got a Dodge.

There was also a boat behind that camper as it pulled away from him at a light. But amazingly that was not enough to buy a Dodge.

But because the brakes were locked up on the boat trailer as it pulled away from him is why he bought a Dodge.

Funny how somethings never go just a bit wrong with boat(or any for that matter) trailers? And yeah the worst part was on the way to the water......

In retrospect .................. I don't think anyone would have caught that one. You said the were replaced in 2010. Crazy
 
This is probably one application where stainless steel is not the best choice of materials. A stainless steel bolt has alot less shear strength than an equivalent alloy bolt.
 
I have the rig back together and had two conversations with Kodiak. This particular caliper and bolts was a new replacement in 2010. They asked for the bolt which I will send them. I'm not the kind of person who attacks companies in situations like this. However, if they have some issues with faulty caliper bolts, they should know about it. While the trailer was layed up, I checked the other six caliper bolts which are 7 years old and verified their torque of 40-lbs. I have all new parts installed and am looking forward to few more nice weekends here in Connecticut. I ordered some extra caliper bolts and tossed them in my tool box.

tginz
 
Did you leave the rig on the side of the road and perform the repairs there?
 
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