Conversion to hydraulic disc brakes - add power cord rewind

[Magnolia Tom]

I was thinking on the outside of the frame. The skirt is only covering the frame at the front.

Let me clarify...yes, run under the frame attached to the bottom of the frame. Sorry for my confusion



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[jimgram]

I finally have my three wires in the wire bundle overhead in the storage compartment. I ran an orange wire to be connected to the switched side of the breakaway switch, a yellow wire for a future backup light, and a spare (red) for a pull wire if ever needed. I definitely needed to hole in the floor. I used two snakes to pull the wires from the bunch hanging near the pin box (coming out of the hole under the work light) to under the floor in the right side closet and then from under the floor to under the bottom drawer of the chest. From there it's simple to just shove them along the existing wires into the storage compartment. Pics to come - right now we have a storm headed our way - Florida panhandle (Freeport)

[jimgram]

No tornado's (yet). Here's pics per previous post.

[jimgram]

Here's few more pics. The hole in the closet floor is 9" X 9". It would have been a little better if it was 5 or 6 inches from the left side closet wall. As it is, about 2 inches are over the steel rectangular frame supporting the front part of the trailer. I think it's about 10 to 15 inches from the side of the pin box. The trick is getting a fishtape (or 'snake') over the top of that rectangular tube (from the left side of the pin box. It has to go into the hole under the work light, across the inside of the pin box, thru the same hole that the trailer wire bundle goes thru and over the rectangular tube and into the cavity under the closet floor.

[klassic]

Awesome...keep going.

[jasum]

Originally Posted by jimgram

When you say along the frame are you referring to the bottom of the frame? Otherwise, the sides of the frame are enclosed on the outside by the skirt and on the inside by the underbelly. I guess if you scraped anything on the bottom of the frame you would probably have a bigger problem than a broken brake line. I may reconsider if I can see a way to mount the HBA inside one of these panels: (see pics)

Does anyone know what the fuse panel behind a panel in the storage compartment is for? Could it be part of the "solar ready" option?

Not exactly sure what fuse panel in storage is for, but I moved mine over toward curb side of trailer instead of it being right in the middle in the way.........

Jack

[klassic]

A repost to my post on the other page. The "fuse panel" is the control board for the remote control.

[jimgram]

All of the wires for the brake system installed and hooked up to the HydraStar HBA which is mounted under the sink in the galley island. I'll post a few pics showing progress. Directly under the sink/island there is a cross beam which will be great for mounting the hydraulic brake lines to run across to both sides of the axles. The run to each brake caliper is about 6 to 8 feet (the longer run is to the rear axles. I have rain delays now - may get the plumbing done tomorrow then the job is putting back all of the panels I removed. BTW- the yellow BU light wire is now to the rear near bumper.

HINT: many of you may not know this - I didn't and consequently struggled with it for a couple of days. Virtually all of the screws used to hold panels, underbelly, etc. us the same driver. It looks like a phillips and in fact a phillips driver will sort of work - but not well. I discovered that all of the screws (interior and exterior) take a S2 square driver. And, they work great (which I suppose is why the manufacturers settled on it). I'm going to post a photo of it and one of the better purchsse decisions I made prior to starting this project: I bought the little B&W power screwdriver because my normal Ryobi is heavy - the idea of lying on my back on a creeper removing several overhead screws prompted me to look for a lightweight screwdriver.

[klassic]

If you lived in Canada a Robertson bit would have been the only bit you would have tried.
I'll never understand why the US hates the Robertson screw so much. If it's really (I've heard this many times) because it was invented in Canada, then that's ridiculous.

How hard is it to the the underside down? Do you have to cut it and tape it all back together?

[jimgram]

Good to know what it's called and where it comes from - definitely a vast improvement over what is normal in the U.S. Lying on a good creeper makes working underneath pretty easy (HINT: it is possible to roll a wheel over your fingers -OUCH!). I removed the underbelly by removing screws down each frame and cutting across with a box cutter. I did so really with no intention of replacing the removed pieces - I don't think I could tape the cuts with total reliability that they wouldn't catch the wind and make for a very embarrassing highway episode. As of now, my plan is to buy aluminum extrusion 'C' channel from MacMaster-Carr - 6 ft. lengths are about $14. I plan to run then across from frame to frame and screw the panels into them as well as to the frames. I'm going to replace much of the underbelly with sheets of Coroplast (4 X 8 ft. sheets at $16 from Home Depot). I would like to improve the insulation that Jayco installed but may give up on that idea.

[klassic]

You can get the tape to tape it back together on Amazon. Pretty sure it come in up to a 12 or 14" width.
I forget what it's called.

[ROC-REQS]

Originally Posted by klassic

You can get the tape to tape it back together on Amazon. Pretty sure it come in up to a 12 or 14" width.
I forget what it's called.

Klassic,

Is this the tape you're talking about?

Mobile Home Flex Mend Belly Bottom Repair-Fix Underbelly Holes & Rips

I've used this tape and it's great for under belly minor repairs, but I've only seen it in 4" wide roles.

[klassic]

I think that's the stuff. I've never used it. I hear it sticks better with the spray adhesive.
I guess I would be a little concerned if it did come off then there would be a bit of road debris, like Jim mentioned.
I see it in 6". I saw it in a bigger size 2 years ago

[jimgram]

I may investigate that tape. Thanks for the info. Klassic - you mentioned 'road debris' and I thought I would relate an incident that my wife, dog, and I experienced 3 years ago. I was driving a Tahoe pulling a 26 foot Rockwood Ultralite traveling north on I-25 north of Boulder, CO. I was in the right lane (3 lanes) when the car just in front of made a radical swerve to the left to avoid a large piece of furniture in our lane. He missed it but I had traffic in the left lane so I swerved to the right. I missed the furniture but at that point the trailer took control. I had a Reese anti-sway weight distribution hitch but I was clearly following the car too close. End of story - the trailer threw us over the right embankment, rolled on its left side causing the Tahoe to do a 180. My wife and I ended up hanging upside down and our dog was under the dashboard. We were very fortunate - no injuries, crawled out and everyone OK. The Tahoe and trailer were of course totaled. Another motivation for good brakes.

[klassic]

Nasty. Glad you're ok. I see your desire for good braking.
Mine comes from a group of teenagers pulled over on the shoulder of I90 and three of them standing beside the car over the white line in the live lane.
There was a semi in front of me and he pulled into the left lane revealing this situation to me...I pulled into the left lane or I would have hit them.. good thing no one was beside me.
Then the semi locks his brakes because everything in front of him has gone haywire.
I locked them up and the 5ver kept pushing me ...I was able to have enough left hand shoulder to pass the semi with the antilocks going off and 13000lbs pushing and not stopping itself.
The knuckles were white.

[Magnolia Tom]

Jim

Anything new to report? Have you finished? Do a test run yet?


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[jimgram]

While waiting on rain and various parts, I installed the new power reel door. Not great but it works. I received the brake line kit - it had SOME of what I needed and way more tubing than I needed. I'm going to use about 7-8 feet of 1/4 inch tube and I have about 30 feet.

I have no experience installing brake line so this has been a learning experience. Unless you can carefully specify and order the exact (and I mean exact) size and length of line, you'll need to be able to do a good 'double-flare' and you'll need tube cutting, deburring, flaring, and bending tools. For openers I went to Advance Auto Parts and bought the only flaring kit, tube cutter, and bender they had. It was a total waste of money. My first practice flare the cheap aluminum plug pin broke off. The bender did not work at all on 3/16 line.

I then went online and ordered a first rate flaring kit (these ARE brake lines). $85, and I bought a good bender. From the photos I'll attache I'm pretty sure you can pick which ones are which.

[jimgram]

Here's a progress report on the brake lines. It takes a bit of planning and I used an extra piece of 3/16 line to make a template. I'll try to take a few pics of the final lines installed but it'll be a couple of days.

I'm running a 1/4 tube from the Hydrastar HBA down to a 'T' on a crossmember that is located about even with the front of the front tires. From that 'T' a 1/4 inch tube will go to the left side frame and another to the right side from. I've made and installed the two 3/16 lines that run down the frame to each tire (see photo). The calipers are mounted on the rear quarter of the mounting brackets and so the flexible lines have to connect to rear-facing fittings (all 4). It's going to be time consuming and difficult to drill and mount clamps along each run (thankfully, my runs are short). I'm including a photo of some of my practice flares and bends.

[Magnolia Tom]

Looks great! Sounds like you in the home stretch


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[jimgram]

Ordered boxes of #8 and #11 self-tapping screws from Fastenal (double square drive) - 2nd day delivery, so t'll be Tuesday before I get all of the clamps up - then ready to bleed lines and cover bottom.