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Replacing the Break Away Brake Cable


DAI

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First the story . . . 

I have a buddy who recently bought a pontoon and upgraded to a pickup truck (from a Jeep), as he might decide to tow at some point in the future.  He has basically no towing experience.  My boat sits in my driveway in the summer months.

We invited them over to swim in the pool last Saturday.  When he shows up he comes into the backyard and immediately proceeds to tell me he backed into my trailer and may have damaged it.  He claims, he was trying to squeeze in close to the edge of the driveway and was not paying attention to the trailer.  

Go up to the boat and see a broken break away cable and a bent to hell U-bracket on the ground.  My theory - the story he is telling is not exactly accurate.  My guess, being a new boat owner with a new truck, he decided my boat was a perfect one to practice for backing up to in preparation to hitch up (again, not experienced in trailering).  I'm thinking he backed up and nudged trailer trailer tongue, panicked and pulled forward quickly.  What he didn't realize is he hooked the break away cable to his hitch cover, which was hooked to the swing away tongue hitch pin - resulting in broken cable and bent swing away hitch pin u bracket.  The way the boat is parked and the shape of my driveway, none of his story makes sense and he has never backed into my driveway before.

Rant over . . . . :rant:

Now my question.  Has anyone replaced the break away cable and have any tips or watchouts?  Parts are on order and first cool day I'm going to tackle this. 

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5 minutes ago, carguy79ta said:

Was he backing his boat in? or did he back his vehicle in. If he cant back a straight truck, yikes.🤔

Just the truck, nothing attached.  Plus it's a brand new Ram 1500 Limited,  so he had all the sensors and cameras.

I don't think trailering will - or should - be his thing.  He should just stick with the slip and let the dealer handle the in and out.

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If you are taking about the UFP A60 actuator, I've replaced quite a few of them.  The way I see most technicians try do their first one, by disconnecting the rubber line from the reverse solenoid valve, or leaving the brake line connected while doing the job really turns out to be the most difficult way to do it.

I think it is much easier to disconnect the rubber brake line where it connects to the metal brake line in the tongue, then disconnect (or cut) the reverse solenoid valve wire, then remove the two large actuator retaining clips and pins.  Insert a couple properly sized dowels (or deep sockets) into where the retaining pins were to prevent the actuator assembly from falling apart, and then side the whole actuator insert out of the tongue frame.

If the rubber line to metal line fitting by the actuator is not accessible, disconnect the metal brake line at the tee on the axle, tape or tie a small wire to the metal line in case it gets pulled too far into the frame, and then you can slide the actuator out of the frame far enough to get a couple wrenches on the rubber line to metal line fittings.

The breakaway cable should come with some instructions, a cable routing diagram, a cable retaining bracket, a safely C clip, and the proper cable length info for the actuator you are working on.  Be sure you install the plastic spacers for the rear retaining pin correctly during reassembly.

After the actuator insert is reassembled, use the dowels to keep everything together as you slide the actuator back into the frame, install the retaining pins and clips, connect the brake lines and reverse wire, then bleed the brakes.

It takes me about two hours to do it with an extra pair of hands to help with bleeding, or just under 90 minutes with a pressure bleeder.

If the breakaway cable release button on the bottom of the actuator is damaged or does not push in and out easily, you are much better off replacing the entire actuator insert than trying to fix the release button hardware.

 

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Is it a Malibu trailer? I recently did mine and did not want to have to bleed the brakes. everything would have been fine if the break away cable was routed through the front of the hitch. but the way that the Malibu trailer (and I'm assuming others) routes the cable is out the side. I did not realize what that would mean until I went to put the unit back into the break away tongue and realized it was too tight. I eventually got it through with a rubber mallet, some come alongs, and a lot of swearing. 

I essentially did this:

 

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  • 1 year later...

And after I put my trailer in the garage I pulled away and forgot to remove the breakaway cable. Am I going to be able to use the trailer prior to replacing the cable?

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13 minutes ago, Blackaxisa24 said:

And after I put my trailer in the garage I pulled away and forgot to remove the breakaway cable. Am I going to be able to use the trailer prior to replacing the cable?

Yes, but you need to release the brake first.  Most of them have a place to stick a screwdriver in from the bottom to do the release.

 

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55 minutes ago, Blackaxisa24 said:

And after I put my trailer in the garage I pulled away and forgot to remove the breakaway cable. Am I going to be able to use the trailer prior to replacing the cable?

yes, just no trailer emergency detachment braking, i went years without one

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