Tricks to free up frozen trailer wheel

[Quickstep192]

I tried pulling my trailer out for the first time in a quite a while today and one of the four wheels is frozen. I tried some back and forth, but it seems the frozen wheel just couldn’t get enough traction to bust free.

I’m guessing the brake pads are stuck on the drums.

Any ideas to free the frozen wheel?

 

[longy]

Take the tire off. Release frustrations with hammering around drum to try & get pads to release

 

['Bacco]

Wack around the drum with a hammer.

 

[billsreef]

Good chance you'll also have to remove the caliper. When things freeze up that badly,often it ends up being a complete brake job to make it all functional.

 

[cyclone]

There may be access holes with plugs on the backing plate that you can use to tap the brake pads loose with a drift if beating the drum doesn’t work.

 

[Quickstep192]

I took off the wheel which was not easy as the lugs were badly rusted. Best the snot out of the drum, put the wheel back on and drove off. The formerly frozen wheel rolled, but here’s what’s weird.

It won’t back up. It has a surge brake cylinder in the hitch, but the brake lines are disconnected. WTF?

 

[Marcjsmith]

Probably one of the springs that retracts the shoes after the pedal is released has broken and the shoe when going forward just drags. But when in reverse it is like acting like a cog and wedging itself against the drum.

 

[nota]

old lining on the brakes can swell up if left to set too long

replace the brake shoes

 

[SloopJonB]

Sounds very overdue for a complete rebuild of the brake system.

Don't neglect chasing the threads on the wheel studs - and put some anti-seize on them when you remount the wheels.

 

[ryley]

In the short term, get someone to jump up and down on the axle as you back up. I had to do this in St. Pete one year after ramp launching with no place to hose off the brakes.

 

[Hase]

Never leave the brakes on during over winter storage. Use a stone lubricated with Vaseline (to prevent stone from rusting) instead

 

[Quickstep192]

Brakes were toast. Beyond repair. Brake shoes were seized to the drums as if they’d been welded. Cylinders and all mounting hardware is shot.

I gutted the brakes so it will at least roll, but the wheels and brakes will need to be completely replaced if not the entire axles.

The good news is that I had put Never Seize on the threads of the wheel lugs, so the nuts loosened easily - for the first 1/8”. The part of the stud that extended past the nut was badly rusted and getting the nuts all the way off was a bitch.

The trailer is never used to transport the boat; I only use the trailer to retrieve the boat from a launch ramp and store it in a nearby parking lot. And lately, I don’t even do that much (therefore the neglect).

 

[SloopJonB]

The good news is that I had put Never Seize on the threads of the wheel lugs, so the nuts loosened easily - for the first 1/8”. The part of the stud that extended past the nut was badly rusted and getting the nuts all the way off was a bitch.

In a case like that, a good wire brushing & then some lube will usually fix things up.

Cranking the nuts over corroded threads is just asking to snap or strip at least one of them.