Replacement of older G4 Tie Down disc brakes

Resurrecting an old thread:

I am replacing the worn, rusted brakes on our trailer, including all the hard/soft lines. Despite my rinsing after each dunking with Salt-Away in a pump sprayer, the calipers are rusted messes and one hard line already rusted thru. Two of the calipers/pistons also seized, creating drag on the rotor, which you all know is no bueno. I've already replaced one a few yrs ago and rebuilding them just was not an economically viable option IMO. So...

I decided to go with Tie Down Engineering G5s in stainless. I originally was going with Kodiaks, but the ones I wanted were out of stock with no availability date. I've had Tie Down before so I figured they'd be good. Wrong. The quality has tanked IMO. :roll:

The quality of the tooling of the calipers is awful. So bad that I had to clearance all four in order to get the slider pins lined up with the brackets. The slider pins are what hold the caliper to the brackets. The small amount of material I had to remove was minimal; probably 1/16" max. But still. I posted pics in my album.

I'll probably go with Kodiak or Dee Maxx in the future.
 
FOLLOW UP TO THE TIE DOWN ENG BRAKE SAGA:

When installing these crappy brakes, I cross-threaded one pin due to the issue I mentioned above; the bracket holes (threaded) not lining up with the caliper holes; and this is on "stainless" steel slider pins.

When I filed a warranty, the manufacturer (now Dexter Axle) said the items "shipped"...this after nearly a week of emails, calls, providing proof of purchase and photos of the crap slider pin/bracket. Yet I never received them. Two weeks later I inquired for shipping/tracking info. Then I got tracking info...the parts shipped THE NEXT DAY! So basically, they lied to me.

A sales guy at Eastern Trailer warned me that "the design of the TDE brakes is bad due to the pin design". But I went off my previous experience. Apparently, he was correct and I should have gone with Kodiaks, but like I said earlier, they were out of stock.

TDE sold their brake division to Dexter sometime between 2011 and 2021, 2013 I believe.

I'LL NEVER BUY ANOTHER SET OF BRAKES FROM TIE DOWN ENGINEERING AGAIN. :amgry
 
Well isn't all this just fun. I am working on getting new Kodiak brakes on the other axle of my Pacific tandem trailer. I got all the parts except the brake lines and then the mechanic at the shop went away so I found another shop. Then they could get the thermaform brake lines. so I found them, now I am waiting for an appointment to get the work done. After hearing how easy brakes are, and watching some of U-Tube university I will be happy to have it done by the pros, and if there is a problem, then they get to fix it. This will be a relief to get it done. Kodiak Stainless discs, new surge actuator by UFP, new pads all around, and new thermaform lines throughout.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Harvey, with all that, I'm surprised you didn't go with an electric over hydraulic actuator. Yes, you would have to have or add a brake controller to your tow vehicle, but you'd have much better control over your trailer brakes. A new EOH actuator would run around $750. But sounds like the labor is already there with replacing the surge actuator. If your tow vehicle is already wired for electric brakes, the only other addition would be adding the wiring harness to the trailer at the actuator. Colby
 
Old thread:

We went to use our boat and I discovered fluid down the port rear wheel and a blown caliper the cause. Removed the wheel to diagnose the problem and found the one pad had worn so much that the piston pushed past its limit and leaked. I suspect that caliper was “dragging” for an as yet unknown reason. These brakes are only two years old and were installed in spring 2021.🤬

Looking for parts and after numerous phone calls I discovered that the brakes/hub division of Tie Down Engineering no longer exists. As mentioned above they were sold to Dexter in 2017. In essence, Dexter dissolved Tie Down. So they have no parts and no longer support the brand.
 
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