Derek beat me to the punch. I had a similar problem on my Komet. The
tongue was only partially collapsed; ie. it remained in one position
which was about halfway between fully extended and fully compressed.
Granted, it had been bent/damaged in an accident by the prior owner.

Solution was to pump a lot of grease under fairly high pressure into
the fittings (watch as it oozes out of various gaps and holes, then
pump some more). Then, we got some of the more (ahem) "substantial"
members of the club to provide resistance while we alternately pushed
and pulled on the hitch using a car. It sprang free on one forward
pull and worked fine after that. We also did some adjusting on the
star nuts to get the friction point right on the brakes.

We eventually replaced the entire tongue assembly with a new OEM part,
and after that it was obvious that the range of motion (throw) of the
braking mechanism was actually still slightly restricted on the old
part.

P3


Derek Copeland wrote:
There are various possibilities:

1) The brake drums may have become rusted onto the
shoes. This can happen to any vehicle when you leave
the handbrake on for a long period. NB. It is better
to leave the handbrake off, if you can secure the trailer
in some other way.

2) The linkages may be seized

3) The tow hitch may have seized on (less likely)

Try spraying all the linkages with penetrating oil
and greasing the tow hitch mechanism and then waiting
for a while.

If this doesn't work try rocking the trailer backwards
and forwards with either a lot of people or a powerful
towing vehicle. If that doesn't work, jack the trailer
up and remove the wheels. Tap the brake drums reasonably
firmly with a copper or aluminium faced hammer to free
the brake shoes. If that doesn't work, place a long
bar across the wheel studs and hit that in alternate
directions with a hammer.

Good luck!
Derek Copeland


At 12:00 17 January 2007, Mike Lindsay wrote:

The overrun brake on our Comet trailer is jammed
in the 'brakes-
on' position, and has defied all attempts to free it.


I understand there are nylon components inside
the trailer
tongue, so we don't want to try the time honoured option
of heating it
with a blow lamp.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
--
Mike Lindsay