I have been having bad luck with trailers recently. Here is what happened a few days ago, maybe someone will benefit from hearing about my misfortune:

Best I can figure, the Cobra trailer emergency brake application cable (which attaches to the bottom of the brake handle and clips to the tow vehicle side to pull the brake if the trailer comes free) got flipped up somehow and caught between the trailer coupler and the hitch/ball. As I left a parking lot, I recall making a sharp turn, apparently in the direction away from the side of the ball that the cable was on, which combined I think with the ring/cable connection at the bottom of the brake handle (and maybe the clip/cable end also) being kinked and hence effectively shortened, resulted in the parking brake being inadvertently applied.

I KNOW that I didn't pull the parking brake and forget to release it, because checking that the handle is down is on my trailer checklist that I run through every time I get into the truck with the trailer attached, even at gas/bathroom/food stops. Could the emergency brake cable been flipped up for a while? Maybe, but I did not notice this during my every-stop check. Shame on me for not specifically checking this and being sure. I will now look at that more closely every time.

So, I drove with the parking brake on, almost an hour, grrrrrrr. I noticed it by seeing the parking brake handle UP in my rear-view camera on the back of my camper. When I pulled over, the right wheel was smoking and the brake drum was glowing. The left side was hot, too, but not near as bad.

I was very close to the Cook County Airport at Adel, Georgia, so I tip-toed over there and spent the night. A group of local homebuilders helped me the next day, I love aviation types.... When I got the wheels and brake drums off, the right (hot) side brake parts just dumped out, totally mangled. The right side bearings were destroyed, and the spindle was scarred up and a very interesting shade of blue due to overheating. The left side bearings and brake parts were intact, but the brake shoe material was completely gone, I'll replace all the brake parts though. The left side spindle looked normal, but I will probably replace it and the bearings also just to be safe.

The local O'Reilly's auto parts store had the right bearings, amazingly. I was able to assemble all back into a rolling configuration, NO BRAKES though, and a questionable right spindle, so I gingerly drove back the 250 miles or so to home. Trailer is now at my hangar, I'll be rebuilding the brakes and replacing the bearings and spindle(s) soon. I have all the parts I need from an axle salvaged from my previous trailer "adventure"....

I now will route and hook up the emergency brake cable in such a way that it is held down and cannot get caught between the coupler and hitch or wrapped around the ball. I recommend that others check this. And I think I will put some kind of anti-kink fitting at the two ends of the emergency brake cable, to avoid a kink which reduces the effective length of the cable and increases the chances of inadvertent brake application.

I'll bet this has happened before, maybe even without people knowing what caused it. My hope in sharing this is that my fellow soaring pilots will avoid experiencing this "adventure" in the future.

Cheers,
Jim J6