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Random Quote: Did it broke or did it just come undid?
I have read about Tie Down Brakes being not the greatest. I would like to share my experience.
Bought my boat in October of 07. The boat was in a wet slip in Boston. The fella that I bought it from did not trailer the boat. So when I decided to buy it I bought a trailer. I bought a 6000# Load Rite aluminum I beam with torsion bars. Picked up the trailer on a Friday night set out at 4am to Boston. Met the seller at 9:30 am loaded up and left Boston. Not wanting to drag this monster all the way down 95 and over bridges and through the Bronx I pulled my truck and trailer with the boat on the New London to Orient Point ferry.
Splashed it once before winterizing. Now comes the fun part. In 08 I ran the boat 6 times that means the trailer got wet 12 times that year. In 09 I ran the boat 3 times so the trailer was in salt water 6 times this year.
Please note that I wash down the boat, flush the motor and wash down the trailer after every use. This last time when bringing the boat back I start hearing squeaking noises. I'm saying this can't be good especially since the boat is taking a 650 mile trip to Wilmington on the 25th.
So I bring it to a trailer shop and tell them what I am hearing and to please go over the trailer to make sure it is "road ready".
Total wear and tear on this trailer as best as I can calculate:
Dunked 21 times
Traveled about 650 miles (250 miles without a load)
Here is what was found on a 2 year old trailer with very little use:
Calipers frozen
Pads worn to rivets
Seals blown out (my fault for being to aggressive with the grease gun)
1 tire needed to be replaced due to dry rot.
The tire makes no sense because why only one tire? There are 4 on the trailer. The trailer was bought new. The shop seems to think that the manufacturer may have put an "old unused tire" on with 3 new ones.
Any way I now have to agree Tie Down Disc Brakes SUCK
After this trip, the boat will be in a wet slip and will be trailered twice a year dropping in the spring and hauling in the winter. Other wise I would be getting different brakes.
Can't speak for the brakes, but I just had 4 tires go bad on an 07 trailer. On a trip from Tx. to Md. every tire on the trailer had problems and had to be replaced.
Sorry to hear of your experience but since I had mostly the same experience with the Tie Downs, it doesn't surprise me. But when you talk to Tie Down, they act like frozen calipers can't happen, nothing can go wrong with their brakes. I have an especially short fuse when I call a manufacturer to get help with my problems, in this case Tie Down, and I told them that the calipers were seized...all 4 of them... and without any more information, they immediately said I had done something wrong. Went to the next person, same thing. I find it beneficial to actually try to figure out what the problem is before accusing the user of doing something wrong.
Doesn't matter, I am done with Tie Down. Never again.
I have 5 Venture trailers with TieDown brake systems that have all failed, all less than 2 years old, and all 5 customers rarely dip their trailers in the drink due to the marina being so close by. Venture rep says the problems of frozen calipers, leaf spring clips, leaf spring stacks, etc. being rusted beyond belief as a sign of not washing the brake systems off after use. On the Magic Tilt trailers I have that are the same age, almost 1/10 the corrosion issues and brake sytems still operational. Venture has been zero help as well as Tie Down. Horrible attitudes in general as a manufacturer(Tie Down), and as a builder (Venture). Yes, I am a dealer.
I had no intention of contacting Tie Down mainly because of what I have read here. I went out and bought "Salt Terminator" yesterday. The trailer will get dunked 2x per year now. The boat going in the slip in March and coming out in December. However I will spray the brakes down in the parking lot while it is still wet and probably once a month while the trailer is in storage. Because of the local environment being so close to the ocean. I figure it can't hurt. If I were not going to be in a slip and was going to continue to drag it around I would have gone for Kodiak's. Who knows I may have to anyway.
Just think of me as another dissatisfied Tie Down consumer
After many more miles on a trailer with Tie Down breaks my experience is not the same as yours. I don't question any of your comments on the brakes themselves, but your heading is about a post on brakes so I don't think is applicable to throw in blown seals that you admit is your fault. Also, tires don't have a "use by" date, but that's another comment that doesn't have anything to do with a brake manufacturer.
Except for the caliper issue, I think most of your complaints should be directed to Load Rite.
Glad to see this thread, wished it would have been up in march, I have my brand new dunked once venture trailer sitting next door with the brakes locked up. Before it was even dunked the brake were locked up as I pulled out over the driveway on the way to put the boat in the water in April, with the weight on it the released about 300 yrds down the street.
Glad to see this thread, wished it would have been up in march,.
Yeah, Like there never was a Tie-Down bash until then LOL
Wow... Someone should just burn that factory down.
So glad my two trailers have work perfectly with them... I'm glad I'm lucky with something... Maybe as long as I ACTUALLY do continue to rinse I'll be fine
__________________ Mike
Livin the dream...
Last edited by Afishinado; 09-14-2009 at 08:21 AM.
After many more miles on a trailer with Tie Down breaks my experience is not the same as yours. I don't question any of your comments on the brakes themselves, but your heading is about a post on brakes so I don't think is applicable to throw in blown seals that you admit is your fault. Also, tires don't have a "use by" date, but that's another comment that doesn't have anything to do with a brake manufacturer.
Except for the caliper issue, I think most of your complaints should be directed to Load Rite.
I'm sorry if you took offense to the title of my post.
The only issue that could be addressed to Load Rite is the tire. As far as the trailer goes the torsion bars are fine there is no excessive wear everything is tight. As I stated in the beginning my the problem was brought to my attention by the brakes.
Yes I admit the seal issue WAS/IS my fault no denial here.
The tire is not the fault of the brakes ditto on denial.
BUT how do the calipers freeze up and burn out the pads in such a short time? When they are rinsed after each use.
If there are issues with the manufacturing process, which obviously there is why does the manufacturer not address these issues. Or as stated in previous threads before if they keep selling parts they have no reason to fix problems.
I guess on a good note. If I were not having noise coming from my brakes I would not have know about the seals or the tire until I did the winter maintenance.
I don't carry any water for Tie Down, but they get beat up enough around here without things getting tacked on that I don't think they would have had any part in.
I don't carry any water for Tie Down, but they get beat up enough around here without things getting tacked on that I don't think they would have had any part in.
You are right they do take a beating, but all the complaints seem to be the same issue poor quality of materials and customer service. I find it difficult to believe that in today's business climate they do not take any action to fix the problems. They must know that they are being bashed all over
I found out today that there is always friction on disc brakes so they are constantly wearing. If that's the case they need to use better pads. Or is it planned obsolescence? Same thing with dissimilar metals in the calipers. Maybe they need to make a "Saltwater and Freshwater" version of brakes.
Just food for thought if they are in fact reading or listening.
I had the same issue except my caliper wasnt frozen. My road king trailer equipped with tie-down brakes (aluminum calipers) only lasted 3 years and about 1000 miles. I wa shocked when I found the brake pads wore down to the rivets. The main design problem is there pads always touch the rotors with too much force. I can almost guarantee if you touch the rims of any trailer with tie-down brakes that has been traveling for a few miles they will be hot. This just burns away your pads quickly.
................ I can almost guarantee if you touch the rims of any trailer with tie-down brakes that has been traveling for a few miles they will be hot............
Mine haven't been that hot, many 75mph runs between NJ & FL.. All I do is rinse with freshwater after each use. My last trailer had 10 of those 1200 mile trips on it with the same pads in good shape when I sold it....
Mine haven't been that hot, many 75mph runs between NJ & FL.. All I do is rinse with freshwater after each use. My last trailer had 10 of those 1200 mile trips on it with the same pads in good shape when I sold it....
Mine haven't been that hot, many 75mph runs between NJ & FL.. All I do is rinse with freshwater after each use. My last trailer had 10 of those 1200 mile trips on it with the same pads in good shape when I sold it....
Mine's going strong for three seasons...maybe you and I should go buy some lottery tickets...
__________________ "Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll pee on em
Thats what the statue of bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, lets club em to death
And get it over with and just dump em on the boulevard"
-L.Reed
"If you don't like it, go to Russia" -Homer Simpson.
.... I can almost guarantee if you touch the rims of any trailer with tie-down brakes that has been traveling for a few miles they will be hot. This just burns away your pads quickly.
Disagree. I tow 70-75 mph for 1,000 mile trips and feel my hubs when I stop for gas and they've never been so hot I couldn't touch them. Something is wrong with your setup if your pads generate that kind of heat. That's like driving with the emergency brake on.
On TD's web site the highest officer listed is the CFO (Bean-Counter)...I'm sending this thread to him w/all the good, bad and ugly for better or worse and including this post...
I had my go-around w/ TD and it'll never happen again...someone mentioned they get beat up a lot...from my experience, they ask for it..."take the part in question off and send it to us" does not good customer service make...particularly when the parts were so poorly designed/engineered to begin with...where's the product support?...must got dropped off the P&L sheet...
I think we're missing the point with Tie Down. I went over and looked at their website after reading reelapeelin's post and they are quite clearly an OEM-wholesale-only-no-retail-sales manufacturer. They're a contract manufacturer making the product their customers (trailer manufacturers) want at a price point they want to pay. Content and quality of the components are based on this price point. My FloatOn has Tie Down brakes and I paid "X" dollars for it. I guess I could have stipulated the super duper stainless Kodiak or bought another brand that had better components, , but then my trailer would have cost "X+1k" and I didn't want to pay that much.
Trailer Parts Superstore lists a stainless Tie Down set up for $140. The stainless Kodiak goes for $380. Sometimes we get what we pay for.
i have had kodiak for 3 yrs do mostly salt, LOVE THEM, will never buy any other brand. they are needing to be replaced now but i figure 25,000 miles and 80 dunks in salt.
Tie down brakes (GRRRRRRR) long post sorry 
Or as stated in previous threads before if they keep selling parts they have no reason to fix problems.
