When I pull my ski boat with my 89YJ (350), it pops and bangs when I start and stop. The trailer has those tongue brakes, so when I hit the brakes it kinda moves (back) and when I give it gas it moves (forward). (the trailer tongue). How much should that device move? Mine seems to move a lot more than it used to and has a bolt on the slide mechanism. What torque setting should this thing be? I want the brake on the trailer to engage since I'm pulling it with a jeep! Starting is no problem, its stopping that is scary. I dont pull it far, just 8 miles to the water. But the noise and looseness of the trailer braking mechanism scares me.

Shouldn't this be in "Boat" tech talk? :D

So it sounds like your boat trailer has surge brakes and its messed up. You might try taking it to a trailer place and having it fixed right.

Well I posted it here because at first I thought it might have something to do with the detroit locker. But....it cant be. Has to be the trailer braking system. Does anyone know how tight that is suppose to be, or am I just going to get flamed all the posts?

It's been a while since I've visited the board.....what is up with all the anoying popups!

Originally posted by rkcrawl
Shouldn't this be in "Boat" tech talk? :D

So it sounds like your boat trailer has surge brakes and its messed up. You might try taking it to a trailer place and having it fixed right.

I posted it here because I thought originally it might be my detroit. but I know now that it is not. Am I just going to get flamed or does anyone know how much play the surge brakes are suppose to have?

I havent visited the board in a long time, what is up with all the popups????

Originally posted by rkcrawl
Shouldn't this be in "Boat" tech talk? :D

So it sounds like your boat trailer has surge brakes and its messed up. You might try taking it to a trailer place and having it fixed right.

Originally posted by jun11
I posted it here because I thought originally it might be my detroit. but I know now that it is not. Am I just going to get flamed or does anyone know how much play the surge brakes are suppose to have?

I havent visited the board in a long time, what is up with all the popups????



You've got more balls than I - towing a boat with a YJ.

And the popups - something has to pay for all the bandwidth! Can't get something for nothing!

Well, it is only 8 miles to water. but it's a 21' deck boat, around 3500 lbs loaded down. The ramp is steep, drug me down it one time when I was in 2wd. So now I put it in 4wd and no problems.

Originally posted by Mo


You've got more balls than I - towing a boat with a YJ.

And the popups - something has to pay for all the bandwidth! Can't get something for nothing! :flipoff2:

Like he said, you got ballz for towing something about as heavy as your rig :eek: I used to flat tow my junk with a tacoma.....SCARY!

Remmeber....Most accidents happen within a few miles of home :flipoff2:

You should hit a traiiler shop with it.....I bet most wouldnt even charge you just to diagnose it.

The tongue moving back and forth is how the brakes work. I agree on having a trailer place check it out. The max recomended towing capacity on your Jeep is 2k pounds. I bet it doesn't stop. You have more than doubled it. #3500 lb boat, plus aprox #11-1300 pound trailer. :eek:

If its single axle its likely around 3500 lbs max, but still this is alot for a jeep.

where do you live so I can stay off the road when you are on the way to the lake.

Originally posted by Dan-H
where do you live so I can stay off the road when you are on the way to the lake.

Where do you live so I can stop short in front of you with my 1 ton? I need more money for my Jeep.

:cool: