Cobra Parts

[ventus2]

Interested to hear if anyone has experience with replacing axle parts on a
Cobra Trailer.
Particularly the brake drum (its an 88 model) and wheel bearings.
Question, are these parts which can be interchanged from generic axles or
bought off the shelf in the US? The whole of Germany seems to be on annual
holidays (half their luck!), so waiting around till mid september for them
to come back seems somewhat stupid.

Any half sensible ideas welcomed. :-)
Chris

[Maule Driver]

Yep and nope. You need the stuff from Germany and more specifically,
the company.

If you dig into further, you'll walk away impressed with the axle
engineering involved.

ventus2 wrote:
> Interested to hear if anyone has experience with replacing axle parts on a
> Cobra Trailer.
> Particularly the brake drum (its an 88 model) and wheel bearings.
> Question, are these parts which can be interchanged from generic axles or
> bought off the shelf in the US? The whole of Germany seems to be on annual
> holidays (half their luck!), so waiting around till mid september for them
> to come back seems somewhat stupid.
>
> Any half sensible ideas welcomed. :-)
> Chris
>
>

[[email protected]]

A 1988-vintage Cobra probably has replaceable bearings. They can be
found at large bearing supply houses in the U.S. The numbers are
stamped on the races of the inner and outer bearings. You'll need
grease seals for the inner bearings, too, which can be more difficult
to find for older trailers. The bearing supplier I used had grease
seals that fit perfectly for the axle on my 1992 Cobra.

Later Cobras apparently have sealed-for-life bearings that are pressed
into the drums. At least one guy reported replacing these bearings but
the standard fix seems to be replacing the entire drum assembly.

People have had problems with brake drums before, usually small cracks
in the hub. As far as I know, replacement is the only option (though I
have considered turning the hub down and slipping a steel sleeve over
it to take the stress off the crack, then sealing the crack to prevent
grease from seeping out of the hub).

Have you tried Tim Mara at Wings & Wheels? He usually has drums,
bearings, and brake shoes for various Cobra and Komet models.

The alternative is a complete axle replacement but Alko seems to be the
only company offering a mechanical surge brake. Using a U.S. axle will
mean losing the surge brake (and handbrake feature) or substituting a
hydraulic surge brake or electric brake assembly.

Chip Bearden

[ventus2]

Thanks guys. Looks like I will have to wait around for a month or so. Tried
Tim though he was unable to help locally on this one, other than point me to
the factory.

Chris

[yooper]

Years ago I gave up on the understrength German trailer undercarriage.
Took it all off. I went to a junkyard and bought a old-model Olds
Toronado rear end. I had a welder make a subframe to mount it on and
bolted it to the bottom of the trailer shell. Hooked up the parking
brake to the surge mechanism. The long single leaf spring, big shocks
and 17" wheels were perfect for the job. Perfectly stable at 90 mph.

[Gary Emerson]

I don't know if you can get parts, but I e-mailed a technical question
regarding trailer weight and Agnes had an answer back to me the next
morning. I'd e-mail the factory or better yet invest a couple bucks in
a phone call and maybe you can get what you want sooner than you think?

ventus2 wrote:
> Interested to hear if anyone has experience with replacing axle parts on a
> Cobra Trailer.
> Particularly the brake drum (its an 88 model) and wheel bearings.
> Question, are these parts which can be interchanged from generic axles or
> bought off the shelf in the US? The whole of Germany seems to be on annual
> holidays (half their luck!), so waiting around till mid september for them
> to come back seems somewhat stupid.
>
> Any half sensible ideas welcomed. :-)
> Chris
>
>

[Howard Banks]

I needed a new tongue for my '85 trailer. George Applebay
said that Cobra has parts for more or less everything
-- and he was right.
After several emails getting the parts I needed organized
I sent one saying that I was now ready to order. The
reply, within a few hours, said it had been despatched
and the assembly arrived the next week, via Fedex.
Amazing service and all on trust. I got an invoice
and sent a US check to their US financial agent, one
D Jacobs.
banks/1XX

[Rex]

We just recieved a huge shipment of replacement parts of Cobra trailers
at Williams Soaring Center.
Visit williamssoaring.com or call (530) 473-5600
Williams, Ca USA

Rex Mayes

[Greg Arnold]

Rex wrote:
> We just recieved a huge shipment of replacement parts of Cobra trailers
> at Williams Soaring Center.
> Visit williamssoaring.com or call (530) 473-5600
> Williams, Ca USA
>
> Rex Mayes
>


Yes, Williams had parts when my Cobra needed repair.