On Dec 1, 1:33*pm, Jay Allardyce wrote:
Hello All,

The sailplane I recently purchased came with a older Komet trailer
(1977 vintage) in need of some serious work. I was hoping to get some
perspective from those who may have a Komet trailer of similar
vintage.

Firstly, the actual coupling that hooks up to the ball on the hitch is
bent. Does anyone know of a source for a replacement. If we were to
purchase a new one from the manufacturer, would it fit on the older
trailers?

Second question is on the surge brake. Mine is currently deactivated;
however, I have a feeling it needs to be recharged. When I accelerate,
there is a loud bang which presumably is the surge brake moving. Does
anyone know how to fix this?

Any help or perspective would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Jay

I have a 1979 vintage Komet. I replaced the coupler with one I bought
from Entec - Harold Ennulat. Unfortunately, Harold has become
impossible to contact, in my experience. The coupler I bought bolted
onto the tongue with one vertical bolt and one horizontal bolt. It's
easy to find a coupler with two horizontal bolts but I kept looking
until I found one that bolted up to the existing holes. The coupler is
50mm but that's not a problem for me because I have a convert-a-ball.
You can get a 50mm ball from Convert-a-ball if you call and ask for
one - it's not shown on their website.

I had to replace the axle because the torsion bars lost their "spring"
and were bottomed out. Seems that it's impossible to find a mechanical
brake axle in the U.S. anymore so I opted for electric brakes. The
axle, wheels and tires were purchased from Southwest Wheel in Texas.
It's a bit tricky getting the mounting brackets to fit the trailer's
mounts but I was able to get the width to match and only had to drill
one hole on each side for it to match the mounts longitudinally. The
other thing I had to do was move the fenders so they were centered on
the wheels. I also had the brake actuator in the tongue welded in the
full extension position since the actuator is no longer needed. So
far, it's working OK.

Steve