Komet Trailer Question

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

On Dec 1, 2:33*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 had an older Komet trailer that was damaged in a minor auto
accident. The repair shop fitted new US trailer components, including
1-7/8" ball hitch and new axle with hydraulic over-run brakes. There
may be original components available for repair, but suggest you
consider local parts, especially if you are outside Europe.

Mike

Hi Jay,

Anschau (builder of the Komet series) is still very much in business. I recently had a round of communication with them regarding a more recent version of the Komet (circa 1999), and it was a good experience. I would start by emailing them using the link on their website: http://www.anschau.de/englishversion.htm

Between their fair English and my fair German, we were able to communicate. I would start by asking for drawings of the areas you are interested in (primarily the tongue and surge brake based on your note). A lot of things are clearer once you see these.

I did a lot of work on my 1981 vintage Komet, including replacing the entire tongue assembly after someone else wrecked it in a car accident. The parts are very expensive, especially if they are shipped specifically for you (assuming here you are in the US). Most big parts tend to be "piggy backed" along with another shipment - i.e. stuck inside a new trailer that is coming over.

IIRC, a lot of the parts are from AL-KO, which does have a presence in the US. It might be worth trying them directly if you can find the AL-KO part numbers (e.g. for the coupler).



On Thursday, December 1, 2011 4:33:00 PM UTC-5, 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 the same vintage trailer and had the same problem with the bent
hitch. I took it off. Took a piece of 2" square tube, sleeved it over
the end of the round tube on the trailer, drilled two holes and bolted
it together. Then placed a standard US 2" trailer hitch (from Harbor
Freight) over the square tube and I can't remember if I welded that on
or bolted it. Tows a lot better with a straight hitch!

I have the original surge brakes which work. There is a bump when you
accelerate when the braking mechanism decompresses to release the
brake. I'm guessing you can make an adjustment to reduce the amount of
movement but mine doesn't bother me that much.

I'll take a couple of pics of the hitch next time I am at the field if
that will help. Allan.

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

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

The 'clunk' is the surge brake releasing unrestrained, indicating you
have a bad air strut located inside the hitch and only accessible by
pulling everything out from the rear. If the brakes were hooked up you
would get both tires skidding momentarily as the surge brake
activates, then releases because the trailer braking is more powerful
than the tow braking. This will give a chirp, chirp, chirp sound as
both tires are making little skid marks. Along with the known Komet
suspension problems and cost of replacment parts would indicate
replacing the toung, axle, springs and brakes with US parts.
Hope this helps,
JJ

This may help, eBay has 50mm balls and couplings shipped in the US.
Just search for "50mm coupling" or "55mm ball".

On Dec 2, 10:03*am, JohnDeRosa wrote:
This may help, eBay has 50mm balls and couplings shipped in the US.
Just search for "50mm coupling" or "55mm ball".

I was wrong...sigh...they seem to all be from the UK. Location was
blank until I looked at the cost and saw GBP.

However, the cost of a 50mm coupling is not too bad.

GBP 19.99 Approximately US $31.35
Shipping: GBP 12.00(approx. US $18.82)

My $0.02 is to go with 2".

On 12/2/2011 11:03 AM, JohnDeRosa wrote:
This may help, eBay has 50mm balls and couplings shipped in the US.
Just search for "50mm coupling" or "55mm ball".

i got my 50mm ball from Eastern Sailplane.

Tony

However, the cost of a 50mm coupling is not too bad.

GBP 19.99 Approximately US $31.35
Shipping: GBP 12.00(approx. US $18.82)

My $0.02 is to go with 2".

Do so with care. My club has a trailer for our L23 which will not accept
a 2 inch ball - it must be 50mm. For some trailers, that .8mm difference
makes a difference (pun intended :-) ).

Tony