DeGraaff flushing kit

[Hightower]

Can anyone post a picture of their De Graaff flushing set-up

[Trickdog]

I have a De Graaff trailer but it's not to hand to take a picture at the moment. De Graaff have a hole drilled straight through the wheel and the front of the drum (about 3/4 inch diameter), so you just hold a a hose against the hole and flood the inside of the drum with water. It's a new trailer so I do not know how effective this arrangement is, but you can certainly get a lot of water in there!

[IBWET]

Originally Posted by Hightower

Can anyone post a picture of their De Graaff flushing set-up

Here mine, (De Graaff )the white fitting looks like your typical plumbers connection from the inside,I've often thought if you could fit a hose lock connection here, the pressure could be turned up. (better a horse pi** than a poodle pi**)

I always try to move the trailer a few feet per side with the connection in place, as I'm not convinced all of the drum/shoes area is getting rinsed when it's stationary.

the green pipe is the water hose in the second pic

Sorry about the orientation of the pics, you'll just need to do a flag to view them...

Hope it helps.

[BruceB]

The flushing arrangements are a bit primitive, it is just a hole drilled through the wheel.
The main advantage is that the "kit" includes a set of stainless brake lines fitted instead of the usual materials.

[Hightower]

Thanks for your replys.

Arthur said he'd fitted a flushing kit as well as bearing savers when he phoned last week to tell me the trailer was finished. I think we'd got wires crossed up a little as I never ordered the trailer with these things, but did make enquirys. He removed them before I collected today.

I knew about the 3/4" hole in the hubs and he said that all was needed was to drill a coresponding hole in the wheel and use a hose to flush out the hub this way. No problem I thought, I could do this myself. The price he quoted wasn't in keeping with the work I thought he was going to do (drill two holes).

So is there more to the kit? What of these cables, I thought the original fit ones were stainless anyway?

[Trickdog]

There is nothing more to the De Graaff 'flushing kit' than the hole drilled through the front of the wheel and hub. I agree it is a bit primitive but I expect also very effective, because you can rotate the wheel to ensure everything inside the hub is thoroughly washed out. As far as I know, De Graaff use stainless brake cables as standard (that's what I was told when I ordered my trailer in Feb of this year).

[Hightower]

I knew about the holes as mine has them in, however when I spoke to him early last week he said he'd fitted the flushing kit. But as hadn't ordered it he was going to remove it. So I figured he was removing hoses etc.

As for the flushing of the hubs, I was going to make a lance with many small holes around a circumferance that I can insert into the hole.

[BruceB]

I now can't remember as the trailer was actually ordered beofre Xmas but are the bearing savers not part of the flushing kit too? I certainly have them fitted and they are not listed seperately on the order. I seem to remember them also being included as part of the flush kit although I could be wrong.
I was ceratinly told on order that the brake cables were ugraded to stainless as part of the flush kit as it came up again when I upgraded the kit later to twin axle.

[Hightower]

I was quote £80ish (memory ) quid for the flush kit and about £40 for the bearing savers.

[Trickdog]

I'm pretty sure I ordered the 'hub flush' feature and bearing savers separately on my trailer. I can't remember how much each of them were, but I'm glad I went for both. I remember thinking they were a bit pricey, but worth it to protect those precious hubs and bearings!

Andy your lance sounds like a good idea. Could you please post a pic when completed?

David