Griffo
New brakes look great. Old ones were not even galvanized. Drums plain painted cast iron. I use all galvanized backing plates and zinc or cad plated drums and they look way better than those. Drums can work in salt if they are made out of the right materials. I change the wheel cylinders every 4 seasons. The drums are 10 years old.
I took a good look at those pix on my home computer...they used the cheapest painted drum brakes they could find. The ones you can buy for $55 each backing plate here are galvanized, with stainless springs, and an aluminum wheel cylinder. This is why drum brakes get a bad reputation, cheap materials. That would work OK on a cargo trailer that never goes in the water.
http://www.pacifictrailers.com/Trailer- ... 0-x-2-1/4/http://www.pacifictrailers.com/boat-tra ... ng-plates/I guess FW was too cheap to even put these on, that would have at least lasted 4-5 years maybe longer. You can see how cheap FW really is, if these parts were too expensive for them to use on their custom trailer LOL....
Drum brakes have 2 inherent advantages over discs, one they are self engergizing and take less actuator force to stop the trailer
two, the strong return springs mean less drag and heat than with discs. Yes discs are easier to service, and easier to wash out. But unless you go for the full stainless rotor package they rust bad here.