The Trailer Brake Question - Again

[Oldragbaggers]

I have decided to purchase a new axle. Since I modified the width of my frame, the axle is really too wide for what I want to build. It's age is also in question, and I don't want to have to find out that it was older, and closer to it's planned obsolescence date than I thought, out on the road somewhere. So..... if I were to want to add trailer brakes, now would be the time.

I will be pulling with a 4-cyl Hyundai Sonata most of the time. My tow capacity is 1000 lb. without trailer brake, 1875 with trailer brake, so it seems my brakes are the limiting factor as towing is concerned. Now, I don't expect my trailer to weigh 1000 lb, and I will do what I can to keep it as light as possible, but I am still wondering if I should err on the side of caution and just buy the brakes already. (Just a little put off by the additional cost and complexity.)

How many of you have trailer brakes? How many of you with smaller tow vehicles have trailer brakes? If you have a small tow vehicle and decided against trailer brakes, why? If you don't have them, would you do it differently next time? Why? Does the topography where you tow (hills) affect your decision?)

Thanks All.
Becky

[eamarquardt]

There have been several HEATED discussion on this exact topic. In short, IMHO, your car was designed to stop itself and maybe 1200# of load. So, if your trailer weighs 1000# that means you can carry about 250# (yourself and whatever else you load in your car). Any more than this, IMHO and the opinion of some others, and you are "pushing your luck". Others will say that you are perfectly "legal" in some states to tow 3500# w/o brakes (but there are often other requirements, being able to stop in a specified distance or rate of deceleration for example, in the laws and in all likelihood you WILL be illegal if it was ever looked into). In addition, you must have the equipment required by the state you are driving in even if your trailer is registered somewhere else.

If you ever drive in a mountainous area you WILL, most likely, regret not having brakes.

Brakes will set you back about $250 for the additional parts on the axle and the controller that you will have to install in your vehicle. Installation isn't difficult but does take some skill and knowledge.

If you are ever in an accident and don't have brakes you'll wonder if they would have helped. If you do have brakes you'll know you did what you could.

$250 is cheap insurance, IMHO.

More "World According to Gus".

Cheers,

Gus

[Woodbutcher]

I agree with Gus. Get the brakes. You will not be disappointed.

[bonnie]

I vote for breaks too. It's a matter of control. With brakes you have more control of the teardrop -- simple. I like all the positives that brings to mind.

Bonnie

[Oldragbaggers]

Thanks guys. I think I'll bite the bullet.

[Shadow Catcher]

As I have said frequently! it is better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. I will inject the you really wnat them in bad weather.

[Dale M.]

I say get the brakes too..... BUT if its a money issue and indecision, at least get a axle the will accept the brakes at later date if you initially go without them.... Brakes come in 7, 10 , and 12 inch configurations.... Minimally 7 inch (rated for 2000 lb axle) should do what you want...

Dale

[eamarquardt]

what type of trailer frame do you have?

nessary information.

do you have a brake flange to bolt the brakes to on your axle. Doesn't matter as she's replacing the axle.

harbor freight trailers don't have this flange and have to have a hole new axle to mount brakes. Doesn't matter as she has the trailer.


also if you go on ebay and get hold of r and p carrages the guy is real nice and I got everything wires brakes and the hole works even the nessary 7 way plugs for my tow vehicle and my trailer.

all not kidding for 175 dollares.

this guy is one heck of a great sellar and has a mom and pop trailer parts store in the midwest. A reasonable price but buying the axle with brakes might be a bit more cost effective. Maybe he can get the axle also.

I would put brakes on you never know what state your going to be towing in or how ochy the dot in that state is on trailer brakes.

its a safe guard against. legal trouble down the road and it does not hurt to have them.

espiceally in heavy traffic areas.

I got diffrent opions on traveling in moutains with brakes.

normaly i turn my brake controler down in the moutains so its on the lowest setting I can get out of it and do all I can to shut my trailer brakes off.

this keeps form wearing them out brakeing all day long.

brakes on moutains are not a good thing all the time. I disagree, in the mountains is where you really want the brakes. I nearly didn't get down a mountain alive because of no brakes. Why have them if you don't use em.

if your in snow or slick conditions of any type you don't want to even use your trailer brakes if you can help it any more than your cars. Can't comment as I simply don't go where there is snow. Color me WARM.

but in heavy traffic I would say they are a must.

and even in no traffic wyoming they have never hurt me. Can't argue with that.

slow.

As Dale M says, a 2000# axle should be fine for your needs. It's much lighter than a 3500# axle.

One final thought. If you are thinking of replacing your tires and rims NOW is the time. Purchase your rims first and then use their offset to determine the width of your axle.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[Oldragbaggers]

Thanks everyone.

Yes, Gus, new tires and rims were already on the shopping list too. May as well start out with everything fresh and new and then you know exactly what you're starting with.

We're not snow people either. (So, why we moved to Maryland from California is still a question that burns in my mind.!!) Although I can see where the necessity to drive through it might arise if we wanted to take a trip to say, FLORIDA, in the winter. But only for however long as it took to get south of it.


I agree with you, as far as the mountains go. I should think that on a steep downgrade would be a situation where they might be the most valuable.

Becky

[dangerranger]

Im wanting to build on a Harbor Freight trailer but also want brakes. Has anyone added breaks. it looks like I could just weld the 4 bolt flange onto the axel, but has anyone found a brake drum that would fit? DR

[CarlLaFong]

Im wanting to build on a Harbor Freight trailer but also want brakes. Has anyone added breaks. it looks like I could just weld the 4 bolt flange onto the axel, but has anyone found a brake drum that would fit? DR

Shouldn't be a problem. As long as the bolt pattern on the drums matches your hubs and they will fit inside of your wheels. Make up a flange, assemble the whole deal on your axle, be sure everything is coplanar and tack the flanges on. Test the brakes, making sure nothing wobbles or sticks. When you're square to the world, weld it up.

[angib]

it looks like I could just weld the 4 bolt flange onto the axel, but has anyone found a brake drum that would fit?

Just going by what folk have said here:

You would also need hubs that fit the HF spindles and are sized to take brake drums - in practice you would need everything new except the axle tube, so a complete new axle with brakes makes more sense and costs less.

[Chef_Stan]

I have been giving this some thought. I have towed 2000 lb trailers fully loaded behind a fully loaded pickup truck (Hauling firewood) many times. The trailer didn't have breaks and there were never any issues, but this was a F350 and I never traved the highways, but maybe got up to 60 MPH. Having said that and starting to think my tow vehical will be a small Jeep or something, I would feel more comfortable with trailer brakes for the reasons stated earlier, if my TV was a mid or full sized pick up I would not sweat a 1000 Lb trailer without breaks.

I was thinking about surge breaks like thy have on boat trailers. It seems like it would be easier then playing with break controlers which I hear can be troublesome at times. Maybe the surge breaks are more expensive. I presume you need to get a hitch on the trailer that is made for the surge breaks, along with the break hubs and then plumb the lines. If one were to start with a boat trailer it may already have the surge type breaking system.

Does anyone have thoughts or input on surge breaks V.S. Electric breaks?

Stan

[48Rob]

I was thinking about surge breaks like thy have on boat trailers. It seems like it would be easier then playing with break controlers which I hear can be troublesome at times.

Stan,

I'm sure there are people out there who "have trouble" with just about anything...usually because they continue to play with controls long after any need has passed...
That said, modern electric brake controllers are very simple and easy to operate.
Once set for the weight/force needed for your trailer, just push on the brake pedal like you do any other time you want to stop your car, it is all automatic.
Electric brakes are less expensive than surge brakes.

Rob

[eamarquardt]

From my experience towing my dump trailer with surge brakes they seem very effective.

They require NO modifications to the tow vehicle to work, just a std two inch ball. You can hook up the trailer to any tow vehicle and the brakes will work.

The physical installation of hydraulic brakes versus electric brakes, IMHO, is about the same on the trailer as you just run a hydraulic line versus a couple of wires from the coupler to each wheel. You have to bleed the brakes after installation but it's not difficult. One advantage is that the "breakaway" system, unlike electric brakes, is part of the coupler and requires no additional stuff (breakaway switch and battery) to function. A number of states require a breakaway system on trailers that have brakes installed.

To install an electric controller on your vehicle isn't difficult but can be intimidating to someone w/o much electrical experience. You need to physically mount the controller in a convenient, within reach, place. Then you need to connect 4 wires to the controller. A fused wire from your battery. A ground lead. A wire from your brakelight switch to the brake controller, and finally a wire from the controller to the trailer via your trailer connector.

Once you install the electric brake components you have to do some minor adjustments of the controller. Usually a position knob and gain knob. Pretty easy and straight forward. I found it very helpful to install an ampmeter in the lead to the trailer brakes to see what the controller is doing.

I have an Atwood hydraulic coupler on my trailer and, IMHO, the design isn't really great as it is easy for water to get into the brake fluid reservoir and rust the cylinders. I got about 8 years out of my original coupler and the replacement is sitting in my dining room and will be installed tomorrow. It was more cost effective to simply replace it than it was to rebuild the original. I plan to make a shield to keep the coupler out of the weather when the trailer isn't in use. Hopefully doing so will extend the life of the coupler.

As far as installing the flange, drums, and other brake components required to upgrade a HF axle goes, to my knowledge, no one has ever done so based upon the posts on the forum. Finding all of the components that will work with a HF axle may or may not be possible, again IMHO. If faced with the need to do so, I'd just buy a new axle with brakes factory installed as I think it would be a better quality setup and more "cost effective" (if you value your time and energy at all).

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus