Trailer Brakes

[onlyrotax]

I recently bought a used 3-place Triton with dual axles and surge brakes on all four wheels, upon removing one of the wheels to clean and pack the bearings I find that the brake shoes are worn out. I'm now considering fixing the brakes on the front axle and disconnecting the brakes on the rear axle, we do not have much for hills around here and I have gotten by fine for many years without any brakes at all on my old 3-place. I just think that it will be enough work to keep one set of brakes working let alone keep both axles in working order. I should be able to disconnect the rear brake lines and plug them or crimp the lines, anyone have any thoughts on this, advice appreciated.

 

[ndmtnsledder]

Personally I would covert to electric easier to maintain IMO and surge brakes don't work to good on ice when the tow vehicle can't stop either.

 

[LM.]

I am not a big fan of the surge brakes as well. They come on regardless of the conditions. At least with the elect brakes you can manually adjust the bias from the cab of your truck with the right controller.

 

[onlyrotax]

Personally I would covert to electric easier to maintain IMO and surge brakes don't work to good on ice when the tow vehicle can't stop either.

OK, I agree, now does someone make a kit to convert to electric brakes or is this something I will have to piece together on my own ?

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

OK, I agree, now does someone make a kit to convert to electric brakes or is this something I will have to piece together on my own ?

just take one of your brake backing plates off the axle and take it to your local trailer supply store..they should be able to fix you right up..dont forget new trailer/truck plugs for 7 wire and a controller, and some wiring to run the brake wires....

 

[j_e_summit]

Here in Canada, it is illegal to have brakes on only one axle of any tandem or tridem trailer. You can have no trailer brakes on a tandem, if you the trailer is rated below a certain gtwr (I am not sure what the wieght is)

Also, I agree with everyone else, surge brakes are not really safe for winter driving.

 

[ndmtnsledder]

Like said above a good trailer place usually some of the decent sized RV or Horse Trailer sales places has a good parts and service department. Also it looks like your in SD not sure were the closest one to you would be but we have Northern Tool & Equipment in ND that I've seen has conversion kits in the past.

 

[M7ZR6]

Here in Canada, it is illegal to have brakes on only one axle of any tandem or tridem trailer. You can have no trailer brakes on a tandem, if you the trailer is rated below a certain gtwr (I am not sure what the wieght is)

Also, I agree with everyone else, surge brakes are not really safe for winter driving.

Better check your facts again. Tandems are required to have at least one axle with brakes depending on on the gvwr of the trailer of coarse.
I know this because my three place has brakes only on the front axle and it's only a year old and also built in Canada.

By the way this system seems to work really well. It pull similar to a 2 place but having the braking on the trailer sure beats the 2 place without any.

 

[onlyrotax]

Better check your facts again. Tandems are required to have at least one axle with brakes depending on on the gvwr of the trailer of coarse.
I know this because my three place has brakes only on the front axle and it's only a year old and also built in Canada.

By the way this system seems to work really well. It pull similar to a 2 place but having the braking on the trailer sure beats the 2 place without any.

That's what I'm thinking, order up a set of brake shoes for the front axle (where most of the weight will be), get everything working there and cap off the lines to the rear axle, for a trailer that is only 5 years old these brake setups are in sad shape and I can see it being a continual battle to keep everything working. To change the topic how do you back a trailer up a hill or through heavy, deep snow when it has surge brakes ? It looks to me like I need to come up with a way to disable the system if I need to back up a hill, or through some heavy deep spring snow.

 

[DOODOG]

The 1 advantage of surge brakes is that you can pull the trailer with any vehicle and have brakes. I have them on my boat trailer and there is a pin at the master cylinder to lock out the brakes when backing up hill. I still prefer electric due to the fact that they are adjustable.

 

[jsledder]

Your backing plate should have a manufacturer name and probably a number of some kind on it, Hayes/Dexter 10", 12" etc.. Electric brake setups are fairly inexpensive, for example... A 10" Dexter assembly will be right around $85 for the complete assembly. You'll need to upgrade to a regular RV type plug though and run a couple wires and add a brake controller. So you'll be into it for around $500 depending on the brake controller and where you buy the parts.

Depending on your tow rig, brakes are nice for when that idiot decides to turn at the last minute with no blinker or the 20 pointer jumps out in front of you. Those silly azz surge brakes suck!!! IMO.

 

[SixtySevenGT]

Trailer Brakes / What a ride

Having Brakes on the front axle of a Snowmobile trailer is like only having brakes on the Front of your Tow truck. Imagine that on an icy road.

You only want brakes on the Back so the front set can continue to roll and steer if you lock the rears on ice. Otherwise ( from experience ) when going down a hill on ice the trailer will be way out of control.

I would get rid of the surge it is dangerous on ice especially if you only have it on the front. Convert to electric so you can control the brakes.
Also keep an eye on them, they can cause premature cupping and wear on tires in a hurry if they apply to much and skid the tires ( even just a couple of times). The surge is a pain.

I tow a 29 Ft Interstate enclosed and a 7000 lb boat.

 

[ndmtnsledder]

Also with electrics you can use the lever to engage just the trailer brakes if the trailer is starting to pass you. Had to do it a few times. Most of the new fords 1/2 ton and bigger are coming with integrated brake controllers the one in my F250 works great. Also in the past we just shared a Brake controller, its easy to move around with the prewired plug under the dash on any pickup I've had in the last 10yrs. I'd never tow again with out double electrics. Pulled a friends 4place open last year that the surges failed on in the first 100 miles and it was not fun and i usually pull my 25ft inline enclosed.