Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

[badbowtie]

Friend of mine has a 2001 heritage trailer that he pulls his crownline 270BR so it is a tandem axle trailer and a heavy boat/trailer. It has surge brakes and he does not like them since anytime you are on a down hill slope they want to activate. He also keeps his boat at my house and my driveway is gravel and has a pretty steep hill and they want to activate and drag gravel. Trying to decide if we should remove both disc brake setups and install electric 12" dexter drum setups on all four wheels. Or buy one of the electric over hydraulic kits that I think are pretty pricey for what you get. I would like to here the pros and cons of each. We don't have salt water and will never boat on it so don't care. I would say boat and trailer weights 8,000 pounds.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

the ONLY reason I haven't put electric brakes on my current trailer is because I don't want to spend the money... a reverse lockout solenoid would fix the driveway problem but electric brakes are the shiznit lol

 

[badbowtie]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

I can get the 12" drum kit for both axles for about half the price as the hydraulic setup.
It has a reverse lockout I would have to wire it into a switch to make it work for the driveway. Yea everything we tow has electric brakes the only way to go both of our campers and my boat and my car trailer is all electric brakes.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

well when you get done you COULD send the reverse lockout my way ..... just saying..... lol

BTW what sort of price did you find on the 12" brakes... best I have found is about $100 per axle for cheapos and $140 for dexters..... plus the breakaway box and wiring

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

Friend of mine has a 2001 heritage trailer that he pulls his crownline 270BR so it is a tandem axle trailer and a heavy boat/trailer. It has surge brakes and he does not like them since anytime you are on a down hill slope they want to activate. He also keeps his boat at my house and my driveway is gravel and has a pretty steep hill and they want to activate and drag gravel. Trying to decide if we should remove both disc brake setups and install electric 12" dexter drum setups on all four wheels. Or buy one of the electric over hydraulic kits that I think are pretty pricey for what you get. I would like to here the pros and cons of each. We don't have salt water and will never boat on it so don't care. I would say boat and trailer weights 8,000 pounds.

So you assume that the brakes are activating because you are going downhill in gravel? They shouldn't be? I'm not sure what you are trying to resolve. Is this guy thinking he's Jimmy Johnson towing this rig?
Properly functioning surge brakes on a tandem are fine, especially at your weight. Better with disc brakes. At 8000 lbs I can't see any benefit if the stock setup is in proper order.
Electric over hydraulic are nice for heavier loads, gives you cab control, best with discs. Spendy to do. I think you have other problems, what you've got it more than adequate if it's working correctly.
A properly functioning reverse solenoid will do every thing you ask when backing your rig.
I frankly think you're chasing your tail on this one.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

read it again... the gravel is going backwards in a driveway and he later said he had a reverse lockout solenoid that could fix that... the activating downhill is on the road.... can be a real issue while engine braking down a grade... trailer brakes never release

 

[badbowtie]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

Yes the reverse lockout works when he backs it from our parking slabs up to the garage which is about 300 feet up hill. Then when we are leaving here there is a steeper hill that is about 300 feet to head down and with all the weight. It wants to engage the brakes. Also there is a blacktop hill that is about 1/4 mile at the lake down to the launch ramp and slight slope down and he has to just roll down it if he hits the brakes at all the trailer slides and activates the brakes and you have to punch the truck to get it to slide back out. That is just acouple of the problems not includig the inacurate breaks compered to electric. I will only do the dexter but I have not found them that cheap I have seen 200.00 per axle that is drums seals and bearings.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

Might be wrong but I think you can just add the electric-over-hydraulic actuator and break-a-way battery to your current trailer brakes.
You do not have to replace the hydraulic surge brakes.

 

[badbowtie]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

You are correct but it is about double the money to add that setup verse changing to complete electric setup.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

the prices I quoted were for my trailer already having drums.... I'm gonna look into adding a heavy spring in mine to resist application of the brakes from the coupler

 

[Bartine]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

Check the drums you have now. Do they have a steel plate rivited to the inside for a magnet to catch on? I switched over my last boat trailer to electric, and they wouldn't work right. I could hear the magnets hum, but they would not engage. I had to get different drums/hubs with a plate rivited to the inside. Surge brakes don't require that plate and not all of them have them inside.

 

[DocR]

Re: Convert to Electric or electric over hydraulic.

I use a 4" C clamp on the surge brake to keep it from sliding when I backup. I can backup my uphill
driveway this way. Once parked I remove the C clamp. The DOT is always on the lookout for guys that run down the road with clamps installed so the brakes don't work at all. The total cost this way
runs about $4.00-$6.00 .