trailer brake ?

[The Jerk]

is there a noticible difference on having dual axel electric brakes? or is it not woth teh extra money, im thinking of adding them to the other axel on my trailer. jiMMy

[Live Wire]

We all run dual brakes. Can't hurt to have them.

[welndmn]

Singale brakes suck!
Alexs trailer only has single brakes and it sucks, my hourse trailer weighs more and with 2 axles brakes it still stops better

[Travis Waldher]

I run dual axle brakes, I wouldn't want to go any less. The trailer loaded down can stop my truck and it at freeway speeds sometimes faster than my truck can stop empty. LOL Can't imagine running single axle brakes... really your not saving THAT much money by doing that to make it worth it.

[TJpwr]

ok, this is along the lines of trailer brakes. I want to know if I can add brakes to my trailer that has NONE right now. I've seen some kits in Northern Tool but I just know enough about this. Can it be done? How easy? $$$???

Phil

[Tusker]

Originally posted by TJpwr
ok, this is along the lines of trailer brakes. I want to know if I can add brakes to my trailer that has NONE right now. I've seen some kits in Northern Tool but I just know enough about this. Can it be done? How easy? $$$???

Phil

The Northern Tool barkes cost around $140 per axle for the backing plates and drums. The shipping is another $50 or so per axle. They are easy to add, as long as your axle is set up to accept the backing plate on the spindle. If not, you can always fab a plate out of 1/4" stock, use the backing plate as a template and drill the four holes, cut the center hole for the spindle, and weld her on to the axle. This is pretty simple.

As far as the single vs. dual, go dual all the way. I just finished building a tandem car trailer and since it is small and light, I went the cheap route and tried single axle brakes. It worked "ok" but there was so much current flowing to the brakes that they about fried the axle bearings driving around town. I am adding another set on the second axle to divide the current and cut down the heat generation on the brakes and bearings. It will of course help it stop better too. It is funny though, with my tandem dual braked horse trailer, I only get 3 or so volts to my brakes. It stops fine. With the car trailer I built, I get 10.5 volts . Unless I have it fully loaded, I have to leave the brakes unplugged or it will smoke the tires every time I brake. I guess that number 12 wire with soldered connections was overkill .

[Hypoid Drive]

Whats up.....

Jimmy the federal law for all trailers states that any tire which is in contact with the ground must have brakes , plus you cant ever have to much stopping power

[Rudezuk]

Originally posted by TechGuru
Whats up.....

Jimmy the federal law for all trailers states that any tire which is in contact with the ground must have brakes , plus you cant ever have to much stopping power

Actually a trailer that has a gvrw over 3k lbs needs to have at least one axle with brakes.........Nothing about both needing them.

[Hypoid Drive]

F.M.C.S.R. 396.3A1BA requires breaks on everything , unless its older than 76 then you might be exept from front tire breaks

[Rudezuk]

Originally posted by TechGuru
F.M.C.S.R. 396.3A1BA requires breaks on everything , unless its older than 76 then you might be exept from front tire breaks

Huh, maybe that is why all the trailer shops around here sell most of there 2 axle trailers with one trailer brake...........HMMMMM

all of those must have been built in the early 70's then....

[FYRMAN]

The law on trailer brakes is weird... The Washington State Patrol says that trailers in Washington and Oregon (they say Oregon too since it's only 20 minutes from here) have to have trailer brakes on two or more axles if the trailer weighs more than 2990 lbs. All of the trailers on our lot have brakes on two axles. If you go to Oregon, they sell them with brakes on one. I dunno... You got me...

As for gettin brakes put on the other axle... The bracket should already be there. These trailer manufactures order their axles by the train car full. The axle manufactures use the same beam, but they use an Idler hub instead of a brake assembly on the one axle. Just crawl under your trailer the next time you are already dirty and look. It's just a square plate with 4 holes in it (maybe 5). They aren't that expensive to just by. You could probably get the place you get your brakes from to throw them in the price of drums and backing plates.

To tell the guys what you want, get the name of the axle manufacture off of the trailer. There should either be a tag on the axle beam, or a sticker on the trailer somewhere. Look at the VIN plate and see what those axles are rated for. Should be 3500#. Then call whoever and say I need loaded backing plates and drums for this axle. Some guys will be smart enough to ask, others will asume one way or the other, but make sure you tell them electric brakes, not hydraulic.

We get most of our trailer brakes from 6 States, since they are in town, and they usually have them in stock.