Trailer brake question for home made pickup box trailer.

[missouriman]

old chevy one ton dually truck box trailer.
is there a way to use the stock chevy brakes.
tried looking for electric master cylinder, found some but not much info.

how have you guys done it?
what did it cost?

I have the 7 plug for a camper trailer on my pickup. what all will I need?

thanks for advice and in put.

[el ranger loco]

Anything you should be hauling in that trailer shouldnt require a braking axle. While we're at it, if you can load a truck bed trailer heavy enough that you want brakes on it, your tow vehicle better be up to par as well. I wouldnt bother.

[missouriman]

fire wood, dirt.
remodleing so will be cement, gravel stuff like that.

just thought that it might be a good idea to have brakes on it if it was easy to do.

[nightcrawlers]

Originally Posted by el ranger loco

Anything you should be hauling in that trailer shouldnt require a braking axle. While we're at it, if you can load a truck bed trailer heavy enough that you want brakes on it, your tow vehicle better be up to par as well. I wouldnt bother.

well thats a pretty ignorant comment.

my chevy crewcab dually stops my loaded 18 foot trailer just fine without the brakes,but IMO that fact doesnt neccessarily mean its a good idea.

its always better to be safe than sorry when towing and you could potentially kill yourself and everyone around you. the frame,box and dually axle prolly weigh enuff that if you put 500 pounds in it brakes are a good idea. if the trailer is well made its prolly quite feasible and safe to load it it up to the GVWR of the year truck it was made from,so i can easily see why youd want to do it.

i have heard of electric over hydraulic setups that could easily run the stock brakes. saw a pic of a big gooseneck trailer made with 2 dually 14 bolt axles that used it. unfortunately,i dont have any knowledge or experience of them either.

i guess another option would be to replace the axle with an appropriately rated trailer axle.

do you ever drive the tow rig without the trailer? you could permantly plumb a brakeline to the trailer with a big flexible line at the coupler

in all seriousness,i hope someone has some info for you on the electric/hydro setup,id like to know more about them also.

[missouriman]

500 lbs..!!!

more like 4000 or more.


Right now the (Trailer) is a wrecked dually chevy one ton truck, minus the motor and drive train. It would likely be free.
so I thought make a trailer and load it up over time and haul off when full.

[Travis Waldher]

Make sure you don't run in to a commercial licensing (drivers) issue running a dually axle on that trailer.

[johny5]

I have not done it but couldn't you use serge brakes ?

[nightcrawlers]

Originally Posted by missouriman

Right now the (Trailer) is a wrecked dually chevy one ton truck, minus the motor and drive train. It would likely be free.
so I thought make a trailer and load it up over time and haul off when full.

so you are looking to turn this into a permanent trailer that youll tow frequently? or just looking to haul it once to a scrapyard after its full of crap?

[matty_fly]

Originally Posted by johny5

I have not done it but couldn't you use serge brakes ?

this. a surge brake setup sounds like the hot ticket. just use a master cylinder
and figure out how to have the trailer slip enough on the hitch to compress it. bam, bobs your uncle and you have trailer brakes. you could even make a break away this way. seems like the easiest set up out there

[suprdave737]

Electric hydraulic brake pump, 1000psi model for drum brakes or surge brake actuator




http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DEXTE...Q5fAccessories

Or

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Trail...Q5fAccessories

[missouriman]

good point on the license part of it. will check that.

just to haul crap around. yes filler her up and dump it when full during the remodel part.


holy mother,, 530.00 for that actuator.. gasp.

[el ranger loco]

Originally Posted by nightcrawlers

well thats a pretty ignorant comment.

my chevy crewcab dually stops my loaded 18 foot trailer just fine without the brakes,but IMO that fact doesnt neccessarily mean its a good idea.

its always better to be safe than sorry when towing and you could potentially kill yourself and everyone around you. the frame,box and dually axle prolly weigh enuff that if you put 500 pounds in it brakes are a good idea. if the trailer is well made its prolly quite feasible and safe to load it it up to the GVWR of the year truck it was made from,so i can easily see why youd want to do it.

i have heard of electric over hydraulic setups that could easily run the stock brakes. saw a pic of a big gooseneck trailer made with 2 dually 14 bolt axles that used it. unfortunately,i dont have any knowledge or experience of them either.

i guess another option would be to replace the axle with an appropriately rated trailer axle.

do you ever drive the tow rig without the trailer? you could permantly plumb a brakeline to the trailer with a big flexible line at the coupler

in all seriousness,i hope someone has some info for you on the electric/hydro setup,id like to know more about them also.

Ignorant? I think not. The fact of the matter is that even a half ton truck will stop a few thousand pound trailer no problem. I wouldnt waste my time with a pickup bed trailer.

[Travis Waldher]

Originally Posted by el ranger loco

Ignorant? I think not. The fact of the matter is that even a half ton truck will stop a few thousand pound trailer no problem. I wouldnt waste my time with a pickup bed trailer.

Letsee, you can pretty easily drop 4,000lbs in to a bed of a 1 ton truck, probably slightly more in a dually.

That puts the trailer in the 5,000lb+ range potentially.

Lemme guess, you don't bother with trailer brakes for hauling a rig on a flatbed either.

(That's not even touching on the legalities of NOT having trailer brakes on that kind of setup, varying by state and how he licenses the thing of course.)

[bhaugen]

Originally Posted by Travis Waldher

Make sure you don't run in to a commercial licensing (drivers) issue running a dually axle on that trailer.

Most states around here don't care what axle they look at weight rating/licensing. And a trailer like that would be 5,000-7,000lbs. It looks like he is in South Dakota. I doubt he will have a problem. They will likely want brakes on it if you license it, and depending on your county, they may want to inspect it being it will be a home built trailer. Check the your DMV rules on what weight rating they require to have brakes on a trailer, and go from there.

I have an old dump trailer that has a box on it, pin hitch with a 3/4 ton axle that my dad had for use on the farm. I have used it for remodeling my house, and its not licensed or has brakes. It is a lot bigger than what you could get into a pickup box, and the most weight I ever got in it was 3,000 lbs and that was when it had mostly drywall in it. I haven't used it for dirt/cement or anything really heavy though, just debris.

[el ranger loco]

Originally Posted by Travis Waldher

Letsee, you can pretty easily drop 4,000lbs in to a bed of a 1 ton truck, probably slightly more in a dually.

That puts the trailer in the 5,000lb+ range potentially.

Lemme guess, you don't bother with trailer brakes for hauling a rig on a flatbed either.

(That's not even touching on the legalities of NOT having trailer brakes on that kind of setup, varying by state and how he licenses the thing of course.)

Im so cool, I can tow 23k without trailer brakes.

[nightcrawlers]

el ranger loco,your an ingnorant jackass.

missouriman,im still alittle confused about wether this trailer is disposable when youre done with the remodle,or a permant addition to your fleet.

if its a permanet addition,surge brakes sound like the cheapest,easiet option.tho certainly not the coolest

[el ranger loco]

Originally Posted by nightcrawlers

el ranger loco,your an ingnorant jackass.

I do what I can.

[woodchuck2]

Acouple of the fella's had it right IMO, i would cut the tongue off a boat trailer and utilize the surge brake feature for your brakes. Using a boat tongue would eliminate the hassle of fabricating a slip tongue for you weight capacity. Just some measuring, cutting, welding and running one brake line and your in business.

[missouriman]

thanks everyone, surge brakes look like the ticket.
as for it being a part of the fleet, I would sell it if I don't use it for a long while or for the right money.

I thought you were still jokeing about a permant trailer and just running the brake lines off the truck..

[HappyCamper]

this is an old thread but i found it in a search, so i'll add these comments for reference.

there do exist "electric over hydraulic brake actuators" -- an electric signal drives a pump to activate the brakes. this seems perfect for a converted truck bed.

e.g.
http://www.easternmarine.com/Electri...ake-Actuators/

this would allow use of a hefty pintel hitch preferred for offroad applications, instead of the ball hitch used by the surge brake systems.

e.g.
http://www.tentrax.com/options/prodp...ntle_page.html

although if you do get a surge brake, don't forget the free backing or reversing solenoid valve so you can turn off the brakes when you reverse (or when appropriate offroad) -- this is particularly important reversing uphill.

e.g.
http://www.championtrailers.com/REVE...OID_VALVES.HTM

[chrisevans2645]

i want electric over hydraulic on mine but it's about $500 to $600 to do that. surge brakes would work and you could use an electric line lock installed backwards when backing up. the reason i'm not going with the surge brake is because i'm using a pintle setup that i really like. the military m101 trailers have surge brakes on them which would allow you to use a pintle hitch and surge brakes but we had problems with tires locking up just driving down the road. also it didn't seem all that sturdy to me.

[#rawkon]

Originally Posted by nightcrawlers

el ranger loco,your an ingnorant jackass.

Agreed, ignore everything this moron has to say

[Harold Phipps]

FYI the surge brake set up comes as a slip set up, you don't have to mod the tongue to have any slip.
You can get surge brake controllers in 2" ball, 2 5/16" ball and pintle hitch.
I wouldn't screw with all the electric over hydraulic bullcrap.