jon f mn
Well-known Member
How about a post on trailer brakes. Since the main brake types are hydraulic and electric, with not many air brakes for personal trailers, I'll stick to those two.
As far as what's legally required, that varies from state to state some. Most states require brakes on trailers over 3,000 pounds. Some say 1 axle is good enough, some say all axles are required. Check the rules where you live to make sure you have that right. If you have brakes most states also require a brake away kit, this is a battery that activates the brakes if the trailer comes unhooked from the tow vehicle.
First hyd. brakes since they are less common. I don't like and don't recommend hyd. brakes because they are a lot more expensive, and in my experience no more reliable. I never recommend surge brakes for the simple reason that sooner or later you will be on a slippery surface, whether it's water, mud or ice, and when that happens and your tow vehicle slides it can't activate the trailer brakes, leaving you doubly "up the creek". You can get electric over hyd. units, but they are very spendy and still require a brake controller in the vehicle, as well as a break away kit. As far as reliability goes, in my experience unless you use your trailer weekly you will have as many or more problems with hyd. brakes as electric brakes that are done properly. The problem is moisture. Just like a tractor that sits, hyd. brake systems collect water, and if they sit for a long time this causes rust. Once that happens repairs are more costly than electric. The only advantage for hyd. is a bit smoother braking. At least those are my experiences.
Now electric. The most important part of an electric braking system is the wiring.If your having problems, it's about a 90% chance you have a wiring problem. Most commercially built trailers don't have a dedicated ground for the brakes, so that is the first place to look. When I build a trailer I used a simple 2 wire extension cord to wire the system. They have better wire than the automotive type wire from auto parts stores, and have better covering, making for easier installation and longer life. For connecting the wiring, if you want it to last, don't use any kind of crimp connectors. Lot's of folks solder the connections, and that is good as long as you use rosin core solder and not acid core. Acid core solder or flux will corrode the wires. What I use is what electricians have been using for decades, wire nuts. I just make sure not to over strip the wires so the coating ends close to the nut, then fill the nut with silicone, making sure it goes all the way to the wire coating. Then I dip the whole thing in some liquid rubber to give it a final seal. They have small cans of the liquid rubber at auto parts and hardware stores. I've had very good luck with this system, and it has the advantage over soldering of easy repairs. One further hint, if you use your trailer a lot and wear out your brakes from time to time, you've probly noticed that your left front brake wears faster than the rest. That's a wiring problem as well. If the wire comes down the left side of the trailer, and makes the first splice at that wheel, then crosses over and back to the rear, finally crossing to the right rear, the first wheel gets the most electrical power, with each wheel after getting less. Most don't notice it, but if you use the brakes hard and a lot it can make the first wheel wear out faster than the rest. The solution if you want to bother is to splice in the middle and run individual wires to each wheel.
To diagnose a problem the place to start is at the plug. Make sure it's not corroded. If you live in the salt belt, or drive through it, you can expect to put a new plug on every year. I suggest doing it every spring. You run in the salt and get corrosion, if you don't change in the spring you could start having problems early summer, you start with spraying the plug with wd40 or something, and fight it til fall when your frustration gets the best of you and you finally change it. Then go through winter and start again in the spring, making it be an almost constant battle. Change it in the spring and you get a whole year without problems. From there follow the wires back looking for breaks or bare wires or corroded connections. If all that is good, jack up the trailer and hook a battery to the brake wires. You should hear a humming from all the magnets. It's fairly loud and easy to hear. If you don't hear it, the next step is to remove the drums and look inside. If the trailer sits a lot they can get so rusted inside that the magnet can't cut through the rust, if you see that just wire brush it good and try it again. You can have a bad magnet, but that is very rare. Once you can hear the magnets humming try to spin the wheel. It should be locked. If it drags, but don't hold you need to adjust the brakes. Most systems have auto adjusters, but a lot don't work well. They need to be adjusted up til you have just a LITTLE drag, just enough to feel it. No more than that or you'll heat them up.
That should take care of most of the brake problems. If I've missed something feel free to ask, having a lot of experience I could miss something simple just because I take it for granted, but a novice might not know.
As far as what's legally required, that varies from state to state some. Most states require brakes on trailers over 3,000 pounds. Some say 1 axle is good enough, some say all axles are required. Check the rules where you live to make sure you have that right. If you have brakes most states also require a brake away kit, this is a battery that activates the brakes if the trailer comes unhooked from the tow vehicle.
First hyd. brakes since they are less common. I don't like and don't recommend hyd. brakes because they are a lot more expensive, and in my experience no more reliable. I never recommend surge brakes for the simple reason that sooner or later you will be on a slippery surface, whether it's water, mud or ice, and when that happens and your tow vehicle slides it can't activate the trailer brakes, leaving you doubly "up the creek". You can get electric over hyd. units, but they are very spendy and still require a brake controller in the vehicle, as well as a break away kit. As far as reliability goes, in my experience unless you use your trailer weekly you will have as many or more problems with hyd. brakes as electric brakes that are done properly. The problem is moisture. Just like a tractor that sits, hyd. brake systems collect water, and if they sit for a long time this causes rust. Once that happens repairs are more costly than electric. The only advantage for hyd. is a bit smoother braking. At least those are my experiences.
Now electric. The most important part of an electric braking system is the wiring.If your having problems, it's about a 90% chance you have a wiring problem. Most commercially built trailers don't have a dedicated ground for the brakes, so that is the first place to look. When I build a trailer I used a simple 2 wire extension cord to wire the system. They have better wire than the automotive type wire from auto parts stores, and have better covering, making for easier installation and longer life. For connecting the wiring, if you want it to last, don't use any kind of crimp connectors. Lot's of folks solder the connections, and that is good as long as you use rosin core solder and not acid core. Acid core solder or flux will corrode the wires. What I use is what electricians have been using for decades, wire nuts. I just make sure not to over strip the wires so the coating ends close to the nut, then fill the nut with silicone, making sure it goes all the way to the wire coating. Then I dip the whole thing in some liquid rubber to give it a final seal. They have small cans of the liquid rubber at auto parts and hardware stores. I've had very good luck with this system, and it has the advantage over soldering of easy repairs. One further hint, if you use your trailer a lot and wear out your brakes from time to time, you've probly noticed that your left front brake wears faster than the rest. That's a wiring problem as well. If the wire comes down the left side of the trailer, and makes the first splice at that wheel, then crosses over and back to the rear, finally crossing to the right rear, the first wheel gets the most electrical power, with each wheel after getting less. Most don't notice it, but if you use the brakes hard and a lot it can make the first wheel wear out faster than the rest. The solution if you want to bother is to splice in the middle and run individual wires to each wheel.
To diagnose a problem the place to start is at the plug. Make sure it's not corroded. If you live in the salt belt, or drive through it, you can expect to put a new plug on every year. I suggest doing it every spring. You run in the salt and get corrosion, if you don't change in the spring you could start having problems early summer, you start with spraying the plug with wd40 or something, and fight it til fall when your frustration gets the best of you and you finally change it. Then go through winter and start again in the spring, making it be an almost constant battle. Change it in the spring and you get a whole year without problems. From there follow the wires back looking for breaks or bare wires or corroded connections. If all that is good, jack up the trailer and hook a battery to the brake wires. You should hear a humming from all the magnets. It's fairly loud and easy to hear. If you don't hear it, the next step is to remove the drums and look inside. If the trailer sits a lot they can get so rusted inside that the magnet can't cut through the rust, if you see that just wire brush it good and try it again. You can have a bad magnet, but that is very rare. Once you can hear the magnets humming try to spin the wheel. It should be locked. If it drags, but don't hold you need to adjust the brakes. Most systems have auto adjusters, but a lot don't work well. They need to be adjusted up til you have just a LITTLE drag, just enough to feel it. No more than that or you'll heat them up.
That should take care of most of the brake problems. If I've missed something feel free to ask, having a lot of experience I could miss something simple just because I take it for granted, but a novice might not know.
