Gunner,

Electric brakes are easy to retrofit to most trailer axles. Around here
there is a trailer shop that specializes in smaller trailers and have
electric brake kits that include backing plates, activating electromagnets,
pads etc already setup on the backing plates. Just remove old backing
plate and bolt on new backing plate and run wires Only thing to watch out
for on installation is to make sure the wire can't chafe on anything.

Get the controller with the manual brake activation as well. If your
trailer starts weaving behind you due to ruts in the road etc you can
spike the trailer brakes to straighten it out. (Lots of roads in AZ have
serious rig ruts and if your trailer axle width isn't right it can get away
from you.)

Watch the balance point of the trailer. You always want more weight
on the hitch side of things. Again you can get the "death weave" going
and the weight behind the axle increases the problem.

Saw a person towing a 30' party barge behind a Suburban on a single
axle trailer. Watched them flip it during rush hour on a 6 lane wide
freeway and blocked all lanes doing it. If he had electric brakes he could
have saved it. (That and what the H*ll was he towing such a large boat
on a single axle trailer behind a rather light for the job Suburban at 65+
mph.)

Bart D. Hull

Tempe, Arizona

Check http://www.inficad.com/~bdhull/engine.html
for my Subaru Engine Conversion
Check http://www.inficad.com/~bdhull/fuselage.html
for Tango II I'm building.

Remove -nospam to reply via email.



Gunner wrote:

(SNIP)
Anyone know how difficult it is to retrofit a stock axle with electric
brakes? Ive had to do panic braking on LA freeways, and even my lil
box trailer, with a load tended to push my pickup sideways. Something
Ive been thinking about..... Shrug.


The trailer has a crank up landing gear welded up in the V next to the
hitch, and somewhere in the past it had been dragged on something and
bent backwards, so I chained up to the rear of the trailer and used a
come along to bend it back into place. Only problem with it being
there is it doesnt allow me to open the tailgate of the pickup. I
need to find one of those folding ones that fold horizontally next to
the tounge. Ive had trailers (boat usually) that wouldnt allow the
tailgate down..and it drove me crazy.

Next thing to do is figure out what the 5 lug bolt pattern is, and get
a spare tire and wheel. Ill weld a bracket on the side near the
fenders and mount it there. Thing is perfectly balanced. I can pick up
the tounge one handed and move it around easily, so would like to keep
it balanced. I want to mount a small tool box also, to keep the
tiedowns and chain binders and whatnot in, so keeping it balanced is
pretty important, while not making it look like a gypsy wagon G,
else Id simply mount a crossbed pickup box on the tounge end.
Gunner


"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke