Surge breaks to electric break conversion

[redmen62]

Hello everyone,

I just picked up a 277 Regal Commodore with a pretty nice tri-axle trailer the other week and am wondering if anyone's ever converted hydraulic surge breaks to electric breaks.

I've pulled several trailers with surge breaks and several with electric (I have the truck, so I'm the group tow guy lol) and in my experience I'm more of a fan of electric. I found several products out there that bolt on the the trailer and are pretty much electric pumps that work off the break signal from the truck.. anyone ever used something like this?


thanks!

 

[smokeonthewater]

I have regular electric drum brakes on my 30' boat trailer and LOVE em... Bruceb58 has electric over hydraulic (the pump set up you mentioned) and is very fond of them... With discs they should be better than my electric drums but are WAY more expensive so weren't an option for me.

I'm sure Bruce will be along shortly to offer more details on his setup.

Here is mine.... http://forums.iboats.com/forum/gener...trailer-brakes

 

[04fxdwgi]

I did the drum to Kodiak disc conversion on both axles a few years ago and there is absolutely no comparrison in stopping power. Next step is the electric over hydraulic actuator, as I believe that's the best of both worlds with the infinite tunability and versatility, plus using discs.

The surge coupler is deffinately the weak link, IMHO. And I HATE the clunk when pulling away from a stop light. Having brakes backing down a slimey ramp and while stopped when launching will be awesome.

Now the trick will be to figure out how to gut the surge actuator and bolt it up so it doesn't slide, but is plenty secure. Welding it all together will probably be the best way to go.

 

[alldodge]

Converted my tri-axle trailer for my cruiser to electric some years back and love it.

 

[bruceb58]

I have the Titan electric over hydraulic unit on my trailer:

http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brakes/Titan/T4813100.html
I also have Kodiac disc brakes.

best think I have ever done is get rid of drum brakes.

INow the trick will be to figure out how to gut the surge actuator and bolt it up so it doesn't slide, but is plenty secure. Welding it all together will probably be the best way to go.

I just took the guts out and put in two large grade 8 bolts to keep it from sliding.

 

[Blind Date]

I converted from surge drum on one axle to electric drum on both axles on the trailer under my Sundancer a few years ago. Now the boat helps stop the truck. With a proportional brake controller you have all the brake adjustability you need.

I put the Dexter Never Adjust on. Unless your pulling through mountain grades disc brakes aren't necessary IMO. The simplicity and cheap cost of electric drum brakes can't be beat. The only down-side to me is that with the needed break-away box you have another battery to maintain/replace. The surge coupler was bolted on to my trailer tongue and the new coupler had the exact same bolt pattern which made that part of the conversion easy and clean.