Trailer brakes

Joined
Apr 20, 2015
Messages
11
How hard would it to put on trailer brakes. I am pulling a 24ft pontoon with no brakes. Figure it would be a little easier on my truck. It's a Karavan bunk trailer. Any suggestions would help
 

smokeonthewater

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
9,838
that depends on whether your axle has flanges and or how you do it... The absolute EASIEST way (and one of the cheapest) is to simply buy a new axle w electric brakes and wire the trailer

now if you want surge (I wouldn't) it will be quite a bit more expensive and a little more involved

next is electric over hydraulic and much more expensive

my vote as long as you are not in saltwater is electric
 

MRS

Commander
Joined
Jul 10, 2005
Messages
2,555
If you do have the flanges it is way easy and cheap, if not like said buy one axle with brakes no problem. But if you do not have a brake controller you will have to add that also but not that hard either, love my electric brakes...
 

Illinoid

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
137
If you can repack your own wheel bearings you can install your own electric brakes. No special skills or tools required.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
I never ever even seen or worked on electric brakes before. But my neighbor ask me to fix his trailer brakes. He only has one lung and on lots of O2 24/7 too. Well his were electric setup and I was quite interested in seeing how they worked. I took them apart and it was obvious they are not anything unusual or special. I cleaned everything up, replaced the shoes and made sure everything was perfect and closed them up. Not really any problem. So If I can rebuild brakes I've never ever even seen before (trailer electric types) anybody can do it. I have worked on both drum brakes and of course disk brakes, but never electric trailer brakes. But they really are not any different then drum brakes... JMHO!
 

JASinIL2006

Vice Admiral
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
5,524
I installed electric brakes and, if you have the flange on your axle, they really are a piece of cake. An afternoon's job, if that. Just make sure you get a good proportional brake controller (e.g., Tekonsha P3) for your tow vehicle and you'll be good to go.
 

redneck joe

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
10,198
second vote ont he P3 controller. Just put one in to replace the timed one. A bit of coin but worth it.
 

HT32BSX115

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
10,083
I installed electric brakes and, if you have the flange on your axle, they really are a piece of cake. An afternoon's job, if that. Just make sure you get a good proportional brake controller (e.g., Tekonsha P3) for your tow vehicle and you'll be good to go.

My trailer only had flanges on the front axle. I had to weld flanges on the rear axle but it wasn't all that hard once I fab'ed a jig.

After flanges, I REMOVED the entire surge brake system and installed Dexter Nev-R-Adjust electrics.

I have a 2005 F-350 Super Duty with the built in Ford OEM electric brake controller and everything not only works flawlessly, but it works FAR better than the POS surge brakes the trailer came with new.

If you do not have flanges on your axles (and you can't weld your own) you'll need new axles that have the flanges. I bought 4 complete brake assemblies PLUS drums, seals and bearings for about $150 per axle.

If you're going to do salt water, you should get disc brakes and an electric/hydraulic pump to operate them (only certain pump units work with the earlier Ford EBC system)

I'll NEVER go back to "surge" brakes!

Regards,


Rick
 
Joined
Apr 20, 2015
Messages
11
Thanks guys.. I know Karavan has breaking systems on some of their trailers. so I am going to take a look.. Thanks a bunch.. freshwater
 

UncleWillie

Captain
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
3,995
FYI.
In Wisconsin, if your Gross Weight, Trailer, plus Boat, plus Fuel, plus Gear, exceeds 3000# you are required by law to have brakes.

(OP is from Wisconsin)
 

thumpar

Admiral
Joined
Jun 21, 2007
Messages
6,138
I just put in complete new brake assemblies, hydrolic line and actuator on my trailer last year. If I was to do it again I would have just gone electric.
 

batman99

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
393
I installed electric brakes under my single axle boat trailer (combined weight of 2,800 lbs) as well. Before vs. after braking power is amazing. I now understand why some regions have > 1,500 lbs trailer needs brakes laws. If wondering, my boat had a factory brake flange. For its upgrade, I bought Brake Assemblies (left and right sides), brake hubs, 10 gauge wiring, 7 pin connector cord. Luckily, my Tow Vehicle already had a brake controller and 7-pin connector - from my previous Travel Trailer towing days. If loaded trailer is more than 2,000 lbs, I'd recommend trailer brakes. Especially if your Tow Vehicle doesn't have factory strong braking power.

For picture, surf: http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w251/Spike99-Pictures/Boat Pictures/100_2450.jpg
 
Last edited:

AMetzger

Cadet
Joined
Sep 7, 2010
Messages
14
$400 to have a shop put electric brakes on my 3500# trailer. That also included a battery breakaway kit (which I don't think many people have, but it's require by law in many States).
 

series9

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
48
From experience, I can tell you that electric brakes last a very short time with any salt water use.
 
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