New Trailer Question

[travbl]

After blowing apart a wheel bearing on my hustler single axle, I decided to upgrade to a tandem axle 08 shorelander with 4 disk brakes that work on surge. Is there a way if I decide to further down the road to convert them into electrical brakes? I am new to this so I was just curious. The boat we are hauling is an 03 stingray 20' bowrider. The old trailer was rated for 3000 lbs and the boat weight dry was 2741. I believe the weight had something to do with the bearings being blown out. We pull with an 05 GMC Envoy, hopefully this new trailer will be safer and a nicer pull.

 

[180shabah]

Re: New Trailer Question

Changing from hydraulic to electric brakes is simple and straightforward. Remove all old hardware(including bearings), install new hardware, replace brake lines with wire, change trailer plug to 7 pin "RV" style and go.

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: New Trailer Question

Im not aware of any way that you can change "disc" brakes from hydro to electric.
My question is "Why do you want to?"
Surge brakes work just fine, and they have some advantages:
1. They will help control speed going down a hill.
2. The harder you apply the tow vehicle brakes, the harder the trailer brakes come on. (Electric's are set it and forget it. until you grab the panic handle and lock them up, If you have time to do that.)

Disadvantages are:
1. you cant backup a hill until you pin the slider.

Id just leave them alone as you just bought the trailer anyway.

 

[180shabah]

Re: New Trailer Question

Im not aware of any way that you can change "disc" brakes from hydro to electric.

Two options:
1. electric over hydraulic
2. do like I said above - The axle has a 4 bolt flange on it. ALL brakes (disk, drum, elec, hyd, etc) use the same mounting flange.

 

[rjlipscomb]

Re: New Trailer Question

With four wheel disk (surge) brakes, you have plenty of stopping power. Especially for the little weight you are towing. Unless you just want to spend money to help the economy.

 

[travbl]

Re: New Trailer Question

Thanks everyone for your help, I am just going to keep the trailer the way it is with 4 disc surge brakes.

 

[H8tank]

Re: New Trailer Question

You will be shocked at how much better that new trailer will tow compared to the old one.

If your old trailer didn't have brakes, you will want to upgrade to at least a 5 pin or 6 wiring harness so your brakes will 'turn off' when you put the vehicle in reverse.