Surge Brakes

[Rinker85]

I have a trailer with surge Brakes. Is it very obvious when the trailer is braking? I can't tell. When I get home I put my fingers on the rotors to see if they are a little warm and they are not. You would think if they were working the rotors would be a little warm. What is a good way to test them? I have dot 3 fluid filled up.

 

[dingbat]

Working properly, you should hardly notice them working.

Trailer shouldn’t “push” the truck. Truck and trailer should stop as a pair

My disks will blister your finger in a couple miles of leaving the house

 

[Alumarine]

One way to test them is to jack a wheel off the ground and activate the surge unit manually while spinning the wheel.
You can use that technique to bleed them as well.

If you're going downhill and try use the brakes you can feel the trailer pushing you if the brakes aren't working.

 

[Pruno]

I have a trailer with surge Brakes. Is it very obvious when the trailer is braking? I can't tell. When I get home I put my fingers on the rotors to see if they are a little warm and they are not. You would think if they were working the rotors would be a little warm. What is a good way to test them? I have dot 3 fluid filled up.

I try to brake very gradually- with or with out trailer and I don't notice the surge brakes much. If I have to get a little agressive with braking then I notice them grabbing.

I accidentally tested my trailer brakes by forgetting to plug the trailer harness in (mine has reverse lockout solenoid), and trying to back the trailer. I couldn't push it at all. It end up being a great test of the brakes and the lockout solenoid. Try and back your trailer without whatever reversing lock out you have.

You may want to bleed your brakes too.

 

[Lou C]

It sounds like your surge brakes are not functiong. Disc brakes will get pretty hot even under moderate braking, normal temps would be between 150*-200* or even more depending on how fast you were driving. Get an IR temp gun and test further. I have surge drums and I can feel them working for sure, the boat does not feel like its pushing me when I stop.
Check your master cylinder to make sure its not low on fluid and the fluid is not looking dirty or with brown with corrosion. In that case you may have to replace the master cyl and maybe even the brake calipers. Its a good idea to flush out the brake fluid on boat trailers every 5 seasons or so.

 

[Javierlason]

The surge brakes will take a split second to react, but if they're working right, you'll definitely notice it when they kick in. If you notice a change, could be one side is working and one side isn't. If you don't notice any change, you're probably looking at some repair work for your trailer.

 

[bruceb58]

OP hasn't been here since August.