Trailer Brakes Question

[Robert Thomas]

First am I right on this. If you have surge brakes on the trailer (force of trailer on hitch causes brakes to activate) you use a 5 pin flat plug or the 7 pin round plug to disengage the brakes when backing up, it has no further function on trailer breaking.



If you have electric brakes will they work without a brake controller if hooked up to the 7 or 5 pin connector. In other words do you have to have a brake controller for electric brakes to work? I'm thinking the controller just makes things a lots better and safer. Does the controller have to be matched to the trailer actuator.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

I can't speak on surge brakes, but with electric brakes you have to have a controller.

 

[Rob Allen]

I believe with the Surge breaks there is a pin you have to manually insert near the tongue to prevent the trailer from sliding forward engaging the breaks when you backup. Could be wrong though.

 

[David Ponder]

I believe JD is right, With electric brakes, the controller gradually increases the force on the brakes as you push on the brake pedal, and is adjustable on the controller. If you hook them up direct, I think they will just lock up every time you apply the brakes.

 

[Robert Thomas]

Thanks for the replies. From talking to a few people surge brakes need the connection to the reverse lights to disengage the brakes to allow you to back up, thus a five pin connector. Electric breaks have to be used with a controller. There is one type of electric brakes that require a pin to be inserted before you can back up. The controllers require a little learning to operate properly or must be manually operated when you need them. Don't know about the use of a pin on the surge brakes.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

Electric brakes are very simple to use if your load in typically the same amount. If you tow different amounts of weight it's still not hard, there are only two settings on the brake controller.

One for total amount of brake pressure and another for how long it takes to get from no brakes to full brakes. On mine it was 0-9 for each setting. You just adjust according to load and personal preference..

 

[Tom Schindler]

Electric brakes can be used in case of emergency. Sometimes, when hauling a trailer, it can become unstable. With Electric brakes, you can activate them to get the trailer under control.



Unlike Electric Brakes, Surge brakes are passive. The harder you hit the brakes, the harder the brakes work.



If it were up to me, I would ban surge brakes. No control over the trailer brakes is bad news. Being someone that had a trailer go wild on me and almost taking the truck and load over a hill, possibly to my death, without the control over the trailer brakes, I would not have survived the incident.



That alone is enough reason to NEVER trust surge brakes.





Tom

 

[Robert Thomas]

What I am finding out is that surge brakes are used a lots on boat trailers because electric brakes don't really like salt water that much. I'm picking up a boat and trailer in Virginia and taking it to Florida. I'm told it has surge brakes. One bridge then it's all down hill. I can see they would be a big problem on a steep grade. Talked to one guy who hated electric brakes. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to offer to help. Worst comes to worst I dump the damn thing into the inter-coastal waterway and yacht back.

 

[Tom Schindler]

I can understand about surge brakes on a boat. It always has the same load and weight distribution whenever you have your boat on it. For a utility or car trailer, I want NOTHING to do with surge brakes.





Tom

 

[Robert Thomas]

Gen 2 - 6 cyl - auto



760 miles - I-95 mostly - 70 to 75 mph - 13 hour trip including stops - 22.3 mpg



Return trip - 55 to 65 mph- Overdrive Off - Towing 24 foot boat with 4 wheel trailer and surge breaks - 7520 lbs - 18 hour trip including stops - one heavy rainstorm with wind - Easy tow everything considered, never passed another vehicle, no shake or shimmie - porpoised one time after a large bump (slowed down without breaking and it stopped), breaks worked great. Never had any concern for safety. Lost speed over inclines, but never had to hit overdrive (I think I would have had problems in the hills with speed lost). 9.8 mpg



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