Does anyone know about trailer brakes
 

My boat trailer has brakes that lock up nearly everytime I back up. After jacking with them and jammin the truck back n forth a few times they release and work properly. I am at my witts end. Can I just disable these things? I dont think they help me stop, never felt any help instopping, but this reverse thing is about to drive me crazy. Especially when you get to the ramp, with others there, and you try to back down the ramp but cant cause the brakes locked. HELP PLEASE

deer dude...on your tongue of the trailer is a spring loaded dealy you need to put a penny in it or have some one hold it while you back up..this spring loaded brake is for if you slam on your brakes, the trailers brakes are activated to help keep from jack knifing. sometimes there is a switch to hold it, but usually i put a penny in it and as soon as you start backing it stays that way til ya stop or go forward.

p s


especially goin up hill

I would think you could dis connect the electric cord from the vehicle to the trailer. I always do any how even tho i have water proof lights. Then plug it back in when you are ready to hit the road.

no, this is a spring loaded devise attached to the tongue of the trailer, no electric needed.....there will be a piece of steel that will likely move back a lil to lock it.

Not sure about your problem when backing up. A friend of mines would lock up going forward. He found out a small piston that activates them had gotten rusty and was sticking every once in a while. But I think his worked off of tounge pressure and not electric. You still may have something sticking that got wet or condensation over the winter.

Bad ground, got it fixed

If you can't fix it with a hammer... you have yourself an electrical problem. ;)


Glad to hear you got it figured out.

Trailers with surge brakes have a fifth wire which needs to be wired to your backup lights. So when your tow rig is put in reverse, an electric selenoid actuates releasing the hydraulic pressure in the system, allowing you to back up. Or you can stick a penny in the slot on the tongue.

I used to have a 'fuse' that consisted mostly of a wad of aluminum foil. (my old IH.. had weird sized fuses)

I'd be in the 'penny' crowd. :)

Can these brakes be disabled by letting the fluid out of the system

Sure, no fluid, no brakes. But why would you want to do that? Those surge brakes are so nice.

:devil:When they work LOL

ya, but you wouldnt wanna do that....just go get proper hook ups. and there should be a control as too how much break pressure is applies to the traitor brake when you hit the trucks breaks. turn it down when backing up, or just use your E-Brake.

Are you talking about electric brakes? Cuz those are different. Surge brakes are not adjustable, and do not use an in-cab controller. Surge brakes are very simple and easy to work on as long as you keep fluid in the system. No fluid means moisture buildup, which means rust, which means no worky.

Must be electric. 'cause he said a ground wire fixed it.

No Mark has it they are surge brakes, but you need an electric current to bipass the master cylinder when backing up. My bad ground was causing the brakes to lock. :bash:

is this the same place i put a penny? or should i say the same effect?

Not all surge break systems have the electric bypass. Older ones sure don't, and most of the ones here at my lab don't. Depending on the design of the surge brakes, a penny may not work. Some require a bolt that passes through one or two arches. I keep a bolt for this purpose in the cab of my trucks, since this is more common here than the kind that work with a penny. If you are trying to back up over rutted gravel, it is as bad as backing uphill, or worse, especially if you are trying to stick the boat in a tight place. When those trailer brakes kick in, you can't steer. And I used to have to squeeze my big boat into a barn door only 6" wider than the boat, uphill over a gravel parking lot. I'd have lower the motor to get the tongue inside the barn door too. The rig length (truck and trailer) was a hair under 50 ft, and the distance to the pond in front of the barn was 55 feet. Not the kind of job you leave to the new technician. And you better believe I used the bolt in glove compartment every day.

There are a lot of designs for these surge brakes, but many of them have an extra wire that is designed to hook onto the truck and cause the trailer brakes to lock up if the trailer comes off the hitch. If that system ever engages on you for whatever reason, after you clean your shorts and get the truck and trailer hooked up again, you will probably need to chock the tires and back the truck a bit to compress the cylinder before you can get the lever that locks up the brakes back into the running position. Otherwise you will be dragging the trailer home.