Your towing rigs and trailers

[farmer2009]

Trailers with air brakes have a parking brake. It’s a spring brake that’s normally applied and the air pressure releases them.

Compression (surge) brakes are illegal in some towns/cities here in the USA.

 

[4570Man]

That is one thing it really amazes me. You guys don't have parking brakes on the trailer. Which is really dangerous when loading machinery or cars as it can lift the rear wheels of the truck.

I always apply the parking brake on the trailer and truck and also engage a gear on the truck. Sometimes in sketchy conditions, I put it in 4WD with the center diff locked.

I always scotch the trailer if it’s on a hill. I keep a few pieces of firewood in the trailer tool box for that use.

 

[3930dave]

I always apply the parking brake on the trailer and truck and also engage a gear on the truck. Sometimes in sketchy conditions, I put it in 4WD with the center diff locked.

Neat option - is that a hydraulic line-lock on the trailer, or is it mechanically actuated (lever + cables) ?

Like farmer said, heavy (commercial transport) trailers here with air brakes have parking brakes, but I've never seen one on light personal trailers.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Compression (surge) brakes are illegal in some towns/cities here in the USA.

^ is that for commercial line-haul, or small personal trailers ?

Like pt indicated, the main drawback to surge brakes is backing up, though IIRC there are some surge systems that can manage that situation well. That issue aside, IMO a hydraulic system like that is probably more reliable vs. the way people (don't) maintain electrics on trailers - one reason Uhaul uses them.

I have one friend who had surge brakes on his boat trailer - he liked them, and he is very mechanically savvy and particular....

Rgds, D.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I use the break-away box as a parking brake. Just yank the plastic tab out, all four wheels are now locked. Can't leave it like that for long, it would drain the battery, but it works just fine for loading, unloading. Longer term I have rubber chocks and blocks of wood.

 

[aczlan]

Nice deal. Commercial use here requires the cert tags on them, and are usually not that cheap, unless they fell off a truck .

Rgds, D.

Tractor Supply and Runnings both run specials on them in the $7-10 range from time to time.

Compression (surge) brakes are illegal in some towns/cities here in the USA.

Can you point me to the law saying that (or at least the town/city where it is illegal)? People have told me that, but I have never been able to track down a town that has that ordinance.

Aaron Z

 

[ptsg]

Neat option - is that a hydraulic line-lock on the trailer, or is it mechanically actuated (lever + cables) ?

Like farmer said, heavy (commercial transport) trailers here with air brakes have parking brakes, but I've never seen one on light personal trailers.

Rgds, D.

All mechanical. A lever + cables that will get the pressures even in each wheel and a strong over-center spring to keep it either locked or unlocked.

Here is an overview of the system:

^ is that for commercial line-haul, or small personal trailers ?

Like pt indicated, the main drawback to surge brakes is backing up, though IIRC there are some surge systems that can manage that situation well. That issue aside, IMO a hydraulic system like that is probably more reliable vs. the way people (don't) maintain electrics on trailers - one reason Uhaul uses them.

I have one friend who had surge brakes on his boat trailer - he liked them, and he is very mechanically savvy and particular....

Rgds, D.

I think my trailer does what you mentioned. I've backed up fully loaded onto a steep hill and after a bit of struggling to get it to start to move, the surge brake just fully retracted and after a slight bump the trailer just felt like it was not braking.

 

[3930dave]

All mechanical. A lever + cables that will get the pressures even in each wheel and a strong over-center spring to keep it either locked or unlocked.

Here is an overview of the system:


I think my trailer does what you mentioned. I've backed up fully loaded onto a steep hill and after a bit of struggling to get it to start to move, the surge brake just fully retracted and after a slight bump the trailer just felt like it was not braking.

Electric brakes need shoe adjustment too, so your system just adds the mechanical links. Smart, the brakes are there, why not use them for parking ?

My buddy with the boat trailer a few years back mentioned something about certain surge hitches mitigating the backup problem, but I never looked into the details further.

Rgds, D.

 

[ptsg]

Yes, totally agree.

How hard would be to add a manual mechanical parking brake or just like a manual override with a lever? Pretty much like the system I have but merged with the electric brakes.

I've been looking on how those electric brakes work and it seems quite easy to just add a mechanical linkage.

 

[ning]

^ is that for commercial line-haul, or small personal trailers ?

Like pt indicated, the main drawback to surge brakes is backing up, though IIRC there are some surge systems that can manage that situation well. That issue aside, IMO a hydraulic system like that is probably more reliable vs. the way people (don't) maintain electrics on trailers - one reason Uhaul uses them.

I have one friend who had surge brakes on his boat trailer - he liked them, and he is very mechanically savvy and particular....

Rgds, D.

I'm under the impression that since surge brakes don't come on until the rig is already decelerating, it's entirely up to the truck to begin the slowdown, so for at least a bit (till the surges starting doing their thing), the trailer is pushing the truck as it tries to slow things down.

I don't know if you can adjust surge brakes for different loads, either - my electric controller has a dial that I can easily adjust the magnitude of braking force, so when I've got an unloaded trailer it should use a light touch on the trailer brakes, and a heavier one when it's loaded (I have to adjust it - the controller doesn't know what my load is). Probably not much of an issue for boat trailers because the trailer is probably almost never used without the boat on it...

Surge brakes also can't be operated independently of the truck's brakes, for instance in case of trailer sway. Presumably with a boat on a trailer, there's always a good percentage of tongue weight, since hopefully you can't load the boat on backwards, so perhaps this is a non-issue (for boat trailers).