Testing trailer brakes

[Familymanof5]

If you guys read in my Tow vehicle post we bought a Toyota Sequoia for towing the boat. It pulls it just fine but I was wondering what the best way to test the brakes on the trailer. I have a Wesco dual axle aluminum trailer.

What kind of maintance is required with brakes like this.

I didn't really have to worry about it with the dodge. I do with the Toyota it is lighter.


TOM

[Shakespeare]

Tom, I think the only thing you have to be concerned with on the braking system is making sure that the surge brake resevoir is filled with DOT3 fluid and that the disk pads are in good order. With the surge braking system, other than jacking up the trailer and engaging the surge piston (with electrical connections intact), the only other way I know to test is to take her out for a spin on a gravel road, then engage brakes firmly. The tires should drag through the gravel. That's the way I set the electric brake controller for my other dovetail trailer. Please note I haven't tried this with the Wesco yet. And then again you could "acid test" it in a parking lot... load her up and slam on the brakes to see if you get pushed around any.

The manual for the trailer is up on; http://www.wescotrailers.net/index.html

[fishmor]

Back up a slight slope

[Shakespeare]

001 That makes total sense fishmor. Wish I would've thunk of it.

[Harry]

I don't get it?

I never had a trailer with brakes , but the next boat I buy the trailer supposedly comes with "surge brakes" ?

What is this backing up a slope thing? Is there a pendulm type thing to signal the barkes to come on?

Is there an electrical connection I need to mount on emy truck for this?

[Shakespeare]

The surge brakes have a DOT3 oil resevoir and a piston that applies pressure to the fluid going to the brake calipers at the disks. This piston is mounted on the trailer tongue and basically gets compressed by inertial forces whenever you apply the brakes on your vehicle. By backing up a slope you fool the surge mechanism into thinking that you've applied the brakes because it's getting compressed. There's really no maintenance different than conventional hydraulic disk brakes; just make sure the fluid level is correct and inspect the brake pads and rotors from time to time. It's advised to wash off those disks the moment you pull out of saltwater or they'll get rusty in a blink of an eye. The electrical plug on my trailer is a wide 5 pin plug. I had to purchase an adapter so that it would jack into my exisiting receptacle on the truck. You probably should check with your dealer on the specific plug and electrical requirements for your trailer.

Harry, I was a skeptic at first when I was sold this trailer with surge brakes. But I'm here to tell you they work fantastic! They're very linear in their response with respect to how you're applying the brakes in your vehicle and it's hard to tell that the trailer is even back there.

Mike C.

[Shakespeare]

Here... a picture is worth a thousand words.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee78/CSO_Shakespeare/218DLV/SurgeBrake.jpg

You see that little pin next to the hitch cup? You put that in during normal transport to engage the system. They suggest you remove it when backing up to avoid that little anomaly that fishmor pointed out. I've never had a problem with it though as most of my backing up is done downslope on a boat ramp.

[Familymanof5]

Wow didn't realize that pin was also for the brake system. I thought it was just the safety for the hitch. Thats what the salesman told me.

TOM

[o2bfishn]

Harry,

The fith wire on your plug goes to your cars back up lights. When you put the car in reverse it energizes the wire which is connected to a solenoid on the trailer which locks out the brakes so you can back up. You can lock out the brakes with the pin in Shakespear's pic. by placing it in the hole farther back on the tonuge.


To test your braking system, unplug the wires (the pin should not be in the rear hole) and back up a slope, but not too hard you can damage brakes this way, your brakes should be engaging. The rear pin hole is used at times when you may be having trouble with your back up lights or wiring. An owners manual should explain all this.


Just a note; on my way back from MHC I had to do a panic stop from 75mph to stop, I was HARD on the brakes an I mean HARD. I could feel the trailer brakes pulling (stopping) me, the boat stayed right behind the truck no swaying at all. This is the first time I have felt the brakes working even though I know they are working all the time.


I have pulled all sizes of trailers with both electric and air brakes over the years and I have never been a fan of surge brakes, but these new surge units are nice, they do the job and do it well. I'm pleased with the system on my trailer (the same as Shakespears). If they only came with a cab control to brake the traler only, they would be perfect.


o2bfishn

[Shakespeare]

o2b... I vaguely remember the bit about the reverse lights but as I was typing up my response, I was trying to reconcile the pins to their function and was coming up short. A conventional trailer plug is 4 wire, so that's where the fifth pin comes in. Aha! So the gist of it is... if you don't have the reverse lights hooked to your plug then you play the pin swapping game, else... the reverse signal does it for you.

Thanks for straightening me out. Lord knows I need all the help I can get.

Mike C.

[Harry]

Thanks giys,

I currently have the regular 4 plug prong. I guess if I get the surge brakes I'll need to cut that pull out and replace with the 5 prong plug.

I assume since the 4 prong deal isn't wired into the reverse lights there no "adaptor" that goes between a 4 and 5 plug?

Thanks again

[Shakespeare]

You can get an adapter if you don't want to wire up the reverse light signal. It kinda depends on if you have other trailers to tow and how to accomodate all of them.

http://www.autoaccessconnect.com/ad4wayflto5w.html

My truck actually has two receptacles for trailer lights; one 4 wire for conventional trailer wiring and the other is a 7-pin RV style. The 7-pin serves another flatbed trailer with electric brakes but it is the one that I bought the adapter for to convert to the 5-pin surge brake plug. But neither are wired for the reverse signal.

Mike C.

[o2bfishn]

familymanof5,

I got both the male and female plugs with my trailer. Female wired on trailer, male end all set to wire into my truck. I have just not had the time to wire the hole thing in the truck, so I run an extra wire that is tied into my reverse lights and put a male pulg end on the other end of the wire and plug it into the female end of the trailer wiring.

To put it simply, put the truck 4 pin plug into the trailer 5 pin plug and plug in the reverse light wire into the extra hole on the trailer plug.(fifth hole) I think I said that right. 001

Anyway this is temporary and as soon as time allows I'll get the truck end plug hooked up right.(Its only been this way for 9 months now!)


o2bfishn

[o2bfishn]

Shakespears,

How do you back up with out the reverse light hook up? Brakes should come on unless the brake solenoid is getting power from somewhere? Even at the ramp you should have trouble with out the hook up. 006

o2bfishn

[Shakespeare]

The brakes require no power to operate. The hydraulics are pressurized by the actuator when the slider on the trailer moves forward with respect to the position of the coupled vehicle. When you move the pin to the back position it does nothing more than prevent the slider from moving which keeps the actuator from being stroked. I would guess that if one were to put the vehicle in reverse without moving the pin and be a little aggressive with the gas pedal, then that would stroke the actuator and the braking would engage and the resistance would quickly peak as the harder you push, the more hydraulic pressure would be created because that puppy is locked down. I guess I've just been lucky not to have experienced that situation because I've been pretty mild mannered when backing the trailer, plus the downslope of the ramp pulls the trailer away from the vehicle and the actuator is not being stroked. Clear as mud? Now... the 'optional' reverse signal to the fifth pin on the connector is supposed to provide power to some sort of bypass which keeps you from having to play the pin moving game. I'm still looking for a wiring diagram to support all this, so don't take my words to the bank just yet. o2b, you got anything on that? I didn't get squat as far as documentation. You really have to be on top of your mental game here because if you left the pin in the reverse position, you ain't got no trailer brakes.

I have a couple of clarifications;

Tom, you were correct in that the pin, when in the forward position, is a safety latch. When moved to the reverse position it prevents the slide from moving, as explained above. I previously said it "engages" the system when in the forward position and that statement was incorrect.

Harry, the other maintenance item that I just discovered is a couple of grease fittings which is for the sliding mechanism.

Mike C.

[Familymanof5]

Where do you put the pin in the position to keep the bgrakes from working ??? My hitch looks like yours but I see no where to install it as such.

TOM ???

[Shakespeare]

The reverse pin hole is highlighted by the blue rectangle. The sliding mechanism is directly to the right of that pin hole so the pin, when inserted in that position, prevents the slide from moving forward.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee78/CSO_Shakespeare/218DLV/SurgeBrakeZoom.jpg

[o2bfishn]

Shakespears,


Thats what I liked about Sam's Boats, I got all kinds of paper work about the skiff, motor, and trailer. There was a long thread on the MSN site about this (paper work or lack there of) and boat dealers some time ago.


Anyway you are right, to back up, move the safety pin to the reverse pin hole (the one in your blue box in the pic.) this will keep the brakes from engaging while backing and going forward too. It locks out the slider and blocks the actuator preventing the brakes from working.

This can also be done with out moving the safety pin to the reverse hole by means of a electric solenoid powered by the back up lights on the tow vehicle. This makes it easy to back the trailer at anytime with out leaving the drivers seat. Also pervents you from forgetting to remove the pin, remember you have no brakes at all with the pin in the reverse hole.

This is what the fifth wire (4 pin plug vs 5 pin plug) on your electric plug connecting the trailer to the tow vehicle does, sends power from the vehicles reverse lights to an electic solenoid on the trailer to lock out the brakes electrically so you can back up.

And for maintenance a small amount of grease on the rollers (slider) is in order. With disc brakes you only need to keep the fluid reservoir full, 3/8" below the top of the reservoir with DOT 3 brake fluid and a check on pad wear, no adjustment to the brakes themselfs is reqired.

By the way you got some great pic. of this coupler/ tongue, how did you make that blue box? If I had to do that I just use cranyons. Me and high teck don't go to far.


o2bfishn 012

[Shakespeare]

By the way you got some great pic. of this coupler/ tongue, how did you make that blue box? If I had to do that I just use cranyons. Me and high teck don't go to far.

Well???  ???  I'm not exactly a graphics wiz kid either... and that's coming from someone in the systems integration business (me). Using Microsoft Office Picture Manager, I took the original photograph cropped and resized it. Then I opened up the picture in Paint and used the rectangle tool to draw the highlight. The rectangle tool only draws its' shape one pixel wide, so I basically drew 3 rectangles surrounding each other in order to get the width. It was crude but worked. I'm sure if you had Photoshop or some equivalent, the job would've been a heck of a lot easier. If all ya gots is a hammer and chisel, then you use a hammer and chisel.

Thanks for the additional info!

[Familymanof5]

Thanks for the expertise and picture. Glad I know about this forum for things such as this. Once again TY.

TOM