Electric trailer brakes

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Tuscany
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by Tuscany »

Thanks.
Our tow is relatively short, 20 miles to Chautauqua, and 45 miles to Buffalo. All good roads
If you do convert, the system runs 1,500 PSI of pressure. Make sure your lines are good.
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by thunder550 »

HH, depending on what's wrong it would likely be cheaper and easier to repair the brakes on yours than to replace. Speaking from experience, you can buy an entire disc brake kit including the calipers, hubs/rotors, brake lines, and actuator for around $500-550 from etrailer. Individual components are even cheaper.
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by NautiGirl »

hoghead54 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:47 am
Tuscany wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:28 pm The questions I have are how heavy is your boat? What are you using to tow, and fresh or salt?
Cobalt's owner manual says 2850 lbs. plus the trailer/fuel so what about 4500 +/-
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So i know I'm the only female on this site ( I take pride in that) and I know my limits when it comes to all things mechanical but after our summer last year I've learned a lot about brakes and towing capacity.

Rest easy HH...that 3500 can stop your boat with zero brakes...how do I know?!?!? I've done it! Pulled our 222 down the hill with NO brakes behind a 2500 and had no issues...now I was slow and didnt' push it...I didn't feel unsafe....also wouldn't try it on the interstate...we have 2 miles between boat storage and the marina.

Pictured is our old 190 being towed behind my brother's Ford Edge one weekend. Hell, even brought the 222 home behind my Colorado and that pushed the limits of the 7000 lbs towing capacity....the Colorado did it but it didn't like it.

The 3500 doesn't even know there's a boat behind you...its laughing and saying "you could have bought a bigger boat" .
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by hoghead54 »

NautiGirl wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:56 pm
hoghead54 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:47 am
Tuscany wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:28 pm The questions I have are how heavy is your boat? What are you using to tow, and fresh or salt?
Cobalt's owner manual says 2850 lbs. plus the trailer/fuel so what about 4500 +/-
Dodge 3500 Cummins SRW
No salt
So i know I'm the only female on this site ( I take pride in that) and I know my limits when it comes to all things mechanical but after our summer last year I've learned a lot about brakes and towing capacity.

Rest easy HH...that 3500 can stop your boat with zero brakes...how do I know?!?!? I've done it! Pulled our 222 down the hill with NO brakes behind a 2500 and had no issues...now I was slow and didnt' push it...I didn't feel unsafe....also wouldn't try it on the interstate...we have 2 miles between boat storage and the marina.

Pictured is our old 190 being towed behind my brother's Ford Edge one weekend. Hell, even brought the 222 home behind my Colorado and that pushed the limits of the 7000 lbs towing capacity....the Colorado did it but it didn't like it.

The 3500 doesn't even know there's a boat behind you...its laughing and saying "you could have bought a bigger boat" .
:)
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by Tuscany »

hoghead54 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:35 pm Drum brakes can be flaming pain in the....But 1200$ is almost what I paid for the boat but you never know. On the way home from picking up the boat the brake shot brake fluid on the side of the boat, I knew they weren't working because the guy I bought it from said they weren't so I'll need to do something different if I want brakes.

That trailer of yours is almost too nice to use. Do you use rock tamers on your tow rig?
Aside from my prior comments....
Definitely fix them. At least repair the problem on the current set up. Things can go wrong in a hurry on wet pavement, and if they do, you don't want to have to answer in court.
Personally, I tow with HD trucks because their brakes are huge. We never use my wife's Yukon because it may be rated to tow our boat, it doesn't handle as effortlessly as my truck.
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by no_rulz25 »

So when I bought my boat a couple months ago here in FL I was surprised to find out the trailer doesn't have brakes, especially being I'm pulling a 24' boat. I'm pulling over 6k w/ the boat and trailer combined. How much does it cost to get brakes installed?
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by Big Block Power »

That's hard to believe. I'm going to say it's going to cost about $1500-2500
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by thunder550 »

It's going to depend a lot on the type of system you want. Bare bones 1-axle surge disc brake kit is around $500 in parts from etrailer, up to $1300 or so for a dual axle EOH system. For EOH you have to add a brake controller as well unless you already have one.

I'm bad at estimating labor, but I'd guess a minimum of 3 hours labor for the single axle surge system, and a minimum of 5 for a dual axle EOH setup. Those are complete guesses, worth what you just paid for them :lol: Plus if you have a shop do it, there might be a markup on parts as well.

When I bought my trailer the brakes were shot. I did the 1-axle surge kit from etrailer at the time. Now working on upgrading to the dual axle EOH setup. Probably will have a total of $1700 into the brake system total including the brake controller (there's a bit of overlap too, like buying both a surge and EOH actuator), and that's with me doing the work.
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by no_rulz25 »

I picked up my trailer Sat after getting an EOH system installed. WOW, what a difference that makes hauling my 24SD. It ran me $2100, so not to bad of a price for the install.
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by Ytmsn »

Good for you NR. I would have taken my trailer to the trailer guys to do the same thing. Thunder did his own but he isn't normal. You can probably tell from his posts.😊
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by thunder550 »

Awesome no_rulz! Got any pics to share? Did they do one axle or both?
Ytmsn wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:55 am Thunder did his own but he isn't normal. You can probably tell from his posts.😊
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by Tuscany »

Now just make sure the break-away switch cable is disconnected and doesn’t accidentally comes apart when you unhook. I did that once, and luckily I caught it right away. The unit will pressurize and run until the battery is dead.
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by no_rulz25 »

Tuscany wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 11:03 am Now just make sure the break-away switch cable is disconnected and doesn’t accidentally comes apart when you unhook. I did that once, and luckily I caught it right away. The unit will pressurize and run until the battery is dead.
Thanks for the advice! I attach it where I hook my chain up so i shouldn't forget it's there. ;)
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by Big Block Power »

Sweet job. I keep thinking your my neighbor in Michigan with your avatar :-)
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Re: Electric trailer brakes

Post by no_rulz25 »

thunder550 wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 7:50 am Awesome no_rulz! Got any pics to share? Did they do one axle or both?

They installed them on both axles and put the controller in a box up by the spare tire.
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