Cobaltchat.com

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to sit down on the ball

Ytmsn wrote: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:39 pm It's not the ball..

Copy...not Ytmsn's ball.

Sorry to interrupt the discussion of yt's balls, but what do you replace the actuator with when you go to EOH? Is there a solid bolt-on ball hugger thing? I'm getting the itch for a new project and bonus time is almost here. Why do I feel wrong for saying itch and ball in the same paragraph?

thunder550 wrote: Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:54 pm Sorry to interrupt the discussion of yt's balls, but what do you replace the actuator with when you go to EOH? Is there a solid bolt-on ball hugger thing? I'm getting the itch for a new project and bonus time is almost here. Why do I feel wrong for saying itch and ball in the same paragraph?

Why does it not surprise me you and Yt are taking about itchy scratchy things!

Big Block Power wrote: Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:02 pm

thunder550 wrote: Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:54 pm Sorry to interrupt the discussion of yt's balls, but what do you replace the actuator with when you go to EOH? Is there a solid bolt-on ball hugger thing? I'm getting the itch for a new project and bonus time is almost here. Why do I feel wrong for saying itch and ball in the same paragraph?

Why does it not surprise me you and Yt are taking about itchy scratchy things!

No comment about the ball hugger?? Slacker!

I want a picture of your ball hugger thingy Thunder.

I stopped by the trailer place and had a good discussion with the guy yesterday. As much as I hate that hitch, and as much as I'd love to take a torch to it..

I wanted to ask him about EoH and he said we could do it, no problem. I asked about alternative solutions before we cut the hitch off and he suggested I try a couple things first. So we'll see. I have to hook up and pull to the tire shop and stereo shop sometime soon, and if it continues to be a PIA then I'll pull it to the trailer shop too.

Ytmsn wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:17 am I wanted to ask him about EoH and he said we could do it, no problem. I asked about alternative solutions before we cut the hitch off and he suggested I try a couple things first. So we'll see. I have to hook up and pull to the tire shop and stereo shop sometime soon, and if it continues to be a PIA then I'll pull it to the trailer shop too.

What did he suggest?


Does EOH still run a mechanical breakaway actuator, or do you have to add a battery like on a regular electric brake setup?

thunder550 wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:45 am

Ytmsn wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:17 am I wanted to ask him about EoH and he said we could do it, no problem. I asked about alternative solutions before we cut the hitch off and he suggested I try a couple things first. So we'll see. I have to hook up and pull to the tire shop and stereo shop sometime soon, and if it continues to be a PIA then I'll pull it to the trailer shop too.

What did he suggest?


Does EOH still run a mechanical breakaway actuator, or do you have to add a battery like on a regular electric brake setup?

EoH uses a breakaway battery like a regular electric brake setup. Here is a good pic of a boat trailer converted to EoH. The nice thing is from the trailer tongue back it’s like normal surge brakes, nothing electric to get worry about getting wet. You are basically just removing the mechanical bits in a surge brake setup that actually pump fluid to the calipers and replacing them with an electric pump based system in EoH.

Thanks Nauti.

Ya know I was just daydreaming about converting, and thinking what if the trailer ever needed to be towed by a vehicle without a brake controller?

I wonder if you could have both the surge and EOH actuators tied into the brake system, and just lock out the surge actuator for normal use with a brake controller. Then be able to remove the lockout pin in case the trailer was towed by a vehicle lacking a brake controller. Not something I'd want to mess with, but I am curious if that would work. Or maybe each actuator would just push fluid through the other master cylinder when it tried to apply the brakes. Hmmmmm.......

No problem, just depends on how you feel about surge brakes I guess. For the 7000lbs we tow I think it would be worth going to EoH to have a bit more control over when the trailer brakes start to help slow things down. We really haven't run into a issue with the surge brakes fighting us backing up hills, but that is a plus as well.

And the new F150 came with a fancy brake controller built in, I mean what fun is that if I dont get to use it. lol.

The reverse lockout on my disc setup takes care of the backing up problem, but around here there are a couple lakes with long hills that require downshifting. This applies the trailer brakes and drags them all the way down the hill, which usually heats up the grease enough to pop the inner seals. So this is where my interest comes from. I made a manual lockout switch to disable the brakes in these scenarios but it's a band-aid, not a real solution. So this is where my interest is coming from. Plus I'd like to add brakes to the rear axle on the trailer, I just put them on the front when I bought the boat.

Well Nauti you've convinced my to take the first step towards EOH and rewire my trailer. Getting a junction box and a 7 pin connector, that way it will be easy to add the EOH actuator when the time comes. Been wanting to run a dedicated ground to each light anyway since I really don't like relying on grounding through the trailer frame, so 2 birds one stone

Later I'll have to decide if I want to bite off everything at once, or do it in steps...adding a second pair of brakes doesn't have to happen at the same time as the EOH conversion. Priced everything out today and I think it's going to run me $1200-1400 to convert. That includes a second set of discs and calipers ($220), actuator w/ breakaway kit ($700), solid coupler ($75), extra brake line and splitters, and a RF (wireless) brake controller ($300 - can be transferred from vehicle to vehicle). Knock $150 off if I do a standard hard-wired brake controller instead.

thunder550 wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:58 am Thanks Nauti.

Ya know I was just daydreaming about converting, and thinking what if the trailer ever needed to be towed by a vehicle without a brake controller?

I wonder if you could have both the surge and EOH actuators tied into the brake system, and just lock out the surge actuator for normal use with a brake controller. Then be able to remove the lockout pin in case the trailer was towed by a vehicle lacking a brake controller. Not something I'd want to mess with, but I am curious if that would work. Or maybe each actuator would just push fluid through the other master cylinder when it tried to apply the brakes. Hmmmmm.......

If a vehicle isn’t equipped, brake controllers are cheap and very easy to install.
I’m not sure why anyone who buys an EOH system would want to, or still want to tow with a swinging coupler. I couldn’t stand that actuation thump from my old trailer.

The actuator I have on our trailer isn't too bad with the thumping, although it will be nice to get rid of it completely. Been searching for info on brake controller prewiring for our Benz, found a lot of conflicting info and it sounds like the dealers don't know what's what either. Ours came with a factory installed tow package and 7 pin RV style connector, so hopefully it is prewired. I wasn't able to find anything specific to the GLE but I found some info on 2016 and 2017 GL class SUVs, so hopefully it's the same idea....4 wire pigtail buried under the driver's footwell carpeting. Will do some digging this weekend to see if I can find the pigtail.

The Tekonsha RF system is tempting, but I've read some reviews about losing connection between the in-vehicle transmitter and the controller (which is mounted to the trailer for the RF unit). Not sure I trust a wireless system over a hard wired one.


...and a quick jaunt to the mbworld.org forums yields this, perfect!!
https://mbworld.org/forums/gle-class-w1 ... r-fyi.html

Well s**t I just accidentally ordered a brake controller too. You guys are costing me a lot of money!

Instead of replacing the ball mount just weld it in place. See I saved you money for once