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Trailer brakes???

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Hey folks,
Just curious. Been reading posts about (and remember them as a kid) electric brake controllers and wonder why a mechanical solution isn't common.

Trailers here in Germany above 750 kg max weight are equiped with brakes that are manually activated by a collapsing tongue. Is the puller slows down, the tongue collapses and puts pressure on the brake actuator (mechanical or hydraulic). No need for electric (maybe on big rigs, but I think they are all air). Farm wagons are the same way and 2 axle ones are set up so as soon as you drop the tongue, the brakes are applied (these are mostly mechanical).

Just wondering....

Dave
 
I have the hydraulic surge brakes which are activated by the collapse or compression of the hitch on my trailer but I have recently heard they are no longer legal here in Illinois. It's just what I heard, don't know for sure, I sure like them though.
I didn't want an electric actuator in the cab that's why I went with surge brakes 16 years ago.
The new trucks have a built in actuator under the hood which makes it nice.
 
They're very common and required on road vehicles by law.

On a number of the farm wagons you can find the hydraulic surge actuators like you're describing, but not many with the electric brake controls.

On the road vehicles there are some of the surge couplers, but a lot more of the electric brake systems. The latter will actuate initially off the brake lights of the towing vehicle so you don't have the load pushing the truck/tractor.
 
Surge brakes used to be popular in the past,I did a lot testing on surge brakes back in the 70's,they are not as "tunable" as electric brakes,the gain adjustment is easier to fine tune the load with elec. to your vehicle,as a rule there is less maintenance on elec.,you have to depend on the trailer force to actuate the brake on a surge system,also there was a issue in backing up,it would tend to put the brakes on,especially on an incline.
 
Check your State laws. They may or may not be legal. In some States and under DOT regs the brakes have to be capable of being activated at any time. Surge brakes don;t do that- BUT- just before I retired there was talk on a new system that had a manual activator and that DOT might approve it.

That was 4 months ago, no idea if it went or not.
 
We've got some pretty strict laws here. Vehicles go threw yearly inspections (including brake tests) here so maintenance/safety is a must.

Just curious.


Dave
 
The old surge brakes are not as good as electric. The controler lets you set the brakes for the load you have on the trailer on any given day. They can be actuated manually at the controler also which can't be done with surge brakes.
 
john, i havent heard about the surge brake thing in illinois. i have a few trailers with surge brakes. dang, hope i dont have ta buy new trailers.
 
The best "mechanical" solution, in my opinion was the old, full mechanical brake controllers that you had to plumb into the brake lines. Kind of a pain to get hooked up, but I never had one go bad.
I still have one on my 83 Blazer and it's always worked perfect.

Now, with these full-electric controllers, I've had many crap out. Seems I keep buying them, get a few years of use, then they die.

Surge-brakes, as you describe, have been around forever and have their plusses and minuses. In many places, they are not allowed over a certain weight-class. And I guess, to be technical, they also employ some electronics to over-ride the braking action when backing up (at least some do).
 
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