Need brakes on boat trailer?

Mile High wrote:

laknox wrote:

The brakes on my dad's 20' Reinell trailer don't overheat when going down a grade. Surge brakes, in good working order, =should= have some sort of device that puts some back-pressure on the cylinder to keep this from happening. If it didn't, you couldn't even back up. We had an old water-wagon with surge brakes that =didn't= have this feature and had to make a U-shaped collar to slip into the slide to be able to back the trailer up since any movement backwards would lock up the brakes.

Lyle

I have to completely disagree with you Lyle - and I'm not alone. Check the boat forums - A surge brake working "perfectly" is actually applying brakes all the way down a steep pass like I-70 or Wolf Creek, as if you were riding the brakes. Many Colorado boat trailer shops offer the electric conversion as a fix - with the superior fix being electric over disk hydraulic. A surge brake does not know how to discriminate. I bet if you checked the temp your Dad's brakes were overheating. I got tired of having to replace the bearing buddies or grease caps because they typically flew off when the grease got too hot.

If you like your surge brakes in Arizona - keep em!