Brake question on a homemade trailer
Hope this is an appropriate place to post, so here goes...
We have an old truck-frame trailer, a former cotton trailer, that we stripped the deck from and mounted a 1,000 gallon water tank, pump and plumbing on it. Pump is 2" and we have about 30' of 2" hose and a spray bar mounted on the back for watering roads, etc. We're figuring probably 12k lbs loaded. The past few years it hasn't moved much, but we're making some changes at our shop and will need to haul more water with the trailer. Typical farm trailer, it has no brakes and was never pulled > 30 mph on the road and wasn't =on= the road but maybe 2-3% of the time, if that. Since we plan to use it more, we want to put brakes on at least the rear axle. My thought was to use a 10-12k surge brake actuator, which is what our old water wagon had, and worked pretty well for many years. The other, and much more expensive option, would be an electric/hydraulic system. A third option that came to me would be to see if there is any way to convert an old hydraulic brake system to a straight electric system; basically replace the original wheel cylinder with some sort of electric solenoid actuator. Now, I do realize that all 3 of these assumes that there are actually =brakes= left in the wheels =and= we can find parts if repairs are needed.
Thoughts?
Lyle
We have an old truck-frame trailer, a former cotton trailer, that we stripped the deck from and mounted a 1,000 gallon water tank, pump and plumbing on it. Pump is 2" and we have about 30' of 2" hose and a spray bar mounted on the back for watering roads, etc. We're figuring probably 12k lbs loaded. The past few years it hasn't moved much, but we're making some changes at our shop and will need to haul more water with the trailer. Typical farm trailer, it has no brakes and was never pulled > 30 mph on the road and wasn't =on= the road but maybe 2-3% of the time, if that. Since we plan to use it more, we want to put brakes on at least the rear axle. My thought was to use a 10-12k surge brake actuator, which is what our old water wagon had, and worked pretty well for many years. The other, and much more expensive option, would be an electric/hydraulic system. A third option that came to me would be to see if there is any way to convert an old hydraulic brake system to a straight electric system; basically replace the original wheel cylinder with some sort of electric solenoid actuator. Now, I do realize that all 3 of these assumes that there are actually =brakes= left in the wheels =and= we can find parts if repairs are needed.
Thoughts?
Lyle
