Re-Wiring the brakes.

mrekim wrote:
My 35' ~10,000 lb GVWR trailer brakes were wired with 14 gauge wire and very poor crimps. All the crimps on that I've seen so far are pretty bad...


I'm going to redo it with a quality crimp tool and marine heat shrink connectors.

Does anyone know the wire size of the brake magnets(I need to order crimp connectors....) ? My trailer has 5200 lb Lippert axles. I might have a magnet from a 7,000 lb Dexter stashed away somewhere. Is it likely the magnet wires are the same size?



I've seen a few threads on the topic:

LAdams: I rewired my trailer brakes



JBarca: Independent Brake Wire Feed Upgrade


I like the idea of a star configuration and will go with that. It seems as if running 10G to the axles and then building the star from there is the approach most often taken.

What about running 14 or even 16 Gauge wire from each of the 4 brake magnets all the way from each wheel to the tongue - basically using 4 smaller gauge wires, but only 3 amps per and a "home run" wiring approach back to the tongue. I'm trying to avoid hiding junction boxes in the corplast...

I would not bother with smaller ga of wires, just not worth the hassle. Even those short runs of lighter ga will cause a good deal of voltage drop and the whole idea of upgrading the wire is to REDUCE the voltage drop.

You are much better off using 10ga or even heavier right up to the backside of the drums.

Do it once and do it right from the start.

Mine I ran TWO pairs of 10Ga wire from the front to the axles, well worth the work! Absolutely priceless! :B