Electric over hydraulic - anyone using them ?

Gdetrailer wrote:

You won't find any of those parts in any of my local autoparts stores, they barely can find the correct auto parts for vehicles let alone size up hydraulic hoses. Those brake hoses, rotors, calipers and brake pads are not standard for any vehicle and without a vehicle brand name, model name and yr they cannot look up any of those parts in their computer systems.. And yes, I am talking about Autozone and such places.

NAPA if you are lucky enough to have a 50yr old NAPA store may still have old dusty paper books, they may be able to find them but you will pay the NAPA premium price tag for them.

Contrast that to drum brakes where I can find those in stock at Tractor Supply and most any trailer dealer that handles horse trailers, flatbed trailers, enclosed trailers and even have a choice of two different custom trailer builders near me that even have brand new complete axle assemblies in stock.

Additionally, there is zero redundancy with EOH systems, hydraulic line damage, breakage, rust through or failed pump will result in zero brakes on the trailer working..

At least with electric drum brakes if one of the wires to one of the drums break you only lose that drum.. And yes, I have had that happen when I snagged something laying on the road.. At least I had three other brakes that continued to work.

O'Reilly (just one example) stocks generic "BrakeBest" hoses that are universal fitment. The one closest to me in a small town in NW Indiana, shows that they have 71 different ones in stock for in-store pickup today. Go to the store and lay eyes on them, and you'll find what you need. I checked out the selection when buying spare parts to carry in my toolbox a while back. Plenty of valid options as I was able to assemble a kit from what they had on hand.

I found all new seals for one of my calipers at a NAPA in West Yellowstone, MT.

I completely agree with you on redundancy. If you lose the EoH controller/pump or a line or even a seal, you will lose your brakes. Fortunately those failures are rare, and the increased stopping power and control overshadows the risks. I experienced one failure in five years and 20-25K miles, which is probably one too many. Luckily, I noticed it during a routine brake test at slow speed after hooking up, and (I believe) it was due to dirt making its way into the crevice behind the pad due to extended use on dirt/unimproved roads and lands.

There are ways to mitigate most of those issues and perform most roadside repairs. I opted to carry a handful of spare parts to address any issue short of a complete pump or hub failure, after experiencing the one. Again, I would never consider going back to drum brakes on a 16+K trailer and consider it well worth the risk, though there is substantial room for improvement in the market.