SWITCH TO ELECTRIC BRAKES

[TRUENORTH60]

I have a car dolley.
The car dolley has surge breaks.
Surge breaks are a curse sent to enrage us to the point that certain four letter words are used.

I would dearly love to change out the damnable surge brakes for electric brakes. Installing new electric back plates with shoes does not seem to be any more complicated than graduate level nuclear physics. But I do have a couple of questions.

1 - How heavy does the wiring have to be to support the solenoids?

2 - Can the electric brakes be connected to the existing brake light circuit or does it require a separate dedicated circuit of it's own?

3 - Any ideas about what to do with the now abandoned surge brake actuator?

Thanks in advance.

[trail-explorer]

TRUENORTH60 wrote:
The car dolley has surge breaks.
Surge breaks

Sounds like you mean Surge Brakes, not breaks.

[Grit_dog]

^ This.
Have an 06 boat trailer, surge brakes.
Every year I suck out the fluid in the reservoir a couple times throughout the year and replace with new.
Gets nasty quick in a cast iron cylinder like that.
Knock on wood 13 years later they’re still working on original components.

[LIKE2BUILD]

I’ve towed boats for years with surge brakes. When properly maintained with clean brake fluid they work just fine.

[fj12ryder]

And no response back so far.

Why ask a question and then disappear?

[Housted]

What about adding a disk brake pump to replace the surge master cylinder. You already have the hydraulic brake part. May have to fab a line and find a small box for the pump and a battery (small AGM).

Just my first thought.

Housted

[Grit_dog]

Surge brakes need maintenance just like any other mechanical item.
That said, I like the adjust-ability of electric brakes.
If you can manage switching out brake assemblies, then the wiring is not that hard.
You don't wire anything into the brake light circuit except brake lights and the trigger wire for the brake controller, if not pre wired in your vehicle.
What vehicle do you have? Most all trucks from the last 20 years are pre-wired for a brake controller under the dash and at the back of the truck (7 pin plug).
If your RV isn't it's not that tough.
Black > battery+ fused
Red > Brake light switch on brake pedal
Black > battery + fused
White > ground

[wanderingbob]

Separate brake controller needed . Brake lite circuit not heavy enuff . On some trucks if you blow the brake lite fuse the transmixer will not come out of park

[wanderingbob]

No solenoids , the electric current activates magnets that bring the shoes out !

[K_Charles]

What solenoids are you talking about? Are you trying to make it electric over hydraulic or just switch it to electric?

[zigzagrv]

Curious also, since I have a dolly with surge brakes and I think they're great. Only work when you really need them, and I have had a couple occasions when I needed them. Did a great job!

[fj12ryder]

I've never used surge brakes before so I'm curious what you find so horrendous about them. Like I said, I've never used them, but am curious as to their drawbacks.

[DSteiner51]

TRUENORTH60 wrote:
I have a car dolley.
The car dolley has surge breaks.
Surge breaks are a curse sent to enrage us to the point that certain four letter words are used.

I would dearly love to change out the damnable surge brakes for electric brakes. Installing new electric back plates with shoes does not seem to be any more complicated than graduate level nuclear physics. But I do have a couple of questions.

1 - How heavy does the wiring have to be to support the solenoids?

2 - Can the electric brakes be connected to the existing brake light circuit or does it require a separate dedicated circuit of it's own?

3 - Any ideas about what to do with the now abandoned surge brake actuator?

Thanks in advance.

1. I prefer nothing smaller then #12 wire. Too many trailers, especially two/three axles, have too light of wire.

2. NO! a good quality brake controller is needed. NO time based controller.

3. Sell it? Paper weight? Put it on a shelf?