Recently replaced the brakes on the trailer. Old brakes were hydraulic surge brakes. What that means is the brakes activate when the tow vehicle stops, and the weight of the trailer pushes into the actuator at the tongue.
New brakes are electric. In this case, when the tow vehicle starts to stop, it activates the electric brakes right away and helps slow the tow vehicle down.
Installing the new brakes took a couple visits to the marina. First visit, I got 4 of them on, then the following week, I got the last two on.
28 Sep 2019:
I drilled/tapped into the trailer frame to mount a junction box and a breakaway kit. The breakaway kit is a battery that is supposed to activate the brakes to prevent a runaway trailer if it comes off the tow vehicle. I used blue Loctite on the threads mounting both pieces. I used smaller bolts on the breakaway battery box. When I used the tap to cut the threads in the first hole, it snapped. Took a while but I got the broken piece out. I went to the store to get a replacement and finished that hole and made another one, going slower to prevent another break.
showing placement of junction box and breakaway kit
barely enough to hold on to for removal...
...but I eventually got it out
covered wires until I can get to it
5 Oct 2019:
This past weeeknd, I did most of the wiring. Used marine grade wire and marine grade connectors with heatshrink. Probably overkill but I'm sure the wires will last a long time. I also replaced the taillights and installed a new 7 pin connector to plug into my truck.
trailer moved next to the boat
steel line to fish wires through the frame
electrical tape only used to cover the center of the 3-way
blue wires for the brakes
new taillights from Harbor Frieght. nice bight LEDs
junction box wired up. color coded fairly well
7 pin connector with plastic cover over the wires.
left over supplies
Wiring job itself probably isn't the greatest but I was able to get it done enough to test out the turn signal/brake lights. I still need to wire in the breakaway kit and adjust the brakes. Otherwise, it's pretty much ready to go.
Amazing to read this. Just the other day I poked around my trailer and found what looked like a battery but I was not familiar with how a breakaway system worked so I was confused as to why a battery would be inline with the system? Plus, the positive connector was broken, thus not connected and broken with no way to connect it. I'm stumped. Is this something I need to address?
Not sure why, but I'm not getting messages when a comment is posted so just now seeing this one.
The breakaway/battery kit is meant to prevent a runaway trailer if it comes off the tow vehicle. The switch hooked up to the battery would activate the brakes. If its not connected, then it might be a good idea to fix that. You'd still have brakes when connected to the tow vehicle but no safety/backup if it's disconnected.
I almost didn't put one on until someone told me about them. I hadn't heard of it before this project.
Amazing to read this. Just the other day I poked around my trailer and found what looked like a battery but I was not familiar with how a breakaway system worked so I was confused as to why a battery would be inline with the system? Plus, the positive connector was broken, thus not connected and broken with no way to connect it. I'm stumped. Is this something I need to address?
ReplyDeleteNot sure why, but I'm not getting messages when a comment is posted so just now seeing this one.
ReplyDeleteThe breakaway/battery kit is meant to prevent a runaway trailer if it comes off the tow vehicle. The switch hooked up to the battery would activate the brakes. If its not connected, then it might be a good idea to fix that. You'd still have brakes when connected to the tow vehicle but no safety/backup if it's disconnected.
I almost didn't put one on until someone told me about them. I hadn't heard of it before this project.