Added electric brakes-weekend job -( large pics )

[Quint4]

I spent all weekend replacing my hydraulic surge brakes with electrics. I took great care to waterproof all connections. Time will tell how they hold up to weekly dunkings (freshwater).

Old brake assembly

four bolts..and its off ! (after obviously removing tire, wheel bearings & drum )

new electric brake assembly bolted up and ready to be wired

this took longer than expected but all in all wasn't that bad. Here I am finally getting ready to take a test drive down to the high school parking lot to test brakes. They work great ! As I said we will see how they do getting the weekly dip in the lake. They are Dexters and the vendor told me lots of people use them on boat trailers. As you can see I have a lot of buffing and waxing ahead of me. It was 70 today and I am anxious to get out on the water.

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

Nice Job and Nice Post. You gotta love those brakes. Had to tow mine without brakes a couple of times. Never again.

 

[unlvrebel]

I spent all weekend replacing my hydraulic surge brakes with electrics. I took great care to waterproof all connections. Time will tell how they hold up to weekly dunkings (freshwater).

Old brake assembly

four bolts..and its off ! (after obviously removing tire, wheel bearings & drum )

new electric brake assembly bolted up and ready to be wired

this took longer than expected but all in all wasn't that bad. Here I am finally getting ready to take a test drive down to the high school parking lot to test brakes. They work great ! As I said we will see how they do getting the weekly dip in the lake. They are Dexters and the vendor told me lots of people use them on boat trailers. As you can see I have a lot of buffing and waxing ahead of me. It was 70 today and I am anxious to get out on the water.

:smt021 This thread is worthless without pics!!!!:smt021

 

[Quint4]

Hey John..it has pics...you must have a blocker on the computer you are viewing it from...thanks, Dave.

 

[fragmag]

Looks great, good job!

 

[unlvrebel]

Hey John..it has pics...you must have a blocker on the computer you are viewing it from...thanks, Dave.

That's strange, I see all of the other pics... :huh:

I'll try when I get home.

Sorry...

 

[Nehalennia]

Looks good. So I assume you have a controller in the cab.

Let us know how it holds up.

 

[Quint4]

yep...I already had an in cab controller. I will advise how they hold up.

 

[bobnlee2007]

What did you do with all the old hydraulic tubes and stuff? And how many wires ?
I count 6 hubs, so there would be 6 wire pairs to a central tie point or controller?

 

[Quint4]

I left the old hydraulic lines in place, just disconnected them from the wheel assemblies I removed.. I placed a dab of silicone on the flared end of the lines to keep water out in case I want to reuse them. I have brakes on two axles so there is a + and - wire to four wheels.

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

I think I will be looking into some electric brakes as well. :smt021

Kinda had a let down from my trucks emergency brakes while I was moving the boat in my driveway. I was getting out to set the wheel chocks and they let go. They had worked several times allready that morning. :huh: All is back together and ran me about 500 bucks or a tank of boat gas.:smt013

The boat has surge breaks but as everyone knows they do not work backing down hill.

 

[Quint4]

wow...glad no one was hurt.

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

Yeah I was really lucky. Only a small scratch on the hull that buffed out yesterday when I waxed it Considering what could have happened I am glad I only lost a couple of days of vacation getting the garage back in shape and not all season repairing the boat.

 

[Quint4]

Just an update on my electric brakes. They are performing perfectly with a few dozen dunkings so far. I would not want to pull my 290 without them.

 

[Quint4]

As promised here is my report on the performance of my electric brakes........The season is over for me and my electrics performed flawlessly with almost weekly freshwater dunkings from April to Mid October...I am very pleased and they make my weekend trips pulling the 290 less stressful. I even leave them plugged in while loading and unloading (nice to have brakes when backing down the ramp with 10k of boat and trailer).As I said, I took extra care sealing all connections.

 

[Tail Chaser 661]

Very Nice.
I see you have had the elecs on for close to a year now.

Ive heard going the disk brake route.
They get very hot.
Very hard on the grease seals.

 

[jitts3]

How many axles have brakes on that rig. My father had electric brakes on his original boat when I was a kid. We never had trouble with them. His present boat had surge brakes and he likes them better. Mine are original surge brakes but my RV has electric. I was going to convert, since mine are shot. Dad recomends against it.
As for the water and electric brakes, dad ran down the entrance to the ramp with the brakes on to dry them, however he never dunked them. He off loaded the boat with the water at the bottom of the rim and loaded it with the water just a little deeper, only half way. He never burried the trailer. Also dad disconnected the electric cord whenever in the water.
Keep up with this and let us know how you do this season.


Never mind, didn't see page 2!

 

[Quint4]

One of my reasons for going electric was to have brakes while backing over 10k of boat down the ramp ( we trailer about every weekend).

 

[tollycraft]

Great job! I was having problems with a smaller trailer that already had electric brakes. I put on new hubs and re-wired. I ran all the wiring up the center of the trailer inside 1" PCV pipe and did the same from each side with the wires coming from the brakes. Just used steel brackets to hold up the PCV. Was easy to mount on the underside of the trailer as it was wood. Maybe a little over kill but dont have to worry about the elements.

 

[keokie]

I have had surge drums, surge disc, and electric drums.

The electric drums stop the best, are a margin of safety in reverse, and offer the ability to control gain. They do amazingly well even in saltwater.

Surge disc stop very well, are the most impervious to salt, but must be vented and will still run hot on long down hills.

Surge drums are somewhat weak, and unreliable usually due to failed wheel cylinders, especially if used in saltwater. If you do have surge drums, aluminum wheel cylinders are a great investment.