electric or surge trailer brakes?

[strokerduster]

fixin to redo the brakes on my 7k lb flatbed. has electric brakes but was looking at surge disc setup. pros/cons/opinions?

 

[Bird]

This has been discussed several times on the forum. You might want to start by reading this thread. Personally, I wouldn't even consider surge brakes except on a boat trailer, and of course rental trailers that may be pulled by a vehicle that has no brake controller.

 

[Jimbrown]

I vote electric. I like to be able to manually apply the trailer brakes without using the truck brakes.

 

[MikeD74T]

I had an unpleasant experience with a horse trailer with surge brakes on ice. Going down a hill the trailer pushed enough to lock the trailer brakes. It pushed into traffic to a 90 degree angle and stayed there until I started up the other side of the hill. The initial speed was about 15 mph. I had to speed up to keep it from going all the way around. At least with electric brakes the sensitivity is adjustable and the trailer brakes can be used independent of the tow vehicles brakes, very helpful if high speed swaying occurs.

 

[Egon]

Electric.

Egon

 

[curt1]

Electric.

 

[johnk]

I love the electric brakes on my tandem. If you have a good brake controller you can set it so it feels like the trailer isn't even back therewhen you apply the brakes. Boat trailers all have surge brakes because of the electric componants going under water. Electric are more responsive to your needs.

 

[Jim57]

I would have to agree with the majority. Electric Brakes is my choice as well... even on large boat trailers. But... especially on trailers carrying heavy equipment.

Only other brakes I like on heavy equipment is air brakes. Too bad they aren't available on some of the smaller trucks that pull huge trailers like horse trailers or cattle trailers. However... the electric brake has been very efficient for most applications use on the farm except large dump trucks that I know of.

Be sure to have a good electric controller... it makes things work much smoother. If it is an old controller... I would replace the controller as well.

Jim

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I had a trailer (back about 25 years ago) with surge brakes. Dang thing like to drove me crazy when trying to back it up the gravel driveway (on a slight hill)) Pressure on the hitch made the brakes lock, stopping me in my tracks.

They suffer from a lack of adjustability as you go down the (sometimes ICY) road. Electric brakes (with a good controller) are infinately adjustable from the drivers seat.

MAKE MINE ELECTRIC!

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( has electric brakes but was looking at surge disc setup. pros/cons/opinions? )</font>

Electrice.. by a huge margin.

I hate surge.. gotta get out and jimmy them to back up a hill.. can't apply them manually to limit trailer sway.. can't set 'power' on the fly... etc. Plus.. most electric controllers will signal errors in the brake setup if one exists.. I've not seen any 'self diagnosing' surge brake setups...

Soundguy