Electric Brakes

[WFM]

A project but I'm going to have a shop do it.
I have a 6 1/2' x 12' aluminum flatbed trailer with folding ramp. I use it to haul my polaris ranger when going off riding somewhere else. After using a trailer with electric brakes I really miss them on my smaller trailer. My ranger is about 1200 lbs but I still feel the push when slowing. I called the trailer place the other day and they gave me a ballpark of $400. to $600. , he told me to drop it right after snowmobile season and they'd get it done.

 

[NCL4701]

A project but I'm going to have a shop do it.
I have a 6 1/2' x 12' aluminum flatbed trailer with folding ramp. I use it to haul my polaris ranger when going off riding somewhere else. After using a trailer with electric brakes I really miss them on my smaller trailer. My ranger is about 1200 lbs but I still feel the push when slowing. I called the trailer place the other day and they gave me a ballpark of $400. to $600. , he told me to drop it right after snowmobile season and they'd get it done.

Like you, I have towed various trailers with and without brakes. Brakes are a good thing. $400 to $600 isn’t bad for a turn key shop job. Sounds like a good move.

 

[Ikc1990]

That's a great deal I did mine by my self and had over 300 in it and a hole lot of time energy and frustration involved.

 

[Russell King]

Do you have your brake controller already or have any in mind? I want to add brakes to my utility trailer and am thinking about getting the type of controller that mounts to the trailer instead of in the cab.

 

[Ikc1990]

Most 1/2 ton and larger vehicles are wired with the plug electric taped under dash. I wouldn't go with out one in cab but 80%+ of my 40,000 miles per year are with a trailer with breaks weither its landscape, dump equipment, or enclosed trailer. If it's not wired with it then I would wire it in. 100% better in cab control. My duramax came with them factory installed.

 

[NCL4701]

Do you have your brake controller already or have any in mind? I want to add brakes to my utility trailer and am thinking about getting the type of controller that mounts to the trailer instead of in the cab.

Not familiar with an electric brake controller that doesn’t have a box in the cab, but I would NOT be interested or suggest to anyone a controller that doesn’t have a panic stop button available to the driver. If the controller has that function, swell. The panic stop has saved my butt several times.

Like when some little girl in a Prius swerved in front of me barely clearing my front end and immediately slammed on brakes at green light while I was pulling a 9500lb camper on a wet road. Hit the panic slider on the trailer, laid on the truck brakes, and told my wife “I need 3 more feet I ain’t got so this dumb b**** is getting knocked through that green light.” Thank the Lord, about 12” behind her all the wheels found some dry pavement and we stopped with a couple of inches to spare. If I hadn’t had the manual trailer brake thing, I would have knocked the crap out of her.

Manual button has also been handy when the trailer wasn’t loaded as right as I thought it was and it started snaking. Staying steady on the throttle and easing down on trailer brakes will straighten it up real quick so you can come to a controlled stop and straighten out your rig before you land on your head.

I like having the manual button/slider in the cab.

 

[Russell King]

See Tekonsha Prodigy RF Wireless Trailer Brake Controller for an example.

You do have the button in your cab

 

[NCL4701]

See Tekonsha Prodigy RF Wireless Trailer Brake Controller for an example.

You do have the button in your cab

Checked it out on eTrailer. I don’t know enough about that to have any further opinion worthy of public broadcast, but thanks for sharing that. Never seen or heard of such previously.

If you get a wireless app based controller such as that, it would be interesting to hear how you like it after you’ve used it for a bit.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

That's an OK price condsidering you have to replace the hub with brakedrum version, 2 brake kits and rewiring of the trailer to 7 pins. None is really hard, if you're setup for it,about 2hrs.

 

[GeoHorn]

I hated the humongous box-with-lever type brake controllers because besides being ugly they are always in-the-way of my knees. I like neat, clean installations and bought one of these under a different badge but the same controller.
Despite the fact it comes in 3 separate units.....which at first glance appeared complicated... it actually simplified the installation and allowed me to place the controls where they are convenient and unobtrusive.
I placed the little monitor on my dash by my left doorpost, the accelerometer down on the side kick-panel beside the emer brake pedal, and the manual controller by my right hand rest where it’s convenient and natural for a panic-application.
The little monitor not only confirms the electrical connections to the trailer are intact/working ...it also displays the percentage of brake being applied.
The accelerometer senses the braking-effort being asked for and modulates the trailer’s brakes to match the tow-vehicle’s braking-effort. (It has an internal accelerometer similar to inertia-navigation systems and senses the DE-celleration rate of the tow-vehicle and automatically applies the correct amount of trailer braking to match. When the tow vehicle comes to a stop...the trailer brakes are also reduced to or at near zero. This keeps the brake electromagnets from overheating during long stops on hillsides. All the installer has to do is make certain the accelerometer control-box is placed “level” in the longitudinal (fore/aft) direction so it can sense the rate of deceleration.
I’ve been towing my Airstream, my ranch/cattle trailer, my boat trailer, and my little utility trailer and it automatically adjusts to each of them without needing to re-calibrate. Can you tell I really like it?

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[GreensvilleJay]

Last year I added 'work lights' to my 5by8 trailer. for some silly reason it gets dark at night in the country... Then decided to add brakes but wanted to keep the normal 4pin wiring, It cost me MORE for the plastic box than the electronics that now gives me worklights, backup lights AND brakes....
Nice thing is NO 'boxes' in the towing vehicle, NO upgrade from 4 to 7 pin, just connect and go.