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This is the one I'll eventually be getting. No where to put it at the moment.

post-194-1225423903_thumb.jpg

My cousin makes them and has offered me one for free :-)

Can get some good deals if anyone is interested. (Mods delete if inapropriate)

Hi all,

What brake setups are people running on there trailers? The one i am in the progress of building now only has cable drums. Will this be enough? The trailer i usually use has Hyd drums. It will be mainly towing my R33 gtst.

There are some very nice setups in here, some better set up then my shed lol.

Cheers.

This is the one I'll eventually be getting. No where to put it at the moment.

post-194-1225423903_thumb.jpg

My cousin makes them and has offered me one for free :-)

Can get some good deals if anyone is interested. (Mods delete if inapropriate)

any more info on prices etc would be great!

cheers

michael

We are running mechanical discs on the front axle. I've never been a fan of hydrolics or electrics. I don't like the hydrolic one because the trailer sits around for too long,,,absorbing tons of water into the system,,,you would need to cover the cylinder as they need a breather hole in the cap to work properly. The electric one is way to un-reliable for my liking,,,I've been down that road years ago and never going back.

Neil.

And at the risk of disagreeing with Neil(:)), I prefer the electric brakes. Biggest problem is you need a controller in any car using it so you can't easily lend it to someone (well maybe thats a plus)

But for useability, the electric ones are adjustable for the load (they lock the wheel on full if the trailer isn't loaded), and you can apply them manually if the trailer is swaying. Mechanical ones are much simpler but are much less smooth to drive with because they make the trailer jerk under light braking (or even just backing off sometimes)

Thanks guys, i might try the mechanical drums and see how they go.

Electric ones sound good but they are super expensive once you get the controller, brake away, and the brakes them self.

I am going to try and have the trailer ready for BS weekend, but i don't like my chances. We just have to build the ramps put the grid in the chassis and wire it up.

I've towed with electric braked trailers - I hate them. And I had the under dash controller in my previous 4WD. Hydraulics are the best setup imo. Those expensive electric brake controller gizmos are just trying to approximate what the hydraulic system does automatically. The amount of braking applied by the trailer is totally dependant on the weight on the trailer and how hard you are stopping. But hydraulics don't need adjusting and won't lock the wheels if you have no load or if over-adjusted. And over or underadjusted electric brakes can be downright dangerous down mountain ranges.

If you store the trailer outside, simply cover the master cylinder resorvoir with a cup or plastic bag to keep moisture out. nothing too difficult about that.

I've never had any jerking at light braking loads or backing off.

I think the cable drums are the worst setup you can choose. the cables and drums all need to be equally adjusted to brake evenly. could get nasty down a wet mountain range if that's not right... And they need the most maintenance as shoes wear and cables stretch.

Drove to Phillip Island and back with a supposed youbeaut electric brake system, it was crap.

No matter how it was adjusted it would not work evenly at variable speeds. Adjust it to work at highway speeds and when you had to slow down through a town the brakes would lock up. Hopeless.

ahh yes but every hire trailer I've ever seen is a deathtrap. They invariably have bent axles so they sway like a bastard when towing. And their brakes are usually shit or not working at all.

only way to get a reliable trailer is to get your own. And then a tow car. And then somewhere to park them both.

unregistered car cars get expensive.

Ryan, yes you need the electric brakes and controller, but you only need break away system if the trailer is over 2t. And that goes for whatever brake system you use. We just use the cheap controller that runs an input from the brake switch (not variable) and has a variable output on the controller itself which keeps it all simple.

Harry....I get the impression you live near mountains lol. I have not had trouble with either electric or mechanical brakes down hills even with 2t loads but my tow car has pretty capable brakes and tyres on it which helps I guess.

kinda. I used to run alot at Morgan Park at Warwick which is the other side of the range. Used to borrow or hire trailers until I got my own and had some bad experiences! locking electric brakes down there in the wet isn't much fun! never had any issues with my hydraulic braked trailer. I've done quite a few trips between Bris and Sydney/Bathurst too and depending on which way you go, there's a few decent hills along the way too.

yep hire trailers suck. they are usually heavy, crap, and half broken.

I busted my car at wakefield park once and had to hire a ute and trailer to get it back. the clowns gave me a crap little manual ute that felt like it had about 40hp, and weighed about 900kg, then gave me a trailer that weighed what seemed like 800odd kg or more and put my 1250kg car on it. great recipe for disaster.

the thing could barely do 90km flat knacker and you had to rev the ring out of 4th to get enough pace up to get into 5th and cruise, otherwise you'd rapidly loose gound in 5th and have to downshift again. any slight incline meant going back to 4th (and I mean slight). I was getting passed by everything and any truck that went past (at 120km, 4mm off my side mirror of course) sent the thing swaying so much it was a fight to keep it on the road at all. then the invariable high wind out of goulburn started and basically the trailer drove me instead of the other way around. it was scary stuff.

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