Will Hydraulic Disc Brakes Still Activate if Power to Trailer is Lost

Question:

Hydraulic Disc Brakes If my electric is disconnected will my trailer wheels spin ? If so what could the problem be ?

asked by: Tom

Expert Reply:

With surge type hydraulic brakes on a trailer they will still stop the trailer regardless if the trailer wiring loses it's connection. That's actually an advantage to this style of braking.

If you have electric over hydraulic brakes that have an actuator that is controlled by an electric signal from a brake controller you would then lose brake power if the trailer lost it's connection.

Typically it's corrosion on the trailer connectors that causes the connection to be lost. Cleaning the pins of the connectors with fine grit sandpaper will do the trick.

expert reply by: Jameson C