How To Use an Electric Brake Controller With Hydraulic Brakes On Tandem Axle Boat Trailer

Question

Question:

My double-axle boat trailer has brakes actuated by a yoke that slides rearward pressing a hydraulic piston that engages the brakes. My F-250 has an electric brake controller.Should I bypass the mechanical actuator and use the electric controller instead? I believe an additional piece of hardward may be needed to actuate the piston. Is more than the Blue wire required?

asked by: Steve H

0

Expert Reply:

Your boat trailer has hydraulic surge brakes that uses a surge coupler to activate the trailer brakes.

An electric brake controller will activate the brakes by using an electric current, so you will have to either replace the hydraulic brakes on your trailer with electric brakes or use an electric over hydraulic brake actuator like the Dexter Electric Over Hydraulic Brake Actuator, part # K71-650.

To use the Dexter actuator you will need to make sure your brake controller can be used with electric over hydraulic brakes. Some factory brake controllers will not work with electric over hydraulic brakes.

To install part # K71-650, you must also use at least a 9 amp/hour breakaway kit, like Dexter Breakaway Kit, part # 34-285. This kit will activate the brakes in case the trailer becomes uncoupled from the tow vehicle.

To hookup part # K71-650, you will connect the Yellow wire to cold side of breakaway switch, which is the wire that is hot when breakaway occurs. The Black Wire connects to the positive connection on breakaway switch, which is wire that charges breakaway battery. The Blue Wire will be connected to blue wire on 7-way connector, and gets power from brake controller. The White Wire is ground and is connected to trailer frame.

If you need a brake controller that is compatible with Electric Over Hydraulic Brakes, I would recommend the Prodigy P2 Brake Controller, part # 90885.

To activate your brake controller, you will have to connect the wires from the 7-way of your vehicle to the brake controller. Some vehicles have the wires ran already and just require a plug-in adapter and a few other connections. If you can send me the year make and model of your vehicle, I can give you specific instructions and what is needed to hook up a brake controller.

If you want to replace the hydraulic brakes to electric brakes I would need more information on your boat trailer, like the axle size and the bearing numbers. With that information I can help you chose the correct parts to switch the brakes to electric brakes.

I am including a couple of links to FAQ pages on trailer breakaway kits and electric brake controllers.

expert reply by: Jeff D

0

Answer 1

The AL-KO trailer hub part number 8700 that you have is a 3,500 lb trailer hub/drum with a 5 on 4-1/2 inch bolt pattern. Based on that the #AKHD-545-35-EZ-K is the correct fit and would work great.

view full answer...

Answer 2

While we may have an option for you, we do not have the exact specs on your Allis grease seal part number 5013 29772. However, with the 1.6" ID and 2.5" OD measurements you provides, that is very close to our #58846. This particular…

view full answer...

Answer 3

The manual lockout on your Atwood 85778 surge brake coupler is there so that you can back up the trailer without the brakes locking up on you. Yes you can safely tow your trailer with the broken manual lockout, you just have to make sure you…

view full answer...

Answer 4

Since you have a wheelbase/axle spacing of 38 inches the correct hanger kit for slipper springs would be the part #HAP-105-205-01. And then for a 7k trailer axle the u-bolt kit you'd want would be the part #APUBR-8. I attached the diagram to use…

view full answer...

Answer 5

I did some checking and the hub/drum we offer that will work for you is the part #8-430-5UC3. This uses the same bearings as the 8-415 and will be an exact fit aside from the fact this is a non-ABS setup and the 8-415 came in an ABS setup and non-ABS…

view full answer...

Answer 6

If your current springs have 5 leaves then going to a 7 leaf spring will increase the height of the trailer a little and make the trailer more susceptible to sway. Regarding capacity if you go with springs rated higher than what is required it will…

view full answer...

Answer 7

The number you provided, "7753400" is a patent number which corelates to the Equalizer for E-Z Flex Suspension part #013-144-03. This is for a single equalizer but if you need the entire kit it's the Dexter E-Z Flex Suspension Kit part…

view full answer...

Answer 8

The only way you could power interior dome lights on a trailer without it being connected to a tow vehicle would be to power the lights with a battery like a breakaway battery. How you choose to wire up the batteries will in the end be up to you, but…

view full answer...

Answer 9

For your enclosed trailer application I have several suggestions for adding interior lighting that you can control directly via a switch. Since your current 4-pole trailer wiring does NOT include a 12V auxiliary power feed that could power inside…

view full answer...

Answer 10

The correct replacement for a Demco Master Cylinder 05680-C is the Replacement Master Cylinder part #5650. I spoke with Demco to confirm this for you.

view full answer...

Answer 11

Since Demco uses 3,500 drum brake assemblies part #DMSB24429M and #DMSB24428M what you'd need is similar 3,500 electric brake assemblies like the etrailer part #AKEBRK-35L-SA for the left hand side and #AKEBRK-35R-SA for the right hand side. To…

view full answer...

Answer 12

We have a really great kit that comes with everything you'd need to convert your 2021 Vanleigh Pinecrest 335RLP from tandem 6k drum brakes to electric over hydraulic disc brakes with the HydraStar Disc Brake Kit w/ Actuator for Triple Axle…

view full answer...