If you’re looking into adding brakes to your trailer there are a number of factors you should take into consideration.
– Do you want Mechanical, Electrical or Hydraulic Brakes?
– Will your trailer fit the type of braking system you want?
– How much are you willing to spend?
Any trailer with a GVM (gross vehicle mass) over 750kg requires a braking system of some sort. The most common braking system is the Mechanical brake. This system consists of the following parts:
– Mechanical coupling (rated up to 2000kg)
– Brake adjuster
– Brake cable
– Mechanical callipers
– Brake pads
– Disc hubs
All trailers with a GVM over 2 tonne require an assisted braking system. This will be either electric brakes or electric over hydraulic brakes in the case of a boat trailer e.g. iQ7, Hydrastar, Sensabrake etc… Along with the brakes on your trailer these brakes also require an in car brake control unit inside the towing vehicle to operate the brakes.
Electric brakes are commonly used on horse floats, tradies trailers and car trailers. With electric brakes, as power is applied to the electromagnets, the magnets are pulled to the interior flat surface of the hub drum. As the wheel and drum turn during highway travel, this attraction of the magnet to the flat drum face pulls the lever arm of the brake actuating cam, rotating the cam and forcing the brake shoes out to contact the drum braking surface. The more power applied to the magnets the greater the leverage on the cam resulting in greater braking response.
The team at Bold Trailer And Caravan Repair Centre can retrofit brakes to your trailer, repair your brakes or if you prefer to DIY we can supply you with the parts you will need.
