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Location: Athens, Ohio | Dude, I would NOT engage the brake lockout while driving forward under ANY conditions. Nice that the magnet will keep it right there, but these lockout devices are designed and intended to be used in parking and dealer lots and for short back up situations. You may jeopardize your insurance if there was ever a problem and it wasn't being used according to mfg. requirements. m |
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Location: 31 | For years I pulled a 621 with the trailer brakes locked out (Ranger 621s and 620s are actually pretty close in weight), after testing I couldn’t tell much difference. Never worried about insurance coverage...
Just be smart and allow extra distance depending on if you have the brakes locked out or not.
Edited by Jerry Newman 4/29/2019 3:15 PM
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Seems like 'being smart' would be having the brakes engaged and properly adjusted. If there was little difference they needed fixed so you don't risk not only your safety but the safety of the drivers around you. m |
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| Jerry Newman - 4/29/2019 10:07 AM
For years I pulled a 621 with the trailer brakes locked out (Ranger 621s and 620s are actually pretty close in weight), after testing I couldn’t tell much difference. Never worried about insurance coverage...
Just be smart and allow extra distance depending on if you have the brakes locked out or not.
Jerry
I usually agree with things you say but this is some really really bad advice. This is extremely dangerous. The brakes on the tow vehicle can easily be overheated and become useless. I have experienced the overheated brake fade on a tow vehicle before because of no trailer brakes and its not good. Sometimes there is no time. Please be safe and make sure your trailer brakes are in working order. Your life and others depend on it. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | I think in DaveT's situation, a change-over to electric brakes would be an ideal solution.
On today's trailers that are surge brakes, they will all most likely be disk brakes. So...the axle will most likely be a 3500 lb axle with the larger and smaller bearing diameters a touch different. (1-3/8" and 1-1/16" I believe).
With that stated, the change-over to electric is actually quite straight forward. It will require drum brakes which will bolt directly to the mounting flange on the axle itself, then the drum is packed and attached like normal bearings and hubs.
If one gets the self adjusting brakes, it is then a matter of running wires to the 7 pin connector at the tongue, connect all wiring to the correct brakes, and so long as the truck has an electric brake actuator, he'd be golden.
I'm guessing, he'd be close to $300 with the wiring...
https://www.amazon.com/Southwest-Wheel-Trailer-Adjusting-Electric/dp...
If only my axle was a 3500 rather than 4200, I'd have this done already as well..
For me to do it, I'd need a custom built hub as I have been unable to find a 4200 lb drum without going to a larger tire and 6-bolt pattern...
Steve |
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| VMS - 4/30/2019 9:18 AM
I think in DaveT's situation, a change-over to electric brakes would be an ideal solution.
On today's trailers that are surge brakes, they will all most likely be disk brakes. So...the axle will most likely be a 3500 lb axle with the larger and smaller bearing diameters a touch different. (1-3/8" and 1-1/16" I believe ).
With that stated, the change-over to electric is actually quite straight forward. It will require drum brakes which will bolt directly to the mounting flange on the axle itself, then the drum is packed and attached like normal bearings and hubs.
If one gets the self adjusting brakes, it is then a matter of running wires to the 7 pin connector at the tongue, connect all wiring to the correct brakes, and so long as the truck has an electric brake actuator, he'd be golden.
I'm guessing, he'd be close to $300 with the wiring...
https://www.amazon.com/Southwest-Wheel-Trailer-Adjusting-Electric/dp...
If only my axle was a 3500 rather than 4200, I'd have this done already as well..
For me to do it, I'd need a custom built hub as I have been unable to find a 4200 lb drum without going to a larger tire and 6-bolt pattern...
Steve
He could also covert his current system to EOH, (electric over hydraulic), which means an electric actuator change and battery breakaway cable addition. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Yep...I can do that...at the expense of a $700 actuator...
that's more than I'd like to spend... plus...it would still require new disk hubs and calipers as well. That adds another $350 - $400 as well.. A bit steep for me to change to that.
With a welded swing away tongue as well, to install a surge actuator would require holes to be drilled and slots to be made, then the actuator itself. That's about $200 or so.
Nutshell... if they made a drum specifically for the rangertrail trailer that has 1-3/8" inner and outer bearings, it'd be done...
steve |
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Location: 31 | mikie - 4/30/2019 7:07 AM
Seems like 'being smart' would be having the brakes engaged and properly adjusted. If there was little difference they needed fixed so you don't risk not only your safety but the safety of the drivers around you. m
I agree with your comments for the most part, and I'm glad that we are having this conversation because it is important. However, I would also hope that no one would decide to lock out their trailer brakes based only on my post.
I don't want people to take what I'm about to say the wrong way because although I agree that putting safety first is the best policy, I see nothing wrong with locking out your trailer brakes if you are a competent driver and your tow vehicle can handle it. For instance; it's pretty easy to assume that when Wimuskyfisherman locked his trailer brakes out for a couple of months (page 1), his tow vehicle could handle it, and he simply drove more defensively.
Mikey, maybe you shouldn't be jumping to conclusions so quickly because I also suspected there was a problem with the brakes and I had them properly serviced, it turned out they had been working properly because I couldn't tell any difference. In your defense, I probably should have mentioned that I normally tow with an F-450 dually and that my boat trailer only had 2 wheel disc brakes.
A little off the subject but along the same lines… years ago I occasionally drove a large dump truck, in my estimation when that truck was fully loaded it probably needed almost twice the stopping distance as a car in a panic situation. The “not so smart” would routinely cut in front and hit the brakes to make a right turn… like that extra space was left there just for them. It’s almost the same mentality when it narrows from 4 to 2 lanes, it seems like everyone's in a hurry - desperate to get in front of a heavy truck (or one of us pulling our boat), oblivious to the danger behind them.
Moving on, I think it's kind of interesting that Ranger recently increased their dual axle boat trailers to include 4 wheel disc brakes after years of them only having 2 wheel disc brakes, and for some of us it wasn't that long ago that (gasp) many of our boat trailers didn’t even have brakes as 4amuskie mentioned. It's easy to grab the moral high ground with always saying safety first, but this also comes with some expense. Although it might be safer, I don't think we all need to add brakes to our older rigs just yet, maybe exercising a little more caution will also get the job done safely.
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Very well said Jerry....
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Posts: 512
| my boats have never had trailer brakes, granted they weren't ranger 620s, but they were 2400-3000 lbs packages
so I don't think it would be a huge issue to have the brakes locked out through the mountain passes because all the years ive gone through these mountains, ive never had trailer brakes!
but if I had a larger, heavier boat, I probably wouldn't do that...
Edited by Dave T. 5/1/2019 2:44 PM
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Posts: 3
| If the trailer has brakes, then it needs them... that should be pretty simple. I own a Lund 2025 Pro V and the trailer has surge brakes on both axles. I lost 1 brake line & all of the fluid... and lost 100% of the trailer brakes- I was almost not able to slow down and came within 12 inches of rear ending a car in front of me (yeah, I always give triple lengths in following distance so I am safe)
Think about this another way: You disable them, can't stop... and the plaintiff will OWN you. We live in a litigious society. You'll be sued for sure.
NJ law is any trailer GWVR over 4,000 with tandem axles and both axles require brakes. That's pretty simple.
I'd never ever consider finding a creative way with disabling them. I don't know what mountain's youre looking at but I'm often coming from NJ to the Adirondacks (up to the CA border) and want to know those brakes are there.
Edited by finmanpooze 5/16/2019 12:01 PM
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