Thread: Fitting Trailer Brakes

Sounds ok to me.

I think you will be fine with a seven pin plug.

How the electromagnets are wired is not important, you will have to run a wire to each drum.

I think the electric brakes come in 12 inch and 10 inch. Don't know off the top of my head if there are any smaller, a quick google search should verify. The 10 inch drums should be fine for a camper trailer.

The seven pin will be fine, it works off your brake lights and the controller that you fit to the vehicle will vary the voltage to the magnets which will then vary the pressure used by the brakes.

Sounds like a good plan.
Your 6 stud hubs will be Land Cruiser (Prior to 100 series). All the Jap 6 stud 4x4 wheels have the same std pattern but the wheels have different offsets. In the varies trailer parts catalogues they are just called 6 stud Landcruiser.

The 7 pin may be OK provided that the 12V supply cable to the magnets has sufficient capacity for the 'juice' required.

The tail light feed is used to trigger the controller...that's all. The controller then switches the required current from a 'heavy duty' 12V source to the supply cable.

FWIW: for the 12V supply, use 10 or 12 SWG with a 30 Amp fuse direct connect to the car battery to the controller and from there to the designated pin on the 7 pin connector. The same gauge cable is then run to one of the magnets and then across to the other one so they are in parallel. Ensure you have a good earth between vehicle and trailer. The 'feed' from the tail light should be able to be tapped from the brake pedal switch.

Make sure you get "off road" magnets ...they are better quality and mounted differently to absorb the corrugations.

I went through the same rigmarole a couple of years ago and ended up choosing the Alko 10" drums/hubs/off road magnets/ shock absorbers and Tekonsha P3 controller for a home built camper.

Another thought: It could be worthwhile to get the trailer place to weld an additional set of spring location pads to the axle 180 deg from the existing ones so that you have the option of mounting the axle above or below the camper springs depending on how much clearance you want/need. If you simply rotate the axle you will have to rewire/refit the magnets because they are uni-directional... just a thought

Originally Posted by harlie

Sounds like a good plan.
Your 6 stud hubs will be Land Cruiser (Prior to 100 series). All the Jap 6 stud 4x4 wheels have the same std pattern but the wheels have different offsets. In the varies trailer parts catalogues they are just called 6 stud Landcruiser.

Thanks Harlie, I just KNEW someone here would recognise them and tell me what they are! That's the sort of information I need to give to the trailer place that is supplying the parts for me.

Coop

[QUOTE=Hoges;1667427]The 7 pin may be OK provided that the 12V supply cable to the magnets has sufficient capacity for the 'juice' required.

The tail light feed is used to trigger the controller...that's all. The controller then switches the required current from a 'heavy duty' 12V source to the supply cable.

FWIW: for the 12V supply, use 10 or 12 SWG with a 30 Amp fuse direct connect to the car battery to the controller and from there to the designated pin on the 7 pin connector. The same gauge cable is then run to one of the magnets and then across to the other one so they are in parallel. Ensure you have a good earth between vehicle and trailer. The 'feed' from the tail light should be able to be tapped from the brake pedal switch.

Thanks Hoges. I had read that I should use 6mm cable, but they didn't specify if that was the conductor or included the insulation! Having the SWG specification will ensure I get the right stuff.

Make sure you get "off road" magnets ...they are better quality and mounted differently to absorb the corrugations.

Didn't know such things existed. Thanks again- will do. Some of the roads I've been down of late would rattle the fillings from your teeth....

I went through the same rigmarole a couple of years ago and ended up choosing the Alko 10" drums/hubs/off road magnets/ shock absorbers and Tekonsha P3 controller for a home built camper.

I'll give them some thought. I'm lucky in that my brother will provide a used proportional controller that he no longer needs, so that will save some dosh. You will note my trailer doesn't have shocks, do you think I should fit them?

Another thought: It could be worthwhile to get the trailer place to weld an additional set of spring location pads to the axle 180 deg from the existing ones so that you have the option of mounting the axle above or below the camper springs depending on how much clearance you want/need. If you simply rotate the axle you will have to rewire/refit the magnets because they are uni-directional... just a thought[/QUOTE]

I thought the square axle was just U-bolted to the springs? I guess I'll find out this weekend when I take it apart. But that sounds like a good idea if I decide to re-position the axle for higher clearance.

Thanks again Hoges- some excellent advice and information there. My wife, who has been looking over my shoulder as I type this, reckons this is like a "men's shed" on the internet.

Coop

The square axle is an excellent choice...much stronger. However it needs a "mechanical" way of locating relative to the spring. There is usually a bolt through the centre of the leaf spring holding the leaves together at the "apex". The head of the bolt rests in a hole in the pad welded to the axle so that it sits flush. It therefore stops the axle creeping out of alignment. I'm presuming a similar situation applies to square axles ...or one face of the axle is drilled to provide a shallow hole to acommodate the bolt head. Either way would probably work as well.

6 gauge is 13 sq mm wire cross-section excluding insulation...far too big to fit the 7 pin plug. I actually bought a Narva 12 pin plug with two rows of 6 receptors. It cost about $20. 6 of the pins accept heavy gauge wire including that for the brakes. The smaller pins are for stop/tail/indicator/reversing lights etc. The other large pins I use for a couple of (12v) power outlets on the camper for lights and a small multi-band radio.

For the fridge etc I have separate 6g twin cable which connects through Anderson plugs to the camper and doubles for charging camper batteries on the go using one of Traxide's magic boxes...

"Every boy needs a shed!"


EDIT: I found the shocks to be excellent. You need a compliant suspension for trailers on corrugated roads...not too soft and certainly not "heavy duty" in terms of high spring rates...depending of course on the load.
I had 4-leaf Alko springs originally and ended up removing the small 4th leaf . With small trailer-specific shocks bolted on it made a world of difference... rode the bumps very well

Interesting, I see Dexter US is now making self adjusting electric brakes called Nev-R-Adjust. That would be cool.