Trailer brakes- surge vs electric

Lets say you have a 20' box trailer, rated at 10k. Original equipment came with electric brakes but looking at switching to surge.
Is there anything other than cost and quality I should think about?
Is there more pressure on the frame with having surge that could possible bend or cause damage?

Why do you want to ditch the current brakes?

hallett21 said:

Why do you want to ditch the current brakes?

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X2

If used on different tow vehicles that lack electric brake controls. Surge can be hooked up to anything with proper rating and go.

you want electric over hydrolic best of both worlds.



ps a break controller is under 100 I would do that before I changed the breaks.

Im more into if there is a much greater impact on the trailer itself and frame going surge.

Meaning- if the frame bent, - well if you had electric brakes the frame would not have bent cause the surge puts too much pressure on the main rails.

Parker Dreamin said:

Im more into if there is a much greater impact on the trailer itself and frame going surge.

Meaning- if the frame bent, - well if you had electric brakes the frame would not have bent cause the surge puts too much pressure on the main rails.

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Ya I would be shopping from a new trailer if surge braking bent a frame. FWIW I would NEVER ditch electric over hydraulic for surge.

my carson racer has electric brakes. It always makes me happy to know they make stopping so much easier and safer when transferring the weight and load evenly. my boat trailer has surge brakes, I don't like them as much, tends to buck sometimes if making a hard stop.

In my experience there is not a lot of exotic engineering that goes into trailer manufacturing when it comes to box/utility etc... My take would be if it has brakes it can support brakes, surge or electric... A properly working surge unit on the tongue isn't going to take much to start to activate the brakes, so there probably isn't any real surge/push on the actual frame that isn't greater than the 10K rating.

Just picked one up this morning..ditch hydraulic and went with Electric. Juice brakes need to be used all the time..or they get corrosion and fluid goes south...electric always work. Backing up with juice brakes is always a painful experience...especially if driveway has incline. I have them on four boat trailers and wouldn't go back...JMO

Electric over hydraulic is the only way to go. I've had surgery brakes destroyed on one trip down a steep mountain road. And backing up sucks.

One of my friends built a heavy duty flat bed trailer and put electric on one axle and surge on the other. He did that so when he loaned it out to someone without a brake controller, there was at least braking on one axle.

No way would I choose surge brakes over electric. I rebuilt the surge brakes on my boat trailer and they work OK, but you will never know if the fluid leaks out (like when I towed my boat home form Mesa AZ to Seattle) and your only relying on the tow vehicle. With Elctric brakes you can drag them while your towing to burn off any rust or moisture on them, not to mention you can test them on flat ground much easier to ensure they are working. Not to mention the feel of the surge brakes, they seem to clunk and bang at each stop and take off. If you wire your rig correctly, backing up should never be a problem though, when the reverse lights are powered on it should release the pressure in the brake lines on the trailer.

Go with the electric brakes and get a decent brake controller.

Surge brakes suck. The hydroboost leaks under the dash in my F250 due to standing on the brake peddle because the surge brakes didn't activate in time. Backing up hills is a pain. I've been pulled down hills backwards with the truck brakes locked because surge brakes only work going forward. Adjusting them is a pain in the ass. If they are to aggressive they caused an on/off bucking motion or the wheels lock up and stay stuck until you back up a foot. Honestly if someone cant figure out an electric brake controller they shouldn't be towing a trailer. Also to, the brake controllers need to be mounted flat (horizontal). The do no good if mounted up and down (vertical). So with all that written I suggest staying with electric brakes.

If you have electric, leave them electric. If you have surge with disc or drum brakes convert them to electric over hydraulic. Best money ever spent. Go back to a solid coupler and be able to use your electronic brake controller.

The smart guys can chime in, but at a certain weight DOT requires surge... 10k is not the issue but it's close... my triple axle 15k trailer from the factory on my cabin cruiser is surge on all 6 wheels

If you can't back up then they're not operating properly. My driveway has an incline and was difficult/impossible to back up until I replaced my TBC fuse which can pop if your electrical goes under water.

TBC?

Not all surge brake trailers have a back up bypass. The Zieman 1165 I used to tow didnt have one. Plus a back up bypass is just one more thing to break at the worse time.