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  1. #11
    Site Sponsor SolarPoweredRV's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malco1 View Post
    The breaks work fine now I reduced the pressure from 10 the max, down to an eight, during my trip to NY. I have about 1800 miles on the trailer.
    I thought about disk brakes, but I am a little scared because 1 broken line and you have no brakes. A broken electric wire and you have brakes on the other 3 wheels and an easy repair.
    Upgrading to Disc Brakes may depend on where you will be towing. For example: if you live in Florida and you intend to travel primarily in Florida, then Disc Brakes may not be necessary. If, on the other hand, you intend to cross the Rockies in your travels, then Disc Brakes make a lot more sense from a safety stand point. One of the big problems with Electric Brakes is that as the drums get hotter, and hotter while braking, the magnets get weaker, which causes your brakes to get weaker the hotter they get (known as brake fade). So, not only do you get brake fade from the brake shoes getting hot, you have the compounding effect of the magnets getting hot (and weaker) adding to the brake fade effect.

    As far as Disc Brakes being less safe or harder to maintain, I must disagree. For one, you have a steel brake line running to each wheel, this is much less prone to damage than having a wire going to each wheel. Additionally, if a wire gets broken what is to say that it is a single wire going to a single wheel? What if the single wire supplying power to all four (or six) wheels get damaged, then you loose all your trailer brakes.

    When it comes to maintenance, Disc Brakes are much easier and cheaper to replace than drum brakes. Plus, you can visually check your Disc Brakes through the spokes of your wheels to discover unusual wear, with Drum Brakes, you have to remove the Wheel and Drums to inspect for brake wear.
    David and Peggy
    2019 Ford F350 Lariat, 6.7L Diesel, Dually, Long Bed
    Running with 20k Reese Goosebox (Love It) and Ford Factory "Puck" system.
    Stopping with 8,000 lb Disc Brakes and Titan Hydraulic over Electric Brakes system.
    Powering all this fun with 1200 Watts of Solar, two Tesla, Model S, battery modules, 24 volt Victron Inverter.
    2018 Solitude 310 GK

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by SolarPoweredRV View Post
    Upgrading to Disc Brakes may depend on where you will be towing. For example: if you live in Florida and you intend to travel primarily in Florida, then Disc Brakes may not be necessary. If, on the other hand, you intend to cross the Rockies in your travels, then Disc Brakes make a lot more sense from a safety stand point.
    Regardless of location, knuckleheads are shared well throughout North America and better stopping ability is always good form.

    I agree with the brake fade as well... Discs are a vast improvement over drum in every way.

    With respect to failure points:
    Another potential issue with the electric would be when/if a wire breaks, depending on where it opens could result in total failure, and a short to ground could create plenty of issues as well. Of course with the poor performance of the drums, you may not notice a failure with one or more drums

    No system is failure proof. I agree there is more to fail on the electric over hydraulic, however I feel confident enough in the setup.
    2018 Solitude 344gk
    2021 Ram 3500 SRW

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