codrus said:
BoxheadTim said:
In reply to Curtis73 :
Actually in Europe, a lot of them do, but they don't use electric trailer brakes much either. They're usually rod actuate via the hitch (basically your tow vehicle brakes, inertia of the trailer pushes against the hitch, hitch connector compresses and actuates the brakes).
Sounds like surge brakes, which people on this board pretty much universally hate. :) Good at surviving getting dunked at the boat ramp, but that's about it.
I don't hate surge brakes, but they are a lot more complicated than electric brakes. Yes, you need a controller on the vehicle, but the trailer side of it is stone simple: electricity goes in, braking comes out. No worries about blown hydraulics after the fluid turned into hygroscopic jelly and leaked out after corroding the master cylinder and wheel cylinders away.
Ah yes, surge brakes. That was the term I'd been looking for.
Turns out the trailer pushes back really easily on tarmac, so I'm guessing I wasn't getting enough traction myself on the grass that it was parked on before.
In other news, backing a trailer into a parking spot that's at a 90 degree angle to a relatively narrow driveway blows.
Also, I didn't realise motorised trailer dollies are a thing.
BoxheadTim said:
Also, I didn't realise motorised trailer dollies are a thing.
Yeah, I've seen them before, but they're not cheap.
I'd love to be able to move my trailer around with needing to hook up the truck, but my driveway is fairly steep and I'd be really skeptical that something like that could push it up the hill. The diesel truck actually requires some throttle input, it won't just idle it up there. :)
The area where I parked my trailer today is pretty flat so the trailer dolly above should be able to move the trailer. A decent dolly would be really useful to maneouver the trailer into the parking spot, though, as there isn't really enough space to do it with the truck.
