Thread: 3.5t trailer brake recommendations

Originally Posted by ZQLewis

work mate has a large trailer boat with diesel engine. Was supplied with just override brakes on 1 axle, but the minute you add a tank of diesel plus some dive gear and everything else you get well over the weight for override brakes.
Being the sort of guy he is he had them upgraded to electric with a controller in the Ute.
What he has found is that with brakes on only 1 axle it eats disks quite quickly.
Z

Won't help with being dunked as well, especially if it's salt water. That was what took out the disc hubs I used on the tandem, cheaper and quicker to replace the entire axle for a commercial workboat as the axle (duratorque) was rooted as well. I threw the rest in the scrap, but kept the hubs.

This is part of the reason that the heavy trailers are normally set up with both axles braked, most braked axles are either rated to 1850 or 2250Kg not the full 3500Kg. It means the controller ends up winding full on every time you hit the brakes rather than a more gentle application over both axles. Having said that, increased maintenance is probably cheaper than two axle sets at build time so it's a bit of a choice thing (also how many Kms do most boat trailers do???).