I'm going to build my own trailer to pull behind my quad. I'll use it to pull in firewood, haul water, and who knows what all, but it will get overloaded more than it should. I have an old 3500# axle that I'm going to cut down to size, and it already has brakes on it.

The rear brakes on my 700 EFI are almost useless anyway, but if I could hook a controler to the rear brake switch only, I could set the trailer brakes with my foot, and save my front brakes for trail riding and playing. I don't know how I would wire it in or if the 12 volt system on the quad would support it.

Has anyone tried anything like this or am I just nuts ?

 

I don't see why a brake controller such as used on other trailers with electric brakes would not work. I prefer the ones that do not use inertia to control the brakes. Stop at a good hitch and brake shop for travel trailers and talk with them. They should be able to fix you up with the proper controller for the type of electric brakes you are going to use.

 

get a time based system, it can be mounted upside down for all it cares, walmart is now selling brake controllers for 50 bucks should work well for what u want

 

I would go with surge brakes myself. That way it's only on your trailer.

 

The problem with surge brakes is that when you back up (especially with a heavy load), the brakes always engage. Ask anyone who pulls a large boat, etc. You have to back up REAL REAL slow and forget it if you are backing up an incline.

 

True, but they have lock out pins so that is no problem. I took care of a fleet of heavy boats and the trailers had surge brakes on them. No problems at all. Another good thing about surge brakes is you don't have to have controllers on all vehicles. If you have a small tractor you don't have to have another box on it. Another quad, no other box.
There is good and bad points to both systems.

 

Surge brake systems are nice, especially if you have lockout system in the cab so you can back up without getting out to lock the system. I believe, however, that the question was about controlling electric brakes.

 

That sounds like the way to go to me. But, I'm working on the cheap, and I already have an axle with electric brakes. Maybe I will try it on my next one.

 

OETKBYETNGAS I know what you mean, been there many times myself.

There is one problem I'm really concerned about if you do this. Trucks have a cab that you can mount the controller box in to keep it nice and dry. The electronics are not hardened against mud and water. They don't need to be because it is mounted in a cab. But on a quad..........well you see where I'm going with this.
I think Northern sells a brake system for about 150 bones. I don't remember exactly how much though?
BTW I'm not saying that it won't work, it's just that I'm worried about muck getting into the box.

 

Ok, here is the deal. You need an electric brake controller just as you asked. Just about the easiest would be one of the timed units. They watch for the brake light to be activated then start applying power to the brakes. How much power and how fast is the “timed” part. The units will have a slider or dial for both settings. You can buy them new at Wal-Mart or even just about any Auto-Zone. You may also want to look on e-Bay. Yes, it seems like around $40 is the going rate for the low end Draw-Tites or Reese models (which would be more than enough for your idea). There is no pendulum or motion sensing electronics in these units, as mentioned, so you can mount it anywhere in any orientation. They also provide a slider that will allow you to manually apply the trailer brakes

Your core question was wiring. Well, that is not all that big of a deal.

Here is a link to the install instructions for a Draw-Tite Activator I. It would be the same for any manufacturer/model of the same operating type.

http://65.196.229.70/pdf/N5100.pdf

Page 4 has a wiring diagram. Basically you have 4 wires.

1) A relatively small gauge that is used to watch for the application of the brakes. This is generally tied in to the brake light switch under the dash. When it sees 12V it starts to apply the brakes. You could tie this to a brake light on the quad or to the foot pedal switch. Depending on how the quad is wired and where you tie it in application of any brake may activate it. You would have to chase/probe a few wires to figure out how things work.

2) A heavy ground wire. No brainer, NEG battery post.

3) A heavy power feed. No brainer, POS battery post. Pay attention, this wire is generally black which is, you guessed it, generally associated with a ground. In automotive applications you also have to wire in a circuit breaker. No big deal. If it is not included in the kit they are like 3 bucks at a chain auto part store. I would do this even on the quad as it will protect the quad should the controller have a problem.

4) A heavy gauge wire to the trailer to activate the brakes. This is generally blue.

On that topic, the only other thing to understand is the wiring of the trailer. This is even less of a deal, just takes a little doing.

First off you need to understand how the brakes work. They are actually activated by magnets. Instead of a slave cylinder that uses hydraulic pressure to force the shoes apart you will have a cam. From the cam extends a lever with an electro magnet on the end. When power is applied the magnet sticks to the inside of the drum which starts to drag it along as it turns. This tugs on the lever, which turns the cam, which spreads the shoes and applies the breaks.

As to final wiring. Look at the inside of your drums, they should have 2 wires hanging out of the backing plate. On all the ones I have messed with both are green. Polarity is not important, it just needs power and a ground, the coil in the magnet does not care which is which. Run a wire from one lead on each drum to the trailer tongue an tie them together. Call this the ground. Do the same with the second wire on each side and call this the positive (POS). I would terminate them in a 2 flat trailer connector. Again, you can get this from any chain auto parts store or Wal-Mart. You could also use 2 conductors of a 4 flat (like you generally see on small utility trailers, the other 2 wires are for parking and break lights). On the quad side you need to wire in the other half of the 2 flat. Run the brake activation wire (number 4 (BLUE) from above) to the FEMALE pin on the 2 flat connector. The female in is covered which will help the pin from finding a ground when not connected to the trailer. After all, every time you hit the brakes on the quad, connected to the trailer or not, this wire/pin will get power. Run the male pin back to the NEG post on the battery. This will securely ground the trailer back to the electrical system of the quad for best performance. Some will let the hitch metal to metal connection of the hitch act as a ground but I always preferred a hard wire.

Hitch up the trailer, connect the 2 flat, and drive away.

Good luck.