Adding brakes to Scamp 13- cost? And other service issues.

[CarrieR]

Hi,
We would like to have brakes added to our new-to-us 1993 13' Scamp- the flanges are there already. We called a local trailer place who said they do work on a couple vintage trailers. We haven't taken the Scamp there yet, but over the phone they said they thought it would be about $900-$1000. I've read enough here to think that sounds ridiculous, and that I could get a whole new axle for less than that. Right?

They mentioned that there probably isn't wiring to the brakes, and that would be part of the expense. So how hard a job is this? Is it just inflated metro-Boston prices? What can we tell places when we call so they have more information to give us an accurate ballpark price?

We also called an RV dealer to ask about checking our propane line and doing a couple little things and they said they wouldn't even work on the Scamp due to its age. Liability, blah blah...

So anyone have a place in New England to recommend for brakes and/or routine maintenance? At this point we'd drive a couple hours for decent prices- the trailer is being stored not that far from the NH border...

[LyleB]

When I talked to Scamp Service, they quoted me a price of $210 for labor to change out an axle, add brakes. I assumed that included the wiring.

I just paid a local shop $340 to change out an axle to one with brakes and do the wiring. This price also included fabricating the brackets and reinforcing the frame at the brackets so that the axle is bolted on instead of welded.

I can't imagine just adding brakes to an existing axle would be any more expensive. Just labor, plus the cost of parts.

[Jon in AZ]

They may also be including parts and labor to install a brake controller in the tow vehicle.

Still, it seems pretty high... are you sure it isn't a B.O.A.T. shop?

[floyd]

Its about a 4 of 10 on a DIY scale,
E-trailer has instruction videos and e-bay has this complete kit,
look here...

Add Electric Brakes to Trailer Dexter Kit 2000 Axle 5 x 4 5" Lug 7" Drum Axel | eBay

[Jack L]

To add brakes to a Scamp 13 that already has the flanges on the axle is a fairly simple job. It requires running some wires and turning some bolts. If your trailer and tow vehicle already have a 7 pin connector and brake controller you have less work to do.


Eastern Marine and Etrailer are good internet sources for parts. You an probably get everything you need locally also. Check the cost for parts if you get a chance.


You would definitely need;
2 each 7 inch brake assembly's. One right,1 left.
2 each drum and hub assembly's.
white and blue 16 gage wire and a few crimp electrical connections
1 brake away switch.


Other parts you need and you may already have them. You'll have to look.
7 pin connectors for the trailer and tow vehicle.
A brake controller and necessary wiring.

I'm not sure if the new hubs come with the bearings greased or not so you may need some grease and seals also.

[Jack L]

With everything above included, with labor, $900 to $1000 seems high.

[CarrieR]

I really don't think this is something we feel comfortable doing ourselves, so I'm hoping to find someone to do it for a reasonable cost. I know we need to add the brake controller (car has the tow package so I assume it's already wired) as well, but even adding that cost in it shouldn't be $1000, should it?

TV has 7 pin connector, the trailer is currently 6.

[SteveSmith]

Move south. The people are friendly and broke - and work for cheap!
Just kidding. that job should cost no more that half what you have been quoted.

[vintageracer]

"LOADED" 10 inch trailer brake backing plates for your application are cheap at $29.00 each. This includes the backing plates, brakes, electric magnets all in one package assembled and ready to install. Add the new complete brake drums, seals and bearings you will need at about $50.00 each complete and you now have the brake parts to complete your trailer brake upgrade on the trailer. Basically for about $200.00 including shipping from Etrailer.com for the trailer brake parts you can convert your trailer to 10 inch electric trailer brakes on a single axle 3500 pound or less GVW trailer.

These parts are an EASY BOLT ON to your trailer. 4 bolts to attach the backing plates to the mounting plate you confirmed was already on your axle and the easy replacement of the current bearing hub on your trailer with your new brake drums and the dirty work is DONE!

The wiring of your new electric trailer brake setup on the trailer is equally as simple.

One wire from each of the backing plates run to ground and the other wire to which you add wire runs to the front of the trailer and into the proper location on the 7 pin RV plug you will now install on your trailer replacing the flat 4 pin plug or 6 pin plug that is probably on your trailer now as you will now have a minimum of 5 wires active on your trailer plug and maybe more if you are powering/charging a battery from the tow vehicle. You can run an individual wire from each backing plate to the same pin on the trailer plug or run one wire that both trailer brake backing plate power wires attach to back near the axle and run one to the front of the trailer plug.

You now must purchase a electronic brake controller to make those electric brakes you just installed work. $50.00 or less for a basic brake controller. No need to get fancy here we are not stopping 10K pounds. More like 3K pounds or less.

Again an easy install. Find a good location to mount your brake controller that you (The Driver) can access the brake controller in the event of an emergency if you need to activate the trailer brakes alone/separately to control trailer sway or some other issue. Take the wires from the brake controller and connect One wire to ground, one wire to power, one wire to the brake pedal switch and run one wire to the rear of the tow vehicle trailer plug in the proper location. With a little luck your tow vehicle is already factory trailer wired and the installation of an electronic trailer brake may be as easy as plug and play.

Go out for a drive to adjust the trailer brake gain on the controller per the instructions included with the brake controller and you now have trailer brakes.

Hardly a $1000.00 job.

$500.00 or LESS including the PARTS & LABOR if you don't want to do it yourself. This is a $250.00 job for parts if you do the work yourself for the trailer you described in your original post.

IF your state requires a "Trailer Breakaway System" on your trailer now that you have electric brakes add another $50.00 and again an easy to wire system when you make the trailer brake system upgrade.

A point of note:

I would install 10 inch brakes on your trailer and NOT 7 inch brakes that are typical on these trailers if you are adding brakes. The 7 inch brakes are small and provide very little electric trailer braking. 10 inch electric trailer brakes make a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE when stopping your tow vehicle and trailer. Yes if you have to change wheels/tires to make the 10 inch brakes fit I would do that without question. Do it right once and be done with it!

Here are pictures of how the 7 pin plug must be wired:

[jondsw]

i recently finished adding brakes to my scamp 13. it wasn't very difficult. as many replies indicated the backing plates and drums cost a couple hundred. in my case the axle already had the flanges. the wiring is pretty straight forward. when it came to the subaru, i had our local rv shop do the wiring for the 7 pin connector and add the brake controller. that cost me about $150.

these were 7 inch and seem to help in going downhill in dicey conditions.
i would definitely recommend adding them.

i pulled the scamp without brakes for a couple of years and 90 percent of the time there were no problems. but when the subaru brakes started chattering on a long downhill run, i decided it was time.

good luck with your decsions and brake additon.

jon of sequim

[Jack L]

Originally Posted by vintageracer

"LOADED" 10 inch trailer brake backing plates for your application are cheap at $29.00 each. This includes the backing plates, brakes, electric magnets all in one package assembled and ready to install. Add the new complete brake drums, seals and bearings you will need at about $50.00 each complete and you now have the brake parts to complete your trailer brake upgrade on the trailer. Basically for about $200.00 including shipping from Etrailer.com for the trailer brake parts you can convert your trailer to 10 inch electric trailer brakes on a single axle 3500 pound or less GVW trailer.

These parts are an EASY BOLT ON to your trailer. 4 bolts to attach the backing plates to the mounting plate you confirmed was already on your axle and the easy replacement of the current bearing hub on your trailer with your new brake drums and the dirty work is DONE!

The wiring of your new electric trailer brake setup on the trailer is equally as simple.

One wire from each of the backing plates run to ground and the other wire to which you add wire runs to the front of the trailer and into the proper location on the 7 pin RV plug you will now install on your trailer replacing the flat 4 pin plug or 6 pin plug that is probably on your trailer now as you will now have a minimum of 5 wires active on your trailer plug and maybe more if you are powering/charging a battery from the tow vehicle. You can run an individual wire from each backing plate to the same pin on the trailer plug or run one wire that both trailer brake backing plate power wires attach to back near the axle and run one to the front of the trailer plug.

You now must purchase a electronic brake controller to make those electric brakes you just installed work. $50.00 or less for a basic brake controller. No need to get fancy here we are not stopping 10K pounds. More like 3K pounds or less.

Again an easy install. Find a good location to mount your brake controller that you (The Driver) can access the brake controller in the event of an emergency if you need to activate the trailer brakes alone/separately to control trailer sway or some other issue. Take the wires from the brake controller and connect One wire to ground, one wire to power, one wire to the brake pedal switch and run one wire to the rear of the tow vehicle trailer plug in the proper location. With a little luck your tow vehicle is already factory trailer wired and the installation of an electronic trailer brake may be as easy as plug and play.

Go out for a drive to adjust the trailer brake gain on the controller per the instructions included with the brake controller and you now have trailer brakes.

Hardly a $1000.00 job.

$500.00 or LESS including the PARTS & LABOR if you don't want to do it yourself. This is a $250.00 job for parts if you do the work yourself for the trailer you described in your original post.

IF your state requires a "Trailer Breakaway System" on your trailer now that you have electric brakes add another $50.00 and again an easy to wire system when you make the trailer brake system upgrade.

A point of note:

I would install 10 inch brakes on your trailer and NOT 7 inch brakes that are typical on these trailers if you are adding brakes. The 7 inch brakes are small and provide very little electric trailer braking. 10 inch electric trailer brakes make a WORLD OF DIFFERENCE when stopping your tow vehicle and trailer. Yes if you have to change wheels/tires to make the 10 inch brakes fit I would do that without question. Do it right once and be done with it!

Here are pictures of how the 7 pin plug must be wired:

While upgrading to 10" drums sounds like a good idea, the inside bearing in a 10'' hub is larger than in a a 7'' hub so an axle with a larger spindle would also be needed.

[vintageracer]

You can specify different bearings to mount a 10 inch brake drum on the small axle spindle if you have the smaller axle spindle on your trailer.

[Jon in AZ]

All the OP wants to do is mount brakes to the existing Scamp axle with 13" wheels. Don't you need bigger wheels to mount a 10" drum? Then you would need more wheel well clearance requiring a new axle, no?

[CarrieR]

Thanks for the info. I briefly told my husband about the responses and he thinks he may try to do it himself. We can't even get an RV or trailer place to call us back and the one that did said they wouldn't work on the Scamp, so I don't know what the deal is.

Anyone have someone in New England to recommend??

[Jack L]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

All the OP wants to do is mount brakes to the existing Scamp axle with 13" wheels. Don't you need bigger wheels to mount a 10" drum? Then you would need more wheel well clearance requiring a new axle, no?

Yes, increasing the drum size does create some other issues. Since lots of these trailers use 7 inch brakes and they are adequate, I personally would stay with 7" brakes. As far as wheel size, I appears that 13' wheels will accommodate 10' drums. According to Dexter the only way to put 10" drums on a 2200# axle like the OP has is to replace the existing axle with a 9H which is a 2200# axle with 3500# spindles. Dexter offers no bearing option to adapt 10'' drums to the standard 2200# Torflex axle.

[Byron Kinnaman]

I just can't imagine the problems with 10" brakes on my 1700 lb trailer. I think I would have to modify the brake controller to reduce the current to magnets otherwise I would think you'd be locking the wheels up everytime you put your foot on the brake.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

I just can't imagine the problems with 10" brakes on my 1700 lb trailer. I think I would have to modify the brake controller to reduce the current to magnets otherwise I would think you'd be locking the wheels up everytime you put your foot on the brake.

The Scamp16 has 10" brakes, even on the ones which weigh less than a loaded 13. There is plenty of adjustment in the controller.
In fact, if I ever replace my axle it will have 10" brakes.
The only reason they even make 7" brakes is to fit over 8" wheels which are commonly used with the 2200# axle on snowmobile trailers and the like. The 7" brakes are really not aggressive enough for my taste, but they do the job.
I towed my car trailer with 10" brakes, and they worked fine when it was empty.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by CarrieR

Thanks for the info. I briefly told my husband about the responses and he thinks he may try to do it himself. We can't even get an RV or trailer place to call us back and the one that did said they wouldn't work on the Scamp, so I don't know what the deal is.

Anyone have someone in New England to recommend??

Easy job, but I don't want to do it for liability reasons, BUT, if you want to take a ride on the Mass Pike and about 15 miles into NY, you could check with Heavy Haulers near Hudson NY. They do trailer work and have a lot of parts. I got new brake assemblies there for our Casita.