Surge brakes or electric brakes?

[Borrego Dave]

I had hydraulic surge brakes on my car trailer that I towed for years behind the class A to the desert. Total weight of the buggy and trailer was 3500#. The road to the desert floor dropped 3500' in 10 miles with 86 turns, I never experienced any fade. As I recall the coupler, it could moved quite a bit with the amount of braking I made in the tug, from nothing to full on. The farther the coupler was forced back, it fed more pressure to the brake cylinders just like it would in your car. As far as backing up, with a fairly flat surface, the coupler never moved enough to hinder the backing. Trying to push it up an incline was another story. You had to put a pin in the coupler to keep it from moving. So, from 10 years of using that set up, the only minus would be not being to apply the brakes moving forward for possible sway. YMVV

[Glenn Baglo]

Just curious. Why haven't surge brakes been widely adopted by the RV industry?

[floyd]

Modern electric trailer brake controllers are designed to be proportional, with adjustments so fine as to enhance overall trailer control.
Some newer electric trailer brakes are even self adjusting in forward or reverse.
Even though manual override is almost never needed, most see it as a plus.


I remember the VHS vs BETA argument. "which is better?" became irrelevant, VHS won, and both eventually proved inferior.


My money is on electric trailer brakes, leaving a small niche for other forms, such as surge or electric over hydraulic.



But like Beta or VHS we may see computerized trailer systems completely independent of the TV, only relying on a coupler for motivation...


Or who knows? Self propelled and programmed to follow the

VMFKAT (vehicle module formerly known as Tow)


For now the best system for small to medium travel trailers will remain electric trailer brakes with proportional controls.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Just curious. Why haven't surge brakes been widely adopted by the RV industry?

Darn. Nobody fell for it.

[Scamper Jim]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Just curious. Why haven't surge brakes been widely adopted by the RV industry?

Glenn,

My guess is that they have difficulty finding qualified workers who can properly install and bleed the brake lines after assembling the components, nor do they want the liability of having to do so. It's easier and cheaper to install electric brakes and have the customer buy and install the controller. It shifts the liability for any faulty installation away from them.

[OCJohn]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Just curious. Why haven't surge brakes been widely adopted by the RV industry?

My guess would be cost. Electric brakes are cheaper and easier to install. And cost of the controller is not part of the cost of the trailer.