Air Brakes

[MicroOutlawRacer]

I am looking at a 25' flat bed gooseneck trailer that has air brakes on it. What can I use to control the air brakes (any kits or anything) for my wife's 01? Thanks for any info you can give me.



David

 

[bmoeller]

Dexter might be able to point you in the right direction, if they don't carry a controller/actuator setup.



http://www.dexteraxle.com/

 

[jelag]

I have a friend that wanted to buy such a trailer... . we never found a thing for him...

Remember that anything you use should comform to Fed DOT standards so that if your stopped, your not red tagged..... BTW... couldn't find a thing at DEXTER



1- we couldn't find a large enough supply of air. . at a reasonable price... we'd have about $1000 to get enough air to keep the brakes working going down a steep hill... . 6% grade so to speak... you need about 5 CF a min at 120 psi it keep a set of axles happy when your going down a hill... you could overcome that with a smaller compressor and a larger tank..... but code tanks that are 20 or 30 gal are expensive...



2 - we looked and couldn't find an interface that would allow us to apply a voltage signal like from a trailer controller that would take care of the needs... electrical signal to air control output...



3 - we looked at running a trailer control valve and tubing into the cab of the truck and hook it up and he'd hand control the air brakes... But he was going to move an expensive boat on it... and was afraid that if he got into a jam and needed it fast the control lever would be too slow or either would come on too fast or too slow...



4 - and we looked at changing the brakes from air to Disc and electric...



The trailer was a great value..... only 1500 bucks... . as I'm sure it had been sitting for a while... . He finally found one with electric brakes...



BTW I have a 24K lb trailer that we built, has 2 dual axles with power disc brakes. . Both axles are Dexters with their electric to Hyd controller on the trailer that makes 1600 psi hyd pressure for the disc brakes... when this trailer is fully loaded going down a 6% grade and the brake controller in the cab is set up... . the disc brakes will stop the trailer and pickup... but to be honest the exhaust brake does about 80% of this work... . hope this helps...

 

[jnelson]

Biggest downfall to the set up you've mentions is parts availabilty and air control. You could find Dexter/Hayes vacum/o Hyd. and electical parts everywhere, but on a true air brake system- you migh be hard pressed.