OK, I give, what are trailer break-away boxes?

[brobeson]

What are they?

What do they do?

Where do you get them?

What do they cost?



TIA



Bob

 

[Archive]

Breakaway Kits

Breakaway Kit without charger $35. 99

Parts Sold Separately

Trickle Charger $39. 99

Breakaway Battery Case $9. 99

Breakaway Switch $8. 99

Breakaway Battery $25. 99

Replacement Pin & Cable $4. 29



I got this from: http://www.ssbtractor.com/brake_control.html



Hope this helps... basically, if your trailer comes loose from the tow vehicle, it pulls a wire, which pulls a switch, immediately applying your electric trailer brakes.

 

[David Muench]

Dunno if you're a boater, but the closest analogy is the lanyard on a small outboard engine or a jetski. If you fall off the jetski/out of the rowboat, the lanyard attached around your wrist goes with you and kills the engine so it won't go out of control. . The breakaway box is the same. If the trailer falls off (entirely, including the safety chains), the lanyard pulls a pin and the trailer brakes activate.



I think the safety standard is that it has to stop the trailer and hold it on some degree of grade for 15 minutes before the battery dies.

 

[Bob Stephens]

The breakaway switch is connected via a lanyard to your truck. Its a simple switch that when the pin is pulled applies full 12v to your trailer brakes. The idea being that when your trailer separates from your truck, the brakes are applied on full to stop it from traveling long distances without you. It's required by law in most states. As long as you have charged batteries in your trailer, you don't have to worry about where the power for the break-away comes from.



Best connection point for attachment to the truck is something other than the hitch. If the hitch come loose from truck instead of trailer from hitch, the breakaway still works.

 

[Archive]

Originally posted by Bob Stephens

Best connection point for attachment to the truck is something other than the hitch. If the hitch come loose from truck instead of trailer from hitch, the breakaway still works.

Bob... hadn't ever thought about that... Good Idea!

 

[TowPro]

break aways.

Something else to keep in mind is "where is it mounted?"

My 2000 terry had it mounted to a sheet of 1/4" fiberglass. The dealer replaced the lanyard without me knowing, when I pulled out of the parking stop the break-away switch pulled out of the fiberglass! Sure glad it never got tested for real.



This is something that should be recalled.



the dealer mounted a piece of 6"X6" alunimum plate on both sides of the glass when they reinstalled it.



In fact I reported this to NHTSA, but you should see how your own switch is mounted to be safe. Had the the camper came off the hitch, the lanyard would never have pulled out of the switch, instead the switch tore out of the fiberglass!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

My lanyard is long enough that I just loop it through the ball mount hole in the bumper and then to the lock that I put on my trailer tongue release. It's long enough that I can manuever fully but short enough that if the trailer is on the safety chains it will pull the pin - that way I hopefully won't get rear ended by my own trailer! I use to attach it to the hitch until I got the hitch recall and then thought of the hitch breaking off.