How much do trailer brakes really "pull their own weight"?

[xc-mark]

drum brakes will never give you the same feeling as your truck. As stated in other post they grab good at low speeds but dont have enough power at highway speeds. My trailer had 7000lb axles under a trailer that weighed 16,500 +- 500lbs , I have been on the scales it was just under 13,000 on the tires but that wasnt a issue. Part of the problem is the wire size from the front of the trailer to the brake magnets was only 14awg , you get s good amount of power loss when you travel 60' from the power source and expect to get full voltage at the magnets. Having said that I didnt elect to fix that issue just knowing drums fade fast at highway speeds. I replaced the entire system with hydraulic disk from Kodiac. Now I have enough brakes at any speed I can feel the trailer stopping the truck id the gain is set over 7.5. I can safely stop the combo in about 225-250' from 60 , with drums that was closer to 400' and the truck did most of the hard work. Honestly it always left me with a uneasy feeling in stop and go traffic . disk brakes are a MUST on heavy trailer , 12" x 2.25" drums are fine on a 10,000 lb trailer but NOT at 17,000lbs.

[Reevesfamily]

Originally Posted by Jay D.

I test mine every time I leave my place. I have a slight down hill and at about 20mph I manually apply the trailer brakes only. I think if the wife wasn't strapped in the seat I could put her on the dash. they work amazingly good. I had to make a couple near panic stops in Alaska and never felt out of control and as far as long mountain pass down hills I don't use my brakes. I think they are plenty adequate, but like everything else they have to be maintained and set up correctly.
Jay D.

Jay D is spot on. It is legendary in my family for the passengers to grip their seats during the first 50' of travel when we set out as it is well-known that we will always do a "brake check" while leaving the neighborhood! My wife prepares whomever is "on board" for this maneuver. I've never had any issue with stopping. The key is to drive ahead of your hood and pay attention to what's happening ahead of you! Like in an airplane, start flying behind and reacting instead of flying ahead of your nose and pro-acting and you may end up splat.