Electric ,manual cable overide or hydraulic assisted brakes on trailers?

Hey Axle,i personally reckon electric brakes chit on hydraulic for reliability,had too many moisture issues with hydraulic,rusting wheel cylinders,seized master cylinders,leaving brake locked on towing and cremating shoes etc etc etc,trailers have hydraulic on them cos you can hook it up to anyones vehicle and tow it without needing a brake controller eg:hire trailer.hope this helps cheers Paul

its because of the law, over 2ton must have a break away system & smaller trailers over 750kg must have brakes a lot of loaded caravans & campers are being used illegal

so most are now electric over hydraulic which work well (note most have to be wired a little different as the std elec brake pin on the plug operates just the solenoids & the 12/24volt not wire gives the power to run the hydraulic activator
you can still have a vacuum break away systems but they do take a while to break & most new diesel will not have a vacuum pump that will handle it & the car side of the set up is expensive

I have both fitted to my patrol 6x4 GVM4500

The electric over hydraulic works well & have had no problems with it or the unit on my boat trailer as it works well the callipers are always working so they have been fine, the vacuum is a different story very slow to work hard to adjust & due to the time it takes for the brakes to react the calliper often seize & on a long down hill they will fade due to low vacuum

hope this helps but check your state regs as they are all abit different also check your tow capacity on your vehicle

Axle.
Not an answer to your question, but the cost and reliability problems with a heavy trailer make it cheaper and a lot more versatile to buy a truck. You can get a reasonable truck for less than the cost of the trailer and mods to the towing vehicle, plus you don't brake your back or your tow vehicle in the process. Eric

Have not used hydraulic.. Cable over-ride discs on my first camper were problematic - maintenance was required to keep them in useful service. Much less so with the AL_KO electric setup on my Campomatic - despite suggestions from here and there about their ability to withstand harsh conditions, they have. The Gibb, the Tanami, the lower Strez, et al, and they still have the same shoes and magnets plugging on. I carry spares, and do my own maintenance on the hubs, and while the drums could do with a shave and the shoes could do with swapping, I reckon I could still get to the topend again via the Tanami as is. Its all design I reckon - whoever designed and built my kit, knows their game. And the in-cab brake controller is such a great tool for the driver !

hydraulic disk with electric overide is the way to go. solid disk with a single caliper has no chance of stones getting stuck .drum brakes have to many moving parts ie magnets, springs, clips, pins, shoes & wires hanging out the back = high maintenance
& disc pads are easier to change