Electric Brakes On Komet Trailer

I am trying to get away from the surge brakes and has anyone converted their trailer to electric brakes?? Thanks

On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 6:21:22 AM UTC-6, Bob Youngblood wrote:
I am trying to get away from the surge brakes and has anyone converted their trailer to electric brakes?? Thanks

But why change a simple and entirely appropriate device against something complex and in need of fine-tuning (laden vs. empty trailer)? Fix or adjust your surge brakes (Spindelberger website has details) and you'll be fine. Nobody in Europe has electric brakes on glider trailers.

On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 4:21:22 AM UTC-8, Bob Youngblood wrote:
I am trying to get away from the surge brakes and has anyone converted their trailer to electric brakes?? Thanks

Bob

I converted my cobra to Dexter Axle Torflex with electric brakes. I measured the axle bolt holes spacing, tire bolt scheme and distance from wheel to wheel. Purchased online from a trailer company they welded the brackets to fit. The easiest way is to take to a trailer dealer that carries Dexter Axles and have them replace the axle.
It was about 15 years ago as I remember $450 included shipping from Florida to CA. Call if you have questions.

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

What is your tow vehicle? You will need to wire in a trailer brake controller, easier to do on some vehicles than others.

On 2/16/2019 9:50 AM, Clay wrote:
What is your tow vehicle? You will need to wire in a trailer brake
controller, easier to do on some vehicles than others.

Howziss for covering all the bases?

"What Herb K., Richard P., and Clay said!" *and* consider - if your rig is
"nice-n-light" and your "geographical situation/traffic warrants"... simply
going the (easy-peasy) Torflex route while leaving the rig brakeless. (Gasp!)

Been there/done that on a 15-meter glass ship/trailer combo that - for decades
- I towed w. a 2,600 lb, unboosted/drum-braked, vehicle, throughout the high
plains and intermountain west...with nary a (negatively) exciting moment
behind the wheel of that particular combo. That was after some years of towing
the same rig w. an early version of "a Torflex-like" welded-spring, brakeless,
axle whose spring-attach-welds broke on both sides of the axle.

I've also installed an electric brake controller on wifey's Tacoma (easy
enough)...but heard "some Fords" are bears in that particular department.

YMMV!

Bob W.

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On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 6:32:07 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 6:21:22 AM UTC-6, Bob Youngblood wrote:
I am trying to get away from the surge brakes and has anyone converted their trailer to electric brakes?? Thanks

But why change a simple and entirely appropriate device against something complex and in need of fine-tuning (laden vs. empty trailer)? Fix or adjust your surge brakes (Spindelberger website has details) and you'll be fine. Nobody in Europe has electric brakes on glider trailers.

The problem with keeping the Komet system is the availability of parts in the U.S. My brake system has been inop since I've owned the trailer and as BobW have found no issues even with heavy braking. I have thought of converting to the more modern axle-less system and electric brakes.

BobW wrote on 2/16/2019 9:24 AM:
On 2/16/2019 9:50 AM, Clay wrote:
What is your tow vehicle? You will need to wire in a trailer brake
controller, easier to do on some vehicles than others.

Howziss for covering all the bases?

"What Herb K., Richard P., and Clay said!" *and* consider - if your rig is
"nice-n-light" and your "geographical situation/traffic warrants"... simply going
the (easy-peasy) Torflex route while leaving the rig brakeless. (Gasp!)

Been there/done that on a 15-meter glass ship/trailer combo that - for decades - I
towed w. a 2,600 lb, unboosted/drum-braked, vehicle, throughout the high plains
and intermountain west...with nary a (negatively) exciting moment behind the wheel
of that particular combo. That was after some years of towing the same rig w. an
early version of "a Torflex-like" welded-spring, brakeless, axle whose
spring-attach-welds broke on both sides of the axle.

I've also installed an electric brake controller on wifey's Tacoma (easy
enough)...but heard "some Fords" are bears in that particular department.

What do you use for a parking brake, if the trailer is brakeless?

On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 2:01:51 PM UTC-5, Eric Greenwell wrote:
BobW wrote on 2/16/2019 9:24 AM:
On 2/16/2019 9:50 AM, Clay wrote:
What is your tow vehicle? You will need to wire in a trailer brake
controller, easier to do on some vehicles than others.

Howziss for covering all the bases?

"What Herb K., Richard P., and Clay said!" *and* consider - if your rig is
"nice-n-light" and your "geographical situation/traffic warrants"... simply going
the (easy-peasy) Torflex route while leaving the rig brakeless. (Gasp!)

Been there/done that on a 15-meter glass ship/trailer combo that - for decades - I
towed w. a 2,600 lb, unboosted/drum-braked, vehicle, throughout the high plains
and intermountain west...with nary a (negatively) exciting moment behind the wheel
of that particular combo. That was after some years of towing the same rig w. an
early version of "a Torflex-like" welded-spring, brakeless, axle whose
spring-attach-welds broke on both sides of the axle.

I've also installed an electric brake controller on wifey's Tacoma (easy
enough)...but heard "some Fords" are bears in that particular department.

What do you use for a parking brake, if the trailer is brakeless?

Chocks....

Uli
'AS'

On 2/16/2019 12:05 PM, AS wrote:
On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 2:01:51 PM UTC-5, Eric Greenwell wrote:
BobW wrote on 2/16/2019 9:24 AM:
On 2/16/2019 9:50 AM, Clay wrote:
What is your tow vehicle? You will need to wire in a trailer brake
controller, easier to do on some vehicles than others.

Howziss for covering all the bases?

"What Herb K., Richard P., and Clay said!" *and* consider - if your rig
is "nice-n-light" and your "geographical situation/traffic warrants"...
simply going the (easy-peasy) Torflex route while leaving the rig
brakeless. (Gasp!)

Been there/done that on a 15-meter glass ship/trailer combo that - for
decades - I towed w. a 2,600 lb, unboosted/drum-braked, vehicle,
throughout the high plains and intermountain west...with nary a
(negatively) exciting moment behind the wheel of that particular combo.
That was after some years of towing the same rig w. an early version of
"a Torflex-like" welded-spring, brakeless, axle whose
spring-attach-welds broke on both sides of the axle.

I've also installed an electric brake controller on wifey's Tacoma
(easy enough)...but heard "some Fords" are bears in that particular
department.

What do you use for a parking brake, if the trailer is brakeless?

Chocks....

Uli 'AS'

"What Uli said." Also - after my tow vehicle eventually became relegated to
strictly a towing vehicle (purchased a 2nd/econobox commuting vehicle) - I
often simply left it on the tow hitch. Of course, living on flat land and
parking almost exclusively on the same (e.g. airports), even chocks were
(arguably, and "for most practical purposes") unnecessary.

Even at the Boulder (CO) A/P, ~3 miles from the Front Range, as in where
thanks to downsloping winds, it often "blows like stink", and trailer parking
is nose-into-the-winds, those times I left the trailer at the field, if the
parking spot had (say) an axle pounded into the ground, I'd chain the tongue,
but not every slot did, and when in those slots I simply chocked it.

In "real" tornado country, I generally kept it on the vehicle and "kept an eye
on the weather," when no tongue tiedown was handy. In any event the trailer
(still) has no aft-end tie rings.

YMMV.

Bob W.

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What's so wrong that it must go away?
Chocks are fun when you need to maneuver the trailer on a not-so-level surface. Done that.
Recently saw weather move chocked trailers around in the tiedowns. Several were damaged. One punched a hole in the hangar that stopped it.
Electric brakes with the parking brake option may be fine when the whole package is in tune and present, but useless if towed behind a car without the right controller.
Believe Dexter now has hydraulic brake axles with a parking brake option. Perhaps not as easy to set up as the mechanical ones, but far less vehicle-dependent than electric.
Do AlKo axles for Spindelberger Cobra trailers fit Anschau Komet trailers? Believe Wings and Wheels has some of those in stock.
Otherwise, perhaps it just needs new brake shoes, drums resurfacing or replacing, and set up properly. While you're at it replace the bearings.
Jim