Surge Brakes

Trailpixie

Earlier this year I rented a T@B that was equipped with surge brakes. I drove on some steep hills and thought that they were doing fine for normal driving up to around 65 mph.

But then...

I was looking for a specific turn off onto a gravel parking lot where I could easily stop and turn around.  The turn snuck-up on me and I braked kind of hard to slow down enough to safely make the turn.  THEN I felt the surge brakes engage.  It turned out that none of the regular driving I had done was enough to engage the surge brakes until this minor "emergency" braking.

Are surge brakes supposed to engage under normal conditions, or are do they only engage for emergency conditions?

Thanks,
marc

rfuss928

It is unlikely you will "feel" properly maintained surge brakes working.
The trailer has to be pushing on the draw bar to engage the brakes.  The trailer brakes cannot pull on the TV because pull disengages the brakes.  In a well adjusted system the TV brakes basically the same with or without the trailer attached.

The mechanical surge brakes actuator on the DM T@Bs needs to be kept greased or it can bind.  In your case it is possible normal driving did not break a bound actuator loose but the sudden stop did and then you had to pull a bit to get it to slip back and disengage.  Just a guess.

atlasb

The surge brakes on our 2013 320 had a knurled knob on the passenger side of the hitch in a half circle slot.  Hard to read on the side, but you had to engage it to the proper position for backing up, so it would not actuate the brakes when backing up.  Hard to remember to do it some times and then let it go back to the towing position.

Dalehelman

 All surge breaks operate on the inertia principal. If you use light braking pressure most times the brake will not  engage. Once the trailer starts to push the tow vehicle under stopping conditions the brake will engage if it is working properly.

Marceline

I never notice the surge brakes engaging unless I brake hard. I'm new to brakes (I drove a boat trailer without any brakes at all for many years) but I assumed that this was normal. 

Dalehelman

Most of the time you will not feel them come on.

irvingj

Ditto. My experience with our older DM T@B was the same -- "normal" braking had little effect, but upon higher-load braking I could feel the surge brakes kick in. I thought they worked quite well.

MonicaNOCO

This is an old thread -- but answered my main question - is should I be able to feel the surge brakes engaging.  So - NO.  I just purchased a used 2014 T@B, and the seller actually told me there was no brakes at all.  When I pointed out the "backup position" pin on the hitch - she had no idea what that was for.  So in 5 years they had never engaged it to backup, and when I backup (a dozen times in the past 2 weeks) I've never felt the brakes engage and thus I haven't switched that pin either.      

I have the trailer in for a checkout right now, and my trailer guy says that the brakes are working correctly, and only in some extreme situations would I need to flip that pin to backup....   Is this right?  Is the T@B just so light it's not necessary?
.

SweetlyHome

@MonicaNOCO, we had a 2012 T@B with surge brakes.  You might not feel them when backing up on a level surface, although they maybe functioning at a low level.  You certainly not feel them backing up downhill.  Backing up a hill or on very soft sandy soil they will likely lock up entirely preventing you from moving.  That is when you will need to use the pin for sure.

You should sense them when coming to a stop.  You will also likely feel them at traveling speed going down a relatively steep hill.  I remember having the trailer hold us back on several long, steep downhill instate slopes.  This is actually nice as trailer is less likely to attempt to pass the TV particularly when braking in this situation.

Enjoy your new to you T@B and welcome to the family.

MonicaNOCO

Thanks, Sweetlyhome! I’ve been mostly level so far - so I guess I can put my concerns aside and get on with the camping! 

Marceline

MonicaNOCO said:

This is an old thread -- but answered my main question - is should I be able to feel the surge brakes engaging.  So - NO.  I just purchased a used 2014 T@B, and the seller actually told me there was no brakes at all.  When I pointed out the "backup position" pin on the hitch - she had no idea what that was for.  So in 5 years they had never engaged it to backup, and when I backup (a dozen times in the past 2 weeks) I've never felt the brakes engage and thus I haven't switched that pin either.      

I have the trailer in for a checkout right now, and my trailer guy says that the brakes are working correctly, and only in some extreme situations would I need to flip that pin to backup....   Is this right?  Is the T@B just so light it's not necessary?
.

I’ve owned a 2013 T@B with the surge brakes 3 years and I’ve probably put about 10,000 miles on it. I’ve never used the “backup” setting. But I’ve felt the brakes engage plenty of times, generally when I’m forced to stop a bit quicker than I’d like (I drove a 1400# boat trailer with no brakes for about 10 years so I’m a very cautious & conservative driver). The surge brakes have worked very well for me, but I do bring my trailer to a trusted shop once a year to have the bearings repacked and the brakes checked. 

MonicaNOCO

I had a deer cross right in front of me- but I was conscious of the trailer and applied the brakes only as hard as I had to to avoid hitting it.  All I noticed at that time was that I did not feel the trailer pushing me forward... so presumably they were doing their thing.  But thanks again for your experience, @Marceline! 

JoMoKe

So glad I found this thread.  We recently purchased a 2014 T@B with surge brakes and were told by service technician at RV dealership to never back up without adjusting the back up/reverse setting.  Several times we forgot about jumping out of the vehicle when backing up at a gas station, etc.   Not meeting with any resistance as we expected, we wondered if the surge brakes were working properly or this was normal.   We drove in hilly terrain and the trailer handled well so am more confident that things are all ok.  Thanks for sharing!

irvingj

We no longer have it, but we did have an older Dutchmen T@B with, I suspect, the same Al-Ko coupler and surge brake apparatus. New ones might be different, but I bet they're the same.

In any case, our Al-Ko surge brake had an "automatic" release feature for backing up; I never had to adjust anything. Sometimes I'd feel a bit of a bump when first backing up, but then it would back up fine.

Other type of surge brakes, as I understand it, DO have a trigger that needs to be set for backing up.