To brake or not to brake?

[DiscoCO]

How many of you have and/or use the parking brake on your M101 CDN or M416?

My trailer does not have the parking brake handle or cables? There are drums on the axle, but no brake components inside. Is it worth picking up the the handle, cables, and components (as I'm still working on my replacement axle length calculation) or should I just live without the brake?

For those without the brake do you just chock the wheels when parked and does that work well enough for you?

I like the idea of the trailer being closer to original with the brake and the idea of having a way of securing the trailer when parked, but is it worth the time and money?

Thanks!

 

[JPK]

I have an M101A1 and an M101A2/3 and both have the parking brakes. I like the brakes enough that I had them installed on a teardrop that is being built.

I gather that you're replacing the trailer axle. If so, it's easy enough to order an axle with a brake.

 

[JPNCA]

dosen't really matter to me. I don't think I have ever camped where there was not something around to chock the tires.
I was never really impressed with the breaks on my dads Bantom.
I didnt order them when I swapped the axle on my 416
just my .02

 

[Pikeman]

Chocking the wheels works for the majority of people just fine. Like JPK I have a M101 A2 trailer that I just put a new axle under with Electric brakes and spent the additional money to have a parking brake feature included. Cost of my axle would have been $290 with brakes but as ordered with parking brake feature added brought cost to $380. I think that if you are going to be towing the trailer on some moderate trails then you should have brakes to help control down hills instead of letting the trailer push you. If you are going to order a new axle with brakes it is a coin toss in my book if you want parking brakes or not. There are far more trailers without them than with them. I decided to have them because I already had the cables and lever/ handles.

 

[Dirtytires]

I would just get a nice set of rubber wheel chocks. Unless you are changing the entire axle it to me would not
be worth it.

 

[brentbba]

I put electric brakes on my M101CDN and love having them. Simple chocks when in camp parked.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Hand brake is really nice if you have/plan to have an RTT on the trailer.

I have used chocks, but the trailer still moved some when moving around in the RTT, with the parking brake set, it doesn't move at all.

Plus, it makes it much easier should you have to disconnect the trailer when you're not on level ground.

I have been in the situation where we had to turn around on a single lane trail. There wasn't enough room to do it with my M416 hooked up, so I backed it off the trail (which was uphill) set the brake, disconnected it and turned the CJ around. Then using the brake, slowly let the trailer back down to the trail, and reconnected it.

Will you ever run into a situation like that? All depends on where you decide to take the trailer!

I do plan on going with electric brakes for driving, when I do, I will have the parking brake built in for sure.

 

[Mark Harley]

If you are replacing the axle, get the brakes too!
My M101A2 has no brakes, I use a dolly to move it around the yard to hitch up.
1300 pounds is hard to stop by myself.

 

[tclaremont]

I have met lots of people without brakes that wish they had them.
I have yet to meet anyone with brakes that wishes they did not.

 

[java]

In a pinch electric brakes can be hooked to an onboard battery for parking brakes

 

[Vince1]

In a pinch electric brakes can be hooked to an onboard battery for parking brakes

I added ebrakes to my M416, but would love to install some sort of switch so I could brake while maneuvering the trailer unattached. Anybody do this? There are the kits for breakaway protection that seem could easily be modified. I had to detach and turn around once on a hilly trail and it was not fun.

 

[java]

I added ebrakes to my M416, but would love to install some sort of switch so I could brake while maneuvering the trailer unattached. Anybody do this? There are the kits for breakaway protection that seem could easily be modified. I had to detach and turn around once on a hilly trail and it was not fun.

very easy, add a switch, perferably a realy also, between the battery Positive and the brake power connection, turn switch on brakes recieve full power.

 

[Vince1]

But how do you isolate from vehicle battery and controller when hooked up? Maybe make a new receiver connector that I plug the trailer harness into that goes to the trailer battery and has a button or switch in line. Hmmm.

 

[tbone1004]

if you have a 7 pin harness, you can run the brakes as is, and you can basically use something like a switch in your house
you have the battery run with a switch on positive end running to the brakes, and you flip the switch and it disconnects the brake power line. Can be spliced straight into the E-brake wire as normal. You could also get creative with a dual battery controller and have your alternator charge the battery in the trailer.

 

[GI_Jeepin"]

I have an M416 trailer that came with the cable operated, hand brake lever system. However, the cable was rotted through and the handle was rusted frozen. I took the drums off of the axle and completely sandblasted every part. Then greased the brake shoe pivot point at the bottom of the shoe and reassembled it all together. I then went to Lowes and bought about 10 feet of 1/8" steel cable, and a 5/8" aluminum turn buckle. I also bought a mini load binder at Harbor Freight. I sounds a bit hokie, but when trimmed and assembled, it works great. The brakes hold the trailer very hard. When I push it around I can apply the brakes with the handle very easily. Die hard restorationists will hate me, but it was a matter of cost vs functionality.

If you plan on re-using the M416 stock brakes, make sure all the parts move freely. My trailer was built in '65 so my brakes warranted a good cleaning. I found that my brake shoes had some binding in the retaining brackets at the top and center of the shoes. This was causing severe brake material riding the drums. When your towing the trailer you'll never know it. Some filing of the retaining brackets fixed that. Now I have no worries about the Brake Shoe return spring doing its job.

Here are some pictures of what I did. Total cost to get the brakes working again was $26.50 with the load binder costing $19.99 at Harbor Freight