At Ainsworth Trailer Repair of Denver, we regularly repair any kind of trailer ever made. In fact, we see trailers everyday that use what are known as surge braking systems. While for trailers under 10,000 pounds, surge brakes were always legal to use in Colorado, their use was once outlawed in all of the surrounding states. Their continued legality under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (FMCSA) was also batted back and forth for nearly two decades. Regulations made in 2004 declared these systems legal for vehicle/trailer combinations meeting certain trailer to truck ratios not exceeding 20,000 pounds GVWR. Today, state laws have to conform to the federal standard, making it very difficult to be ticketed in another state for having surge brakes on your commercial trailer when compared with the past.
What Are Surge Brakes?
Surge brakes have a long history of past use on trailers of all weights, but they have now been totally outlawed for any commercial trailer vehicle combination exceeding 20,000 lbs. GVWR. The legal problems that had developed around these brakes was over the inherently passive nature of them. The most advanced surge brakes ever made have no way to actually control them, unlike electrically actuated trailer brake systems, hydraulic, air, or otherwise.
Surge brakes only activate by deceleration. Surge brakes feature a master cylinder actuator unit located at the tongue which activates by responding to the reduction in forward momentum of the tow vehicle. The brakes are then automatically and progressively applied. As they can only detect a loss of forward oriented momentum, these brakes do nothing to stop a breakaway trailer rolling backwards. Surge brake systems do have the benefit of being self-contained to the trailer and they automatically apply if the trailer is lost while moving forward. Surge brake systems are simple and robust, requiring no separate control unit, which makes them particularly popular on rental and boat trailers.
At Ainsworth Trailer Repair, we of course repair surge braking units. However, if your trailer is commercially used, is load capable enough to have a lighter tow vehicle yield the wrong weight ratio, or your combinations can lead to configurations over the 20,000 GVWR limit, we recommend conversion to another trailer braking system that won’t ever have you getting into any trouble with the law.
If you need quality trailer brake repair, or a braking system conversion, Ainsworth Trailer Repair of Denver offers both free quotes and a conveniently accessible city center location.
