The heavy duty 16 foot trailer I bought recently has hydraulic surge brakes on the front axle only, and it's obvious they haven't worked in quite a while. The sliding tongue that applies the brakes is free to move almost 3 inches back and forth, since the master cylinder is empty. I'm going to disable the sliding tongue temporarily and adapt a set of electric brakes to the rear axle until I can find the time to rebuild the surge brake system. Then either system can be used, depending on whether or not the tow vehicle has a brake controller. The trailer was originally used to haul a big skid steer loader to job sites for a plumbing contractor. I'll have that trailer at Townsend next weekend, since the other one still has a big load on it from my Indiana/Illinois odyssey. That trip included acquiring a spray-oiler 235 engine from a cabover truck, one with an updraft carburetor and a rear-dump exhaust manifold, and a 351E GMC V6, plus 4 other stovebolt engines.
Jerry.
