Disk Brake

[Montana Man]

I’m in the middle of a Hydrastar disk brake conversion. The kit came packaged in the poorest condition known to mankind. The damaged parts were promptly replaced so that worked ok. The manual (also damaged) lacks by far as others have noted. One thing, you get the bare bones for brake line installation. Every single video I’ve watched showed miles of coiled up brake lines crossing under the coroplast or laying on top of it. I can’t believe the mechanics showed their faces. Good luck with future maintenance involving the removal of coroplast. Anyway, the actuator and most of the brake lines are in. Next is replacing all the spring bushings and wet bolts. Then the calipers and the last of the brake lines. Hopefully the braking performance will overshadow the birthing process.

[rohrmann]

Who supplied the kit? If all you got were brake line hoses instead of steel brake lines, you may have maintenance issues. Hopefully not.

[dieselguy]

Although it doesn't seem to bother some RV owners on about any forum ... I'm with you on the install gurus that get a one size fits all kit and just coil the excess up here and there to make the install work. I did my own and practiced up on double flaring. My lines are custom fit to my fiver with no coils of extra laying around. I ran 1/4" nickle/copper line from my Hydrastar to about the point under the fold up steps ... I went with 3/16" line from there both across the underbelly and on back to the flex whip hoses I used between frame and caliper similar to what your truck has. I also put a vibration loop in the 1/4" hard line right off the Hydrastar actuator for longevity of the hard line circuit. It's worked well for about 5+ years. As for the install gurus that use most all flex line to plumb it up because its "easier" ... I just shake my head.

[Montana Man]

E trailer. It does have metal and four rubber flex lines. Not nearly enough fittings to route lines efficiently.

[MandK]

Agree. I guess the installers need to get these conversions done in a day so individual routing thought is skipped. That’s the part I spent the most time on. I laid under my rig for the better part of a day planning the routing and best clip locations. What baffled me the most about the videos on line was the guys that ran their lines through their spring hangers after all that is written about broken wet bolts.
I also bought extra fittings, brackets and made up some mounting plates for mounting tee’s. Also bought an extra bag of the rubber coated mounting clips. Sounds to me like the hardest part is behind you. Don’t worry, it’s worth it!

[Todd & Mary]

We just had 8k axles and disc brakes installed on our 3761FL. The stopping performance is night and day between the two! First trip, we had a car pull in front of us just before a stoplight, so I had to do a hard stop, needless to say I was amazed. With the old drum brakes, it would have been a challenge to not hit her.

[Montana Man]

Originally Posted by MandK

Agree. I guess the installers need to get these conversions done in a day so individual routing thought is skipped. That’s the part I spent the most time on. I laid under my rig for the better part of a day planning the routing and best clip locations. What baffled me the most about the videos on line was the guys that ran their lines through their spring hangers after all that is written about broken wet bolts.
I also bought extra fittings, brackets and made up some mounting plates for mounting tee’s. Also bought an extra bag of the rubber coated mounting clips. Sounds to me like the hardest part is behind you. Don’t worry, it’s worth it!

I’m doing about the same with adel clamps and routing the lines with care. Speaking of wet bolts, she’s getting new bushings and bolts just because.

[Montana Man]

The pump is in, lines in and bled. Wiring straight forward no thanks to the instructions.

[wed]

Go back to who supplied it might be the fastest

[PND Mountaineer]

I have done this conversion and I found it strat forward and it works great (for me atleast). I did custom lines since I have double flaring tool, and made some mounts to bolt in the line splitters. Took me a couple of weeks but was a big improvement over the original electric system. Bonus is that your are able to see the rear grease seals so you can spot any grease leaks. When I removed the old drums, one wheel was full of grease all over the shoes. The year before had taken trailer to a shop for repacking the bearings and new seal. So was driving around for awhile with only three wheel braking.

[Montana Man]

What are those two extra boxes wired to the pump?

[PND Mountaineer]

The one above is to make the unit compatible with my factory brake controller in my truck (2012 Silverado). For Chevy or GMC 2007-2017, newer it is not needed. It's call a "HBA-CAM". Black one is a dedicated brake away battery/charger just for the unit. Required in my state. Not tied to the trailer 12 volt system. It is charged while connected to shore power (through converter) and truck when traveling. Has a test button to check charge level.

[432bartman]

This looks like quite the job. I think on my next 5vr I'll order it from the factory with disc brakes.

[PND Mountaineer]

Not really that hard. I did have a platform made to mount the unit and added terminal block for wiring. On my trailer dropped the belly cover under storage area also covering two of my waste tanks, which made it easy to route brake line back to axles and made up several cross braces to support the cross over brake line and added support for belly cover. Hardest part was getting the wheels off the ground so did one at a time. Kind of hard lifting a 12,000 lb. trailer.

[PND Mountaineer]

The main resign it took several weeks was drawing up a mount and getting it made up, getting Unistrut for crossovers and getting welding done. I'd say actually doing the install once I had all the parts maybe two or three days.

[77cruiser]

Nice neat job on the wiring.