www.iFourWinns.com

I just noticed that on my trailer the brakes are installed only on the rear axle. The front axle has the flanges but no brakes. Is this typical for a surge brake setup? The boat is a 210 Horizon. The brakes seem to work great, I'm just wondering if the front brakes were removed at some point and never replaced.

They don't specifically state "all axles" and I couldn't find anything on the NH website. I did come across several sites that stated NH requires that you can stop within 30 ft at 20 mph.

Interesting thing is you have brakes on the back axle. I was always of the understanding they should be on the front axle if all axles don't have brakes.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

That's normal. FW installs their 2-wheel brake setups on the rear axle. Apparently when they build the trailer frames (which I'm sure happens *long* before they build the boat that it goes with) they don't know how the finished trailer will be equipped, so the caliper brackets are included at all 4 wheels. Also, notice on one of your front frame cross members, there's a mounting block welded on where the front "tee" fitting would go for the front brake lines. Then when they finish the trailer for your specific boat based on the options selected, everything's in place regardless of which brake option is chosen. I have a 230 with the same setup. It also would make it *very* easy to add brakes to the front axle yourself, since everything's already there to do it. Especially with the capover style of rotors they're using from Tie Down, because they simply fit over your existing hubs. I bet a person could add brakes to the front axle on one of these trailers in a couple of hours, bleeding the lines included.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Mike's right about adding brakes. I helped my neighbor rebuild a trailer he purchased. Hardest part is getting the old rusty stuff off. With thre being nothing to remove, it shouldn't take more than a couple hours.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

I saw another trailer this weekend with the same setup.
Now I'm wondering. If another set of brakes were added to a surge brake setup , the actuator must now travel further to push the additional pistons? I wonder if this would add to the clunking when accelerating after slowing down.

No real additional travel as the system is full of fluid. The distance the piston of the caliper travels is neglibible. The caliper really just squeezes the disk with the pads.

_________________
Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Right. Or to be more specific, once the additional brake lines and calipers are filled with fluid and the whole system is re-bled, the net change in actuator travel would be zero (at least in theory).

4-wheel brakes wouldn't be a bad thing, but unless you're doing a lot of towing in long steep hills, you shouldn't need them with your 210.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Unless they are required by law. They are in Florida. My thoughts were on the liability side if I were to get into an accident. Would not having brakes on all axles cause me legal greif? For the added couple of hundred $$, I figured I'd play it safe legally.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Good point; none of the states in my region require 4-wheel brakes, so that's something I always forget about. I was only speaking of the need for braking ability.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Talk about bringing up an old post from the dead!

The 268 I'm looking at just has one set of brakes, not on both axles like my 225. Has anyone added these themselves?

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

This is something I have wanted to do for a couple years now, just have not go around to it yet.

FW only puts brakes on one axle STD, option/upgrade to get them on both axles. Very easy to add as mentioned above. Just a $$$ for me, I keep spending on other upgrades instead.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

If it was me, I'd just buy the additional components and then convert the whole thing to flexible lines while I was at it.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Well given the weights of some of these boats...if you need 4 tires to support the load...it stands to reason 4 brakes is a good idea too...having had a trailer with NO brakes (when I first got it) and then just adding a pair of 10" drums...even that made a big difference...but being the mechanical obsessive type if I had a tandem I'd probably have brakes on both axles (wicked steep hills here even tho most of LI is as flat as a pancake). Also if your tow vehicle is not a 3/4 pick up it will help take alot of strain off the tow vehicle brakes....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II