Juice brake conversion

[safdchief2]

The juice brakes on my 95 LT40HD are pretty well shot. The lines, master cylinder, etc. Anyone attempted a conversion to electronic? Did you have to change hubs or just a back plate? How big of a deal was it?  Thanks in advance.

Don
Deer Lake Sawmilling

[Remle]

Changing or fixing the brakes is no big deal. First thing is to take off the hubs to see if they have the flat plate on the back of the hub that the electromagnet rides on when you activate the brakes. Some do and some do not have that plate, other wise you will need new hubs with the plate. If you do then it is a simple matter of changing the backer plate assembly and wiring. Then you need to weld or change the hitch as necessary eliminating the movement required for the juice brakes.
I redid my brakes, not every thing I tow with has the electric brake controller so it was just easier to stay with juice as you say, new backer plate assembly ( plate/shoes/wheel cylinders/hardware ), new master cylinder and new damper shock. Cost was about $200 from an online dealer.

[safdchief2]

I'm gong to tackle it at some point but it's gonna be more than a couple hundred $. Apparently the guy that had the mill before me took out all the guts (wheel cylinders, brake shoes, hardware...)!   

[Chuck White]

I pulled the surge brakes off and installed electric brakes last year!

They work great!  My truck already had a brake controller, so I didn't have to add that!

I got the 10" brakes (complete unit) for $58.99 each for LH & RH.

The Breakaway Kit which also included the battery for $69.99!

Also free wire for hooking it up!

TOTAL COST, out the door was $203.01

HINT:  Before you pull the hydraulic brake line out of the main tube, fasten the new wire to it to fish the new wire up through to the hitch!

The conversion took me about 2.5 hours, by myself!

EDIT:  Forgot to add!  I got the electric brakes at an RV & Camper center about 20 miles away!

[Chuck White]

Forgot to add in the other post:

The brakes came fully assembled, on a new backing plate!  Just bolt it onto the axle and hook up the wire!

Other than initial take off, the mill tows like there's nothing there and when I got the brakes to apply evenly with the truck brakes, I could hardly believe the difference!