Disc brakes on a 377, who’s done them?

[Lowmiler]

Thinking of doing a winter project in anticipation of a long cross country summer trip next year.

Any step by step guides on the forum for the conversion?

[Bookemdanno]

It’s pretty straight forward. Several of us 377 owners have done it…makes a world of difference. It’ll take the better part of a full day to complete. Get a friend or 2 to help out & supply the beer and food! I think the only difference (which was just preference) was where the pump was mounted. I put mine on the passenger side (door side) compartment for the 3rd propane tank.

[Mopar_Earl]

Don't ponder, go for it! Install would be the same on any model. But there are several threads of installs. Best mod I did on my unit. Saved me from ditching it a couple times.


Earl

[RoadrunnerII]

Did our Eagle this past Spring.
There are multiple how to posts on the forum.
Its not hard to do just take your time. We put our pump in the front storage. We T'd the brake line right under pump and ran down each side in the I beam web. Used 1/4 inch Nicop brake lines. Bought a Titan brand double flare tool. Not one bad flare! It was worth the money!
Titan Brakes has an online install guide that I kinda followed with guidance from Lake Hurons and Mopar Earl's install posts and others on here.
Will never run drums again!

RoadrunnerII

[Mopar_Earl]

My install on my Eagle 293RKDS

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ted-69952.html


Earl

[jetlag]

Here is my conversion. Way over my paygrade. The installer and wife team did a great job. Took them about 4 hours. Can't figure out how to get the link on here, but it is on the campfire chat thread, post # 9485. paid them $1000 and worth every penny. The reservoir was installed above the generator next to the Hydraulic legs reservoir.

[Lake Huron]

Heres the link to my conversion that RoadrunnerII was referencing.
https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...mod-73495.html
Mine is not a 377, it's a 375, but close enough.
And x2 on what others have said about doing the mod. Do it and you'll never run drum brakes on ANYTHING ever again.
Start a new thread when you get started. I love watching people's progress on stuff like this.

[Lowmiler]

Looks like some of you pieced the kit together and some bought it a pre-assembled kit. Any recommendations on who to buy pre-assembled kits from?

The placement and wiring of the actuator seems to be the trickiest part of this install? I have all the tools to do it, includes a flaring tool.

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by Lowmiler

Looks like some of you pieced the kit together and some bought it a pre-assembled kit. Any recommendations on who to buy pre-assembled kits from?

The placement and wiring of the actuator seems to be the trickiest part of this install? I have all the tools to do it, includes a flaring tool.

Our kit came from Performance Trailer Braking - Electric Over Hydraulic Brakes
https://performancetrailerbraking.com. It is a very nice Dexter kit all put together for you. This kit was recommended to us by someone here on this site. The installer we used, and he and bride live full time in a Grand design 5th wheel, travel the country doing this for this company, although they are independent contractors and will do other work. Their names are John and Barbara Alinger
A & A Mobile Services, Inc.
405-550-4702
They were on their way south to Florida over the winter. He said he installed 50 kits in Florida alone last winter. BTW, they come to your location to do the work.

[jetlag]

more pics

[Lake Huron]

I got mine as a pre assembled kit from stopyourtrailer.com, but also pieced a bunch of stuff together on it. I went a little overboard with mine, but I'm a guy, it's in my DNA. LOL!

I had to take my trailer this past year back to the dealer for a suspension recall. The mechanic that did the recall work told me he was REALLY impressed with my install and could tell the level of OCD I have too. Lol! Bigger trailers now have the option for disc brakes and I'd like to see one up close and see how good of a job the factory does routing lines and wires and such and what materials they use.

[Mopar_Earl]

I bought individual items as I wanted the best of the best and found no kit that had the all the best components. Also the kits came with parts I didn't want to use. So I bought the Hydrastar actuator and Kodiak brake kits separate. Then sourced the other components.


Earl

[RDTC]

I installed disc brakes on our 32RLTS Pinnacle. Great upgrade. Saved us once from a catastrophic accident. Significantly improves braking.

Installed the system on my own. Install took 2 days. I work slow and am very detailed.

On the actual brakes you will need to make a decision on materials. There are 3 options for both calipers and rotors. The options are painted cast iron, plated cast iron, and stainless steel. You can mix and match the material types.

I went with stainless steel calipers and plated rotors.

I would recommend going with at least plated on both components.

[Magnolia Tom]

I did mine a while back. As others have said, just do it. You won’t regret it. I also just helped another forum member install them on his 377. With a helper and a good plan of attack it’s half a day of work.

[Lowmiler]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. No one ever seems to be lukewarm about this mod, always enthusiastic.

Questions:

Oil or grease hubs (I do mostly long distance hauling)?
Hard lines for the long runs or rubber line kit?
Where to place the actuator on a 377 (my propane closet is already kind of full)?
Size of actuator for tandem 13” setup?

Thanks.

[Magnolia Tom]

Originally Posted by Lowmiler

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. No one ever seems to be lukewarm about this mod, always enthusiastic.

Questions:

Oil or grease hubs (I do mostly long distance hauling)?
Hard lines for the long runs or rubber line kit?
Where to place the actuator on a 377 (my propane closet is already kind of full)?
Side of actuator for tandem 13” setup?

Thanks.

Todd…

I went grease on the hubs but only because I didn’t know I could use oil. It’s been fine for me. I’m no expert but I think the consensus would be to go oil.

Hard lines as much as possible. I didn’t have a crimping tool so I used the hoses. They’ve worked fine for me but my hose lengths are short because I put my actuator in the useless storage box I installed under the MorRyde steps.

Good luck with your project

[RoadrunnerII]

Since we live in Canada and the covid mess we couldn't find a US based retailer that would ship the kits.
Found a supplier in Milton Ontario and a utility trailer dealer that worked as a rep for them that was close by. The supplier had both a Brake rite kit or their own. Same components same coatings. I have passed on the steel line and went with nicopp for our northern roads using salt. Steel only lasts so long up here. I purchased stainless mesh covered flex lines rather than just the rubber flex lines.
Hardest part was the wiring and running the hard lines

RoadrunnerII

[Dskyward]

I had an ETrailer disc brake kit ($1750) purchased ahead of time installed on our 2017 377 5 days after delivery (Jun 1, 2016) by an outfit up in Elkhart. Factory drums didn’t bite whatsoever! But it took them 3 days and $1700 labor as they had to fabricate a few items including the metal L bracket holder for the Titan II actuator that got installed in the driver side propane compartment, left of the first tank.
I love the disc brakes, but however, they keep locking up during panic stops and late red lights. This isn’t helping the reason for having them in the first place. I got bad flat spots on the last set of Sailuns, now have new Sailuns and still locked them up two days ago from 25 mph narrowly missing a stop sign that the sun blinded me on. Our 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 MegaCab came with a BrakeSmart brake controller, which the company went out of business in 2009 and the best made from what I’ve read. There’s 3 settings concerning adjustments, I’ve lowered the gain down all the way, lowered the initial brake constant setting to 21 (15 is lowest, was at 26, I think 70 is highest), has a power factor set to 1.0 which instructions said to leave it there. The scale is .5 to 1.5, and have lowered to .9 since the last lockup. Now it takes quite more brake pressure to stop on normal stops. Anyone have experience with an old BrakeSmart that has had similar issues towing a 16K fifth wheel? Now that we’re home and parked, won’t know anything till next May when we tow again.

Here is the placement of the actuator and controller in the forward bay.



Please note: We had a brake failure 2.5 years and 25k miles after install. The driver side forward caliper broke free as the 5 bolts were not torqued properly and vibrated loose and fell out severing the brake line on last application. The opposite side bolts were loose too. Fortunately it happened while entering a highway rest area and was able to stop safely. So, please torque all bolts properly using a torque wrench according to thread size and hardness and use locknuts and blue loctite. Then, at each bearing repack, ensure these caliper arm bolts remain tight. You will love your disc brakes!

[Lowmiler]

So I bit the bullet and began ordering parts today.

I decided on the non-coated 13" Kodiak kit, ordered from e-trailer. Didn't see the need for coatings or stainless as we don't do winter travel anymore, and it's not a boat trailer. 9/16" studs, but e-trailer states that the kit comes with new nuts.

I also ordered the Kodiak based line kit from e-trailer.

I also saw many online videos using the Hydrastar 1600 psi actuator, with a lot of happy users. I like the smaller footprint that it uses, but Titan Brakerite claims to have a .5 second advantage in response time.

However, when it comes to actual users, no one seems to notice a difference between the brands? Both have a noticeable slight lag? That's the one item I haven't ordered yet, as the Hydrastar is currently backordered. Still researching.

All Timken bearings and races were also ordered (and new seals). Nearly $300 for those parts alone!

All in, I will be about $2300 in parts, about $4-700 cheaper than the "kit" companies, and with superior bearings than what they supply.

Anything I'm overlooking?

[CAG]

As mention earlier and just my opinion but I had this done on the Cyclone a few years before we sold it and it was the best mod I ever had done. Since this comes in kit form and I hate pieces from this company and pieces from that company I am not sure why anyone would not just go with this in kit form.


https://performancetrailerbraking.com.