Replacement Electric Brakes for Palomino Trailer with AL-KO 8440 Hubs

Updated 08/19/2020 | Published 08/23/2017

Question:

Hello, etrailer expert, I have a tent trailer Palomino P-280 with broken electric brakes, and want to replace the brake assembly. I checked my hub drum, it is 5 bolts, and has AL-KO 8440, 7.060 inch marked on it. I assume it needs a 7 inch brake assembly. Could you please confirm Item # AKEBRK-2 fits my trailer drum. Thank you.

asked by: Jerry C

Helpful Expert Reply:

Based on my research, the etrailer.com Electric Trailer Brake Kit # AKEBRK-2 referenced in your question will indeed be the correct assemblies to replace the brakes for your AL-KO 8440 hubs. These are 7 inch x 1-1/4 inch brake assemblies and are designed for 2,000 pound axles. The kit includes both the Left Hand and Right Hand assembly. They are designed to fit a 4 bolt mounting flange bolt pattern, so you will just want to ensure that your mounting flange uses 4 bolts.

I have attached an installation video on this kit that you can also check out.

expert reply by: Chris R

Patrick B.

8/8/2020

Hi, I ordered the above electric brake assembly (AKEBRK-2) from etrailer for my palomino pop-up trailer camper and have an installation question. The passenger side electric wire hookup was pretty straightforward. There was one white wire and one black wire to hook up the two white trailer brake wires to. However, on the driver side there are two white wires coming in from the trailer body and two black wires also coming in from the trailer body. For the life of me I can't remember for sure (it's been a number of months since I took the original brake assembly off) whether the two black wires were used or not. That is, do I just connect the white wires and ignore those extra two black wires coming from the trailer body, or do I make two electrical connections with three wires in each connection (eg, two whites and a black)?

Jon G.

8/18/2020

The good news is that it doesn't matter which wire you hook up to ground or which one to power when it comes to the wires for the trailer brakes. The bad (ish) news is that you're going to have to test those wires to see what function they carry. Generally black means 12V power while white means ground but there isn't a law saying that specific colors HAVE to be used. What I'm guessing is that the black wire is power and the white wire is ground. Both are coming from your 7-Way and are run along the driver's side of your frame. They make the connection to the driver's side brake assembly and then that second set of wires is feeding that power and ground to the passenger side brake assembly.

Patrick B.

8/19/2020

@JonG great, sounds like I just need to get underneath and test the various wires. Thanks mucho.