My boat is about 11k on the trailer and has surge brakes on the trailer. The X has Napa Ultra Premium rotors and Hawk LTS pads and stops perfectly with no issues. This is with about 22k on the pads and rotors. Definitely check the brakes on the trailer and make sure they are doing their fair share. You can also upgrade the pads on the trailer to help as well. A good ceramic pad on the trailer can really make a difference over the organic pads most come with. The ceramic will keep the rust at bay and will last a little longer than the organic.

 

I had the exact same problem pulling my 28' Grady White which also tipps the scales around 12K loaded. The only thing that helped was running EBC premium rotors and Green Stuff pads. When I first put them on, they did the same as the others before and I called EBS and they told me to have them turned on the vehicle by someone who has a Pro Cut Lathe. I went to the local Firestone and they turned them. I had never heard of this before but 40K miles later and a full boat towing season later and not a problem.
BTW, my trailer has 3 axles and hydraulic disc brakes on each. That is a great boat you have, my dad has the exact same thing and we both tow them all over the east coast during the summers. Good times.

 

I'd also recommend replacing the calipers and flex hoses. I've seen sticky caliper pistons not retract and I also had a similar problem with an E350 where the liner of the flex hose had deteriorated and was blocking the backflow of brake fluid when releasing the brakes. It was holding the caliper out and overheating the brakes. New flex hoses fixed the problem.

 

Napa rotors!!!!! Great price and NO WARPING!!! Went through the same thing with my 28' Parker. NAPA fixed the problem!

 

I find it interesting how much the NAPA High Performance Reactive One rotors are duplicates of the Raybestos R300 Performance rotors. Raybestos are a lot cheaper

Raybestos:





NAPA:

 

The cryo treated Power Slot rotors an Hawk pads ( all 4 wheels ) solved the problem for me.

 

I haven't read all the posts ... just saying what worked for me. I bought the cheapest plain-jane rotors from NAPA, and the Hawk LTS pads. That was 4 years ago, and I have not had an issue with rotors since.

 

We've owned our 2000 Excursion for 9 years, we bought it with 20,100 miles on it and I've replaced the rotors once and had them turned twice. In that nine year span it has always had a vibration in the front due to braking that seemed to be the worst around 40-45 mph. The vehicle was 100% stock including original shocks and leafsprings.

Last Monday (11/14/11) I installed a 6'' procomp lift and dual mx-6 shocks along with 37'' tires, the vibration from the braking is gone. Poor shocks and weak leafsprings will intensify this vibration... My point being a person shouldn't have thousands on a brake system which is adequate. Maybe weak suspension components are leading to premature brake failure, when you think of how heavy an excursion is with weak suspension all the load and weight is shifted to the frontend when you brake and puts extra strain the front pads and rotors... food for thought i guess

 

That's a great big red flag. You should not feel the brakes on the trailer "kick in". If they're working correctly you won't feel a thing in the truck, with the trailer brakes smoothly applying more and more pressure as the weight of the load interacts with the slowing of the Excursion.

It sounds like you already need brakes on the Ex. I strongly suggest that you have someone go through the trailer brakes, too.

 

I had same problem.I tried performance rotors and hawk pads (they are great)
The problem was CALIPERS not releasing complete make pads rub against rotors
all the time cause heat warping rotors (a clue is after driving highways speeds
extended period steering wheel shacks a lot more) in town driving very little shake)
After market calipers are expensive (single or double piston) I checked with dealer
TSB bulletin for superceded calipers part nbrs.If money no issue go for performance aftermarket calipers and hawk pads Most are good BREMBO and WILDWOOD from JEGS

 

I don't see how you guys get warped rotors..... I tow alot of wt, and have yet to warp the factory rotors.... Have 118,000 miles on them now..

 

Opinions are like *ssholes, everyone's got one.

Do your own research on Powerslots kit.

 

I live the EBC rotors and pads. I have those on my F-450 and my 04 Excursion and they are awesome, incredible stopping power.

 

Here is a picture of the Electric-over-hydraulic brake unit.


It is a pump activated by your electric brake controller (Like a Prodigy Controller). It then uses a pump instead of the hitch-mounted master cylinder to send pressure to the brakes. They make a 1000 psi version for drum brakes, and a 1500 psi version for Disc brakes.

My "smallish" 23' aluminum boat doesn't have brakes at all on the E-Z Loader trailer. I intend on putting some disc brakes on it, but I have never liked the tongue/hitch mounted master cylinders. Once I saw the new Electric over Hydraulic set-up, I am trying to save money to get that set-up. Fortunately my boat hauling is comprised of a 5 mile jaunt to the gravel mountain pass, where I drop to 1st or second and then the engine hold me back for the 5 miles up and 5 miles down to the boat launch on the back-side of Kodiak Island. No traffic to worry about, so we go only as fast as necessary to get there and back safely.



Good Luck on both the trailer brakes and the Ex brakes. I am reading all this info, as I will be doing the brakes soon on my 00 EX and on my 02 F350, as they are pulsating, and the F350 has started to squeal a bit, which I think is my tell-tale "talking" to me that I need to change the brakes.

Garry in Kodiak, Alaska

 

That thing works great! I have the surge setup to 4 disk brakes on my trailer and they have never worked like I've wanted. But my dad has the Titan to Electric setup on his. His trailer and boat are about 10k lbs and it makes a huge difference when I have it behind my truck.