Brakes and cuplings

[fccool]

I have a gypsy thirteen two with drum brakes, it has mechanical brakes and may have even at some point had hydraulic.
The van hasn't been registered since 1980, the coupling that came with the van is for mechanical brakes and doesn't have the load rating. There is a narrow slot Wich the park brake handle comes through, this pivots below the drawbar coupling plate.

I plan to upgrade the braking to electric.
I have another coupling without the override but it has a much wider brake lever than the slot.
I don't really like the idea of butchering up the drawbar coupling plate by taking material out to take the wider lever.
So I was maybe thinking can I use a mechanical coupling with electric brakes, is there a safe way to lock up a mechanical override coupling to leave it looking like mechanical?

Now with the brakes I have not pulled the brakes or bearings apart yet and don't know what is in there apart from I have early 13" holden rims, I was going to just put on 13" HR disc ROH rims like I have bought in trailer shops in the past for my car, only problem is all the trailer shops I have looked at lately don't seem to have them, instead they just have those ugly rims with all the triangles cut out, I checked my pile of rims and all my HR disc rims are bad with rust or dents and I have another car I'm chasing a set of 4 for so if those rims aren't available from a trailer store anymore I'm going to be on a mission to find 8x good HR disc rims.
So I am looking for a electric brake set up that will work with the old 1950s independent rubber torsion bar suspension, or possibly up for a hole axle/ suspension replacement.
And these will have to fit inside the 13" rims.

There are not alot of recent posts on this forum, it looks like forums are loosing to Facebook, Facebook has the advantage of being able to easily share photos but Facebook seems to lack knowledge shared on forums,you post a photo and get 21 likes, 4 people saying it looks good, three people saying it will look good finished and no comments about the question you asked.it would seem alot of the forum threads about brakes were before the more recent changes in technology, like electronic sway control and Bluetooth or wifi wireless brake controllers that don't require a car with a controller installed and modern control modules with gps and gyroscope instead of the old pendulum.
Are all these luxuries a complex expensive waste of time on a small vintage van? unreliable or not worth using for a van just over 13 ft with maybe a max of 900-1100 kg loaded?
Or are they worth looking into with setting up new brakes from scratch, I have room under the coupling plate with the truss chassis draw bar to hide electronic modules up front but this thing won't be much more than pulling a loaded box trailer, my main concern is probably more being passed by trucks on the modern freeways if something happens like the car started running hot or just going down hills were trucks might pick up speed when I have reduced speed, I'd rather know exactly what to set up while I have out a welder, doing wirring, painting etc than finish it and decide to start upgrading parts I recently fitted.
I want the option of using the van behind 1950s car or a 2000s car.
Also I want a set up that is gentle on the car and caravan.

So what set ups are people putting on vintage Vans in the 2020s? And what couplings are people using with electric brakes that have the weight written on them and don't look to ugly?

[nickd15]

I went down this path when we did our 72 Travelhome. As we also have a modern van and all tow vehicles have an electric brake controller the decision was fairly easy. Our van tares at 800kg so that was also an issue.
I contacted a trailer place and after a number of conversations which established that the electric drums would also require new backing plates, I settled for a new axle setup by them.

I was able to use the original 13 inch rims which were in good condition.

It required me to disassemble one side to get the axle over the springs as the original springs were quite ok.

I also bought a new coupling and a cable set for the handbrake. Total cost 6 years ago was around $600.

[fccool]

Well I have a few couplings here and they all line up with the holes at 55 wide and 177 long but they look a little worn and all the ones I see online from alko, trojan etc are 182.5 to 185.
Nothing ever works out a simple replacement and I imagine I'm going to have more issues when it comes to bearings and brakes and this old torsion suspension.

[sportsman 1]

The fact your current override coupling does not have a rating on it should not be a concern, for a van the age of yours it is most likely not to be required (this may depend on where you are)

As far as the override part of it either simply leave the backing lock on or you should be able to dismantle it and fit a collar over the shaft to lock it up.

Fitting whatever electric brake setup and wheel stud pattern you want should be relatively easy give the van already has brakes fitted, most backing plates should bolt straight on.

[fccool]

I took the backing plate and wheel bearings down to the trailer joint and the don't have anything that matches up so it looks like the whole torsion bar suspension is going to need replacement to change the wheel bearings or update the brakes.