Brakes working? How big a ramp do I need?

[Jamespio]

So, I'm finally ready to see if the brakes on my '69 Overlander can be made to work. I've had it a few years but haven't been tiwing it, while I do the renovation. I know it needs new axles, but that's pricey, so won't do that until I'm ready to camp with it regularly.

In the meantime, how do I determine whether the electric brakes even work? Can I hook it up to a tow vehicle, pull the tire and press the TV brake pedal?

Also, in ordre to do that I'm going to build a ramp/jack out of a 2x6, how long should the bottom piece of my jack be? I'm planning on three pieces, or about 4.5" of lift. Is that likely to be adequate with worn out axles?

[DKB_SATX]

If the trailer is towable, you can get a rough test of the brakes by towing it slowly in a safe place and manually applying just the trailer brakes w/ the brake controller slider. It won't give you a detailed picture of whether all wheels are braking or how evenly the force is distributed, but if you're not towing much and not towing loaded, it might be enough to make you comfortable with moving the trailer from here to there while renovating, then get it "just right" with the new axles.

For testing, rely more on the brake controller switch than the TV brake pedal. Another way to get a more detailed test is to lift a side of the trailer off the ground (you can use a bottle-jack on the axle flange, e.g.) and spin each wheel individually and have someone apply the brake-controller switch to see if it brakes the wheel. If the towing test I described previously is a big fail, you wouldn't even have to bother with this one, you'd know you have bigger issues.