Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Adventure
Several people have posted that their trailer wheels don't lock up, including me (the prodigy manual suggest this as a test). My guess is that the 15" tires may have enough additional mechanical advantage versus the 14's that the brakes can't lock up on dry pavement. But you really don't want your brakes to lock anyway, because they'd be a lot happier going sideways if they did. But I'd bet they'd lock just fine on rain or, heaven forbid, snow.
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I once believed that I could not lock up my TM's brakes. Mine has 15" tires. Then one day in Nacogdoches, TX I nearly ran a red light. I piled on the brakes, and even though the truck has anti-lock brakes, I could hear the TM's tires squealing. They had locked up.
We had quite a discussion about this a couple of years ago. Reality changed my mind about what seemed to me a pretty sound theory.
Here is a copy of my theory:
Quote:
Folks,
I think I might have hit on the answer as to why the Prodigy controller does not cause the brakes to lock up while adjusting the level. I just bought a new truck. While reading the owner's manual section about adjusting the brake control, I spotted this:
"If towing a heavier trailer, trailer wheel lockup may not be attainable even with the maximum gain setting of 10." This is referring to the Ford controller specifically, but....
I began thinking about the reason for this. The Prodigy directions are GENERAL, intended to fit most travel trailers, not TM's specifically. Most travel trailers have TWO axles. The TM has one. Since most TM's weigh in, loaded, at 4-5000 pounds, that means that the ONE axle on the trailer manor is carrying all the weight! So, the force downward on each tire is DOUBLE that of a two axle trailer!
That means that the little patch where the rubber meets the road on the bottom of the tire is being pushed down, by the weight of the trailer, with the force that you would find on a tire of an 8-10,000 pound trailer that has two axles. This would result in having MAJOR traction on our two tire trailers. No wonder they won't lock up.
Seems to me that this also helps to explain the blowout problem so many have experienced.
Does this make sense to the rest of you? If I have erred in my thinking, please correct me.
Tom
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Tom