How do you adjust your Brake Controler

[scrubjaysnest]

Might have something to do with twice the breaking. Our outback has brakes on all four wheels and I can lock them up. I also locked up the TM brakes in a panic stop at a traffic light. I set my controller so I can just barely feel the trailer brakes alone at parking lot speeds.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by T and C

Folks,

I posted the above theory back in October of this year. Last Sunday I had an experience that seems to me to add strength to my theory.

In November I took a 2000 mile trip towing my TM. The TM brakes have never locked up on me since I have had it. Upon returning from my trip I put the TM in the driveway and disconnected it from the TV. I did not adjust the Prodigy brake controller at all!

Sunday morning I was asked to deliver a 4 wheel trailer to my church. We rent the place we meet in, and use the trailer to carry a bunch of rolling cabinets full of sound equipment, as well as all sorts of stuff for the Children's classes, and more. I don't know the weight of the trailer empty, but it is a box trailer with two axles about 20 feet long.

Here in SoCal we are having several days of steady rain. As soon as I braked my truck/trailer combo while crossing the wet parking lot...the trailer brakes locked. The Prodigy is set on 6. Since I only had to go 3 miles or so each way on city streets at 25-35 mph, I did not adjust the Prodigy.

Every time I forgot to brake very early and softly, the trailer brakes locked up. This has never happened with the TM. Also, every time I thumbed the switch on the Prodigy, they locked up.

To me, this confirms my theory that the cause of the difficulty in locking TM brakes is in the weight that the single axle bears. Each wheel has to carry twice the weight of the wheels of a dual axle trailer of equal weight. TM's have MAJOR traction. So, the brakes are difficult to lock up.

Tom

Tom,
Thanks for the demo. Your church trailer is probably much lighter and therefore much easier to lock up, and easier still in the rain, requiring a much lower brake controller setting than the TM on dry pavement.

And, of course if you have 2 axles with the same brakes, each wheel would have half the weight for the same amount of braking oomph. Hypothetically, 2 2500# axles could be equipped with the same braking power of one 5000# axle (which would make them brake the same), but reality is probably more complicated than that because manufacturers always try to use the same parts in multiple places in the product line. So, your theory is probably right in the general case.

In every case, however, you don't want to have your trailer brakes locking up. Besides the obvious tire wear problems in the "ordinary" stops you were experiencing, in a panic stop locked trailer brakes make the trailer tires not care anymore about sideways, and the better stopping power of your TV antilock brakes will make the trailer want to pass you on one side or the other.

This is very tricky on slippery surfaces, because the brake controller needs lower settings to avoid lockup. Towing in the rain requires slower speeds and caution, and towing on ice is not something I would do except in dire emegency.

[scrubjaysnest]

Mr A is very very correct on this

[T and C]

Guys,

Y'know, I have heard that if you see your trailer passing you, you might have a control problem.

Thanks for the reminders. I assure you that I am a very conservative driver, especially in the rain. I think that the trailer only has brakes on one axle. I pass the parking lot where we keep it almost daily, so I will check when it stops raining. I also want to check the empty weight.

Once I lost control of my '57 Ford in the rain on Pacific Coast Highway near Ventura. I was driving about 80 mph. Stupid? You bet. I was 21 and immortal. Don't want to experience that level of fear again.

Tom

Originally Posted by T and C

I think that the trailer only has brakes on one axle.

Every double axle boat trailer that I looked at in our last campsite also had only one axle with brakes. But those brakes were disk and caliper, not drum, so probably have more stopping power.

With our Dexter axles, the same axle can have a different GAWR depending upon the size of the brake drum, so both stopping ability and loaded weight capacity are definitely involved in calculating GAWR.

With the 2 axles, only one with brakes, arrangement, the axles may have a different and separate weight rating from the brakes; each axle with about half the weight rating of the brakes. Or maybe they just report the GAWR of the pair of axles plus single axle brakes combo. That would definitely make it easier to deal with.

Do the Trailmanor double axle trailers have drum brakes on both axles?

[T and C]

Folks,

We had a break in the rain late yesterday, so when I went out I stopped by the church trailer and checked. The GVWR is 7000 lbs. No empty trailer weight listed. It also has drum brakes on both axles.

I figure that with the stuff we have inside plus the trailer, its weight has to be 3000 to 4000 lbs. That is right in TM range.

Tom

[Bill]

Originally Posted by brulaz

Do the Trailmanor double axle trailers have drum brakes on both axles?

The only two axle TM is the 3326. According to the TM specifications page, all TMs have "10-inch Electric brakes on all wheels".

Bill

[mjlaupp]

OK, y'all got me to wondering so I checked. There are brakes on all four wheels.

Originally Posted by mjlaupp

OK, y'all got me to wondering so I checked. There are brakes on all four wheels.

My wife would like that, after losing one of our 2 brakes last summer, and not even being aware of it. And, of course, with 4 wheels, if one of your tires blows, it's a lot easier to maneuver.

And Bill, the Elkmont 26 also has 2 axles.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by T and C

Folks,

We had a break in the rain late yesterday, so when I went out I stopped by the church trailer and checked. The GVWR is 7000 lbs. No empty trailer weight listed. It also has drum brakes on both axles.

I figure that with the stuff we have inside plus the trailer, its weight has to be 3000 to 4000 lbs. That is right in TM range.

Tom

Tom,

You might want t consider doing yourself a big favor. The next time that you have the trailer fully loaded for camping, stop by the scales and get it weighed. I doubt very much that it will be under 4,000#.