RE: Electric Brake Wear

[NJDucks]

 
Just got back from a week in Maine and Cape Cod.  We had a great time but had a little problem along the way that stopped us for a while and cost $400.
 
 We have a 2000 Coleman Utah.  Last fall I had the bearings repacked and also had them inspect and service the brakes while they were doing it.  The dealer claimed everything was fine with the brakes.
 
 Due to other problems we didn t get a chance to camp at all last year.  This year we dedicated ourselves to be camping fools and we have been succesful.  In April we went to Smoky Mtn. nat. Park (1500 miles round trip).  We ended up smoking the Suburbans brakes but it wasn t unexpected because of all the hills and back mountain passes we were on.  The trailer was only on the highway though.
 
 Last week when I went to hook up to go to Maine I noticed that I needed to bring the brake controller intensity way up to stop the truck when it was in gear on flat ground with no accelerator.  It was a fine line between stoping and locking up.  Not thinking much of it we hopped in the truck and off we went.
 
 100 miles fron home we stopped for dinner.  I did my usual walk around and one wheel and tire on the trailer were burning up.  I figured it was a bad bearing.  It was 7:00 on a Saturday night and I wasn t up to a parking lot repack in the dark so we decided to hole up for the night and get the trailer looked at in the morning.
 
 Early the next day I found a tire shop that could do the work.  Luckily the shop foreman was insistant that they would examine the entire axle.  I just wanted them to re-pack.  They found no problems with the bearings but all the brake rotors were cracked.  I was pretty shocked considering the dealer had serviced them 1500 miles ago.  In addition I figured worn rotors would only result in poor braking - not overheated brakes!
 
 They told me to turn the intensity down.  I also had them adjust the brakes down at the axle.  We had no additional problems.  Anyone have a similar situation or know how these things happen?
 
 

[mike4947]

 NJDucks
Whay usually happens when a trailer has sat  for any length of time is that the inside of the drums get a coat of surface rust.  Then when you go and use the brakes for the first time the rust act like a lubricate till it wears off with the first few stops.
 Unfortunaly you didn t know this. So for the rest of the trip the brakes were set way to high. I also learned about it the hard way.
 
 I take it when you say rotors you re talking about the drums. The heat can do nasty things to them. While you can get a cast iron wood stove red hot and not damage it. The drums have relatively little mass and when hot the force of the shoes against them can cause stresses that can crack or bell mouth them. Especially when the braking foce is set too high.

[NJDucks]

 NJDucks
Thanks for the reply Mike.  You are correct, I did mis-speak when I referred to rotors. The shoes were cracked.  Interestingly enough, only one side was boiling hot - although both sides were cracked.
 
 One thing that teed me off was that I called my dealer on Sat a.m. and all he could say was, " Gee we sell a lot of Colemans and we never see this" .
 
 I m going to take it in this fall again and have them re-adjust the axle settings.  I think they were turned down too much.  After reviewing how this trailer has always towed and the fact the Surburban always gets hot brakes when we tow I question wether they were ever really dialed in correctly.

[Ab Diver]

 NJDucks
NJDucks, adjusting your trailer brakes yourself is pretty easy. Log on to the Dexter Axle web page, and read all about it:
 
 http://www.dexteraxle.com/
 
 Then jack your tires up and give it a shot. Only takes a couple minutes a tire, and it s a real confidence builder when you KNOW your brakes are adjusted properly. Also, what type of brake controller are you using? If it s a time-based controller (Draw-Tite Activator II or similar), toss that POS out the window before you hit the next grade and install a Prodigy. You won t be sorry.
 
 
 

We ended up smoking the Suburbans brakes but it wasn t unexpected because of all the hills and back mountain passes we were on.

 
 Slow down BEFORE you start downhill, and use the tranny gears to assist the brakes in controlling your descent. You don t have to get down off a hill fast, you just have to get down off a hill in one piece. []
 
 Ab Diver--- who just towed his trailer down from Yosemite without burning up his brakes

[Steve-o-bud]

 Ab Diver

 

ORIGINAL:  Ab Diver
 
 NJDucks, adjusting your trailer brakes yourself is pretty easy. Log on to the Dexter Axle web page, and read all about it:
 
 http://www.dexteraxle.com/
 
 Then jack your tires up and give it a shot. Only takes a couple minutes a tire, and it s a real confidence builder when you KNOW your brakes are adjusted properly. Also, what type of brake controller are you using? If it s a time-based controller (Draw-Tite Activator II or similar), toss that POS out the window before you hit the next grade and install a Prodigy. You won t be sorry.
 
 
 

We ended up smoking the Suburbans brakes but it wasn t unexpected because of all the hills and back mountain passes we were on.

 
 Slow down BEFORE you start downhill, and use the tranny gears to assist the brakes in controlling your descent. You don t have to get down off a hill fast, you just have to get down off a hill in one piece. []
 
 Ab Diver--- who just towed his trailer down from Yosemite without burning up his brakes
 

 Having just gotten back from Yosemite a couple of weeks ago, I have one for you!
 
 On our way into the park, we were headed towards Yosemite on Hwy 140, from Merced. This seems to be the route with the least elevation change,  the all season highway.
 
 In any case, as you head north/east out of Mariposa, you have to get down some pretty steep grades. We have a  96 SLX (aka Isuzu Trooper), tow rated at 5000 lbs., and a Reese brake controller. This SUV has good brakes, 4 wheel disks.
 
 I m pretty conservative when towing, but I ran into to some brakeing challenges. Started off slow at the top of the hill, used low gears, tried to keep the speed down, but at the bottom of the hill, my brakes were fading heavily.
 
 When I got to level ground, I put it in neutral, because it felt as if the truck was applying throttle, even though I didn t have my foot in it at all. I found that the RPM s when up to about 2500 RPM!, and attempted to stay there, even when engaged back in gear!
 
 It was level and up hill from that point, so when I finally got to the park entrance, I stopped. Tried to  blip  the throttle, etc., with no results. We parked for a few minutes, when I started up the truck, viola, the idle speed was normal!
 
 My truck has done this a couple of times, not sure what the deal is!
 
 P.S.: What s the deal with Prodigy brake controllers? What advatages over my POS Reese unit?
 
 

[mike4947]

 NJDucks
I suspect the trotle problem was due to heating. Either some control feature saw an overheat condition and tried to compensate by opening the tritle or else something heated up and either expanded or if electrical allowed more voltage and raised the idle.
 As for the brake controller, my Reese catalog shows three controls, none of which I d use.
 They all are what I call on/off units. When you activate the TV brakes they provide voltage to the trailer brakes.
 The problem being it s a constant voltage who s level is set on a dial no matter what the amount of TV braking is. There is either full braking as set on the controller or nothing.
 These controllers need to be reset for varying road speeds and conditions.
 The Prodigy is an inertial based controller designed to work off a digital accelerometer. The unit senses the decelleration of the TV and brakes accordingly. Need no further adjustment beyond an initial one; doesn t cause " heavy braking"  around town or " under braking"  at highway speeds like yours will it not reset for the different conditions.
 

[Steve-o-bud]

 mike4947

 

ORIGINAL:  mike4947
 
 I suspect the trotle problem was due to heating. Either some control feature saw an overheat condition and tried to compensate by opening the tritle or else something heated up and either expanded or if electrical allowed more voltage and raised the idle.
 As for the brake controller, my Reese catalog shows three controls, none of which I d use.
 They all are what I call on/off units. When you activate the TV brakes they provide voltage to the trailer brakes.
 The problem being it s a constant voltage who s level is set on a dial no matter what the amount of TV braking is. There is either full braking as set on the controller or nothing.
 These controllers need to be reset for varying road speeds and conditions.
 The Prodigy is an inertial based controller designed to work off a digital accelerometer. The unit senses the decelleration of the TV and brakes accordingly. Need no further adjustment beyond an initial one; doesn t cause " heavy braking"  around town or " under braking"  at highway speeds like yours will it not reset for the different conditions.
 
 

 Thanks for the info Mike!