"Ooo-oooh, that smell...

[Ab Diver]

...can't you smell that smell?
 
Ooo-oooh, that smell,
 
of a time-based control-lerrrrrrrr?"
 
(apologies to Lynyrd Skynyrd )
 
 
Was driving through the usual mountainous areas of my home county yesterday morning, on a long and curvy downhill run. Then the first wafts of a pungent odor reach my delicate nasal membranes: the stench of burning brakes.
 
"Hmmm, must be another logging truck with a bad set of air brakes up ahead."
 
I proceed down the grade, keeping a sharp eye out for whatever is surely in front of me, creeping slowly down the mountain as it leaves a trail of smoking brake material. This goes on for another mile and a half, until finally I catch a glimpse of whatever is ahead of me. Far in the distance, coming into view around one of the many corners the road makes as it traverses the convoluted terrain, is a mini-van pulling a pop-up.
 
"Ah-Ha! So that's it! Hmmm... I wonder if they belong to PUT?"
 
I catch up to the smoking trailer near the bottom of the hill, and notice the driver's braking pattern: the same way most folks use them, gently riding the brakes for short periods of time as he carefully pilots his rig down the mountain. No sudden braking maneuvers or careless speeding from this guy. A careful driver, to be sure. Unfortunately, the driver is blissfully unaware that he is frying his trailer brakes. I blink my lights and tap the horn, getting his attention. Good, I think to myself as he pulls over to the side of the road and slowly comes to a halt, this guy isn't one of those who ignores other drivers. I pull up next to him, and lean out of my truck.
 
"Excuse me, but I thought you should know. You're heating up your trailer brakes really bad. You wouldn't happen to have a Draw-Tite brake controller in your van, would you?"
 
A look of astonishment. "Why... yes, we do. How'd you know that?"
 
What follows in the next few minutes is a crash course on different brake controllers and what to expect of them. Turns out their pop-up dealer sold them the Activator-II controller, saying it would work just fine.
 
Gee, where have we heard THAT story before???
 
The gentleman and his wife were off on a trip to the coast. Seemed like nice folks, exactly the kind you want to have join your group at a club rally. He had no clue about the dangers of a time-based brake controller in real-world driving. (That's certainly not his fault, as none of us did before we learned about inertial controllers, right?) Pity his dealer couldn't have been more interested in his customer's safety than making a quick buck. A little further down the road, and his trailer brakes would have been history. Add an emergency situation, and his mini-van would never have been able to stop in a safe distance.
 
I gave them some quick info on PUT, scribbled on the back of one of his business cards. Unfortunately, I was behind schedule, and couldn't chat any longer. I wished them a nice weekend, and hope they check out PUT when they get home.
 
"Hey", he asks as I begin to pull away, "How'd you know we were heating up our brakes?"
 
Not wanting to worry him too much about the smoke that has stopped rising from the now-cooling trailer brakes, and since the rest of his trip was on relatively flat roads, I could only say:
 
"By that smell, sir, by that smell."

[basecamprv]

Good story - of the real world on the road.
Good man - for helping someone avoid unwanted problems.
Sorry dealer - for not providing a level of knowledge we hope all dealers would have.
Thank you Ab Diver - No "oak tree in your my way" ending to this story.

[tlhdoc]

When I read the title I thought it would be a story about camping and the smell of smoke. :p   That was a very nice thing you did to help them out.

[angelsmom10]

I was thinking about the smell of a "NEW" camper.  After starting to read, I thought it was something happening to you.  Glad it didn't turn out to be bad for you, and glad you helped out - a true friend:D

[B-flat]

I thought you were cooking something over the campfire.  It was a beautiful thing you did to help a fellow camper.

[Gone-Camping]

Yep, I saw the title and had to take a look. Seems I had a bit of a problem myself this weekend. Only went to Richmond (2 hours up the road), but before I got 3/4 of the way there, I smelled something funny, like rubber burning. We stopped on the interstate on ramp, but found nothing, then headed up I-295 for a couple of exits, then pulled off on Rt-10, stopped at the WaWa since the oder was getting worse. This time the tell tale oder of rear end grease burning. A quick inspection found the rear end smoking! Oh Gawd!!! Lucky for me, we were done with hiway driving, and only a short distance from the campground, so I eased it on in. The slow pace and city traffic seemed to cool things off, no more problem after getting off the interstate.

When it came time to load up and head home, I didn't have a lot of choice. I put an extra link into the WDH chains to help take a little more weight off the rear end, and took Rt-10 back which is slower more direct road. Didn't have as much problem heading back, never got "that smell" invading the Jeep again, but I could hear the axle bearing making noise! We made it home all right, but the Jeep goes up on the lift after work tomorrow evening!!! Oh boy, more money to spend!!!

[brainpause]

Nice story. I hope to see that person here soon. He/they owe us at least a visit! In a way, you imparted some knowledge from everyone here!
 
Larry

[Calstate361]

As a fellow camper that knows and has camped with Ab Diver (Dave) the helping hand and nice gesture is not surprising to me.  Dave and his family are very nice and helpful people, it just seems to be in their nature.  He is always the first to help anyone out and also very knowledgable.  We were the benefactors of one of his gracious acts about a year ago when a Northern California Group (now called Neck-Neff-Cough) got together for our first meeting and rally at Bedga Dunes National Park which is located on the coast here in California.  It was the last time we used our Pop-Up before purchasing our Hybred.  Anyway, this was dry camping and it was a very cold and windy weekend.  Needless to say, we nearly froze our behinds off because we had drained our battery on Friday night.  We made a trip into town and purchased another battery, which drained down again!  We discoverecd we had a short.  We were ready to go home when Dave offers us the use of his Buddy (propane heater).  That kept us nice and warm for the night and we were able to stay and try to enjoy everyone's company (it was really really cold and windy).  Needless to say, not only was he very helpful after just meeting us, but so were all the other folks.  We have been camping with the group just about every month since.   That was the creation of Neck-Neff-Cough.  I'm happy to say they are the nicest group of people you would ever want to meet.  AND what is really great is that the group keeps getting bigger!  
 
We owe it all to PUT's web site because that is were we all met on the boards before we actually camped together for the first time at Bodgea Bay.
 
Joan

[wynot]

Actually, what the driver should have been doing is using his transmission for a large chunk of his speed control, instead of the brakes.  No denying that using a time delay controller doesn't work that well, but they would be used a lot less if the engine were doing the braking.

Now, there's even scientific evidence that using the engine braking INCREASES gas mileage because it increases the engine vacuum using even less gas than idling down the hill.  Might explain why my Windstars always got their best gas mileage towing (they were always in 3rd or 2d coming down grades).

[Tim5055]

Dave,

Can I use this story on my Pop Up Brakes Page??


It's great!