new member

[wkndarcher]

Hi every one i have been reading the board for a few weeks now , and being the new owner of a 1996 coleman sun vally,am learning a lot just from reading the forums ..  Questions , trailer has breakes ( a thing i found out by just nosing around under the trailer while checking tires and bearings ) but they are not hooked up.The trailer has what lookes like a seven connecter and the fella had an adapter to connect it to a 4 . I have a 2001 ford F150 tv with a six cyl. and the trailer weight is 3100lbs do i need to go ahead and have the truck wired so the breakes work on the trailer also .
    I took the trailer to talledega for the april race and it pulled very well i had no problems anywhere .. but it just bothers me to have something like breaks and not be using them . am i thinking on the righttrack to want to have them working or just worring for nothing

[AustinBoston]

Questions , trailer has breakes ( a thing i found out by just nosing around under the trailer while checking tires and bearings ) but they are not hooked up.The trailer has what lookes like a seven connecter and the fella had an adapter to connect it to a 4 . I have a 2001 ford F150 tv with a six cyl. and the trailer weight is 3100lbs do i need to go ahead and have the truck wired so the breakes work on the trailer also .

First, Welcome and congratulations on your new trailer.

Do you NEED trailer brakes? probably not.  Are they a good idea? Definitely.  

Depending on where, how, and how much you tow, they might even pay for themselves.  How? by saving wear and tear on the truck's brakes.  You will not have to get them serviced as often if you set up the trailer brakes.  Whether it covers the cost of a controller and wiring isn't cut-and-dry because it depends on how far you tow, whether there is a lot of stop-and-go, hills, etc.

But what is important is the safety factor.  Even with a larger pickup, your stopping distance is significantly increased with the trailer, and with your pickup and trailer I could see it increasing more than 50%, and possibly close to 70%.  The trailer weighs a lot more than anything you'd put in the truck's bed.

Try this simple experiment.  Go to an empty parking lot.  Starting without the trailer, drive past a known point (a line, post or something) at 30 MPH.  Do a panic stop, and mark or note where you come to a stop.  Now hook up the trailer and do the same thing in the same spot (30 MPH and panic stop).  Bet you buy the controller.

Austin

It's not how easy it tows, it's how easy it stops towing.