Smoking Brakes.......

I pulled the horn to work today to drop it off for the last "free" work, replace a cargo door and weld the tube between the Mor Ryde units. I took a short cut that takes me down a steep little street for about a mile or better and has several stop signs. I guess I should have used the manual brake control as when I was at another stop another mile away the rears were smoking bad. I guess the reason for the post is that I am amazed at how short a time it took to heat 'em up like that....

Uncle Rog said:

I pulled the horn to work today to drop it off for the last "free" work, replace a cargo door and weld the tube between the Mor Ryde units. I took a short cut that takes me down a steep little street for about a mile or better and has several stop signs. I guess I should have used the manual brake control as when I was at another stop another mile away the rears were smoking bad. I guess the reason for the post is that I am amazed at how short a time it took to heat 'em up like that....

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Roger,
You said "rears were smoking" truck or 5er? If truck, I would suspect trailer brakes not working properly, if 5er, the front axle not working properly causing the rear axle to do all the work. The factory installed only 14 gauge wire to carry 12 volts and 12 amps to the trailer brakes. Brake Smart advised a minimum of 8 gauge to center of axles and 10 gauge to each wheel. I am only getting 9 amps to the axles possibly because of the small wire. I'm a little concerned!
Forrest

The truck rears were smoking, I have never been happy with the stopping power of the rig. An upgrade to the wiring might be the fix, never thought of that. I am using a Kesey Hays controller, lower end in price, that when put on a meter shows full juice. I think I need to crawl under and check the amps at the axles..........

Rog;
When I had my GMC, I went to the Brake Smart controller after having poor success with two others. There was no comparison in the stopping power and I didn't rewire either fifth wheel. Brake Smart

John

Roger,

The easiest way to test amps to the 5er axles, install an amp meter in-line @ the hitch pin or in-line on the 14 ga wire running along the O/D side frame rails. Either way should indicate 12 amps (3 amps per brake) BrakeSmart advised a minimum 9 amps total will work...........12 amps is better.
Each brake can be check separately, but requires cutting the wiring @ each drum and determining the 12 volt + side to install amp meter.
I have the BrakeSmart controller, it will display volts and amps to brakes either by brake pedal or manual lever. I would not recommend anyone to go cheap on a controller......#1 BrakeSmart, #2 Jordan, #3 Prodigy................your life may depend on it.
I inspected the 3600RL brakes @ 22K miles, 3/16" lining was remaining, AL-KO (axle mgf) recommended change out @ 1/16", they could not tell me the thickness of a new lining so I could determine the wear vs mileage.

Forrest

Ok, I am having the shop install a Prodigy this afternoon. My research seemed to indicate that it is a good unit with some of the bells and whistles, but not all, of the top end units. I have noticed that a lot of the forum signatures show pretty wide spread useage among the members. We are taking Townes Pass into Furnace Creek on our TD trip and from the summitt of 5000' to below sea level is only a few miles......Good test!

My expertise runs more towards towel racks and toilet paper but I can say, we have the prodigy in our truck and we came from Colorado through Vail with passes over 10,000 feet with no problems at all.

Elizabeth

I've been a satisfied Prodigy owner for over 5 years.