Recent content by Hardrocker

Good Deal! A local Keystone dealer has agreed to take this Heartland product in trade on a new Montana. I am about to be relieved of this Sundance. The Montana's brakes are burnished at the factory, rather than relying on some 3rd party transporter to burnish them.

I replaced the left rear backing plate assembly and got rid of the "Trailer Electrical Fault". Today we will be looking at Keystone Alpines, which probably have the same inadequate braking systems.

Dave, I agree with you. We have decided to trade up to a larger 5th wheel, so will leave the electric brakes on the Sundance, but will not hesitate to go disks on the new unit if braking performance does not meet expectations. Where did you mount the electric/hydraulic pump?

I did not keep the brakes energized until they started to smoke, but I did apply them for about 10 seconds with a 30 second pause between applications at a steady 50 mph. I have a non-contract thermometer, and stopped the unit after about 12 miles. The drum temperatures ranged from 300 to 450...

I went out to aggresively burnish my brakes. Early in the process my brake controller indicated "Trailer Electrical Fault", and I wound up with even less braking than before. The Ford manual says that there is either a short to ground or open in the braking circuit. I put the ohm meter between...

I have contacted Lippert, and the rep there suspects that the brakes have likely not been properly burnished. He suggests that the brakes be adjusted and then apply the brakes while going down the road until they "smoke". This is not the procedure indicated in the owner's manual, which...

I have not contacted Lippert to continue this effort to obtain adequate braking but will do so tomorrow. We did bring the camper back from Texas this spring, and the brakes were wholly inadequate. I can guarantee you that my next camper will have the electric over hydraulic disk brakes!

It has been almost a year since I brought the issue of poor braking performance to light with Heartland, and still my brakes lack stopping power. The local dealer turned me over to Lippert last May after determining that they could not improve the braking performance, and Lippert has never...

Lippert assigned a claim number for my issue on 5/7/2011. It is now 9/1/2011, and I have not heard from them. Apparently they too recognize the futility of making thier brakes function effectively.

The dealer turned me over to Lippert, and they suggested that I take the trailer back to the dealer for brake work! I said that it had been at the dealer for 34 days and that the dealer had done all they could. Lippert took some information and I have not heard from them for over a month...

I agree. The last thing we want on this forum is for someone to express an objective negative opinion!

The dealer has now done all they intend to do to my camper and have passed me off to Lippert.

I had an interesting conversation with a guy at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) named George Soodoo. He provided me with some valuable information, including verification that there is no federal standard for trailer braking systems unless they are air brakes...

A voltmeter on the braking circuit of my 2011 Ford Super Duty shows 12 volts standing still with manual application of the integral brake controller. Applying the truck brakes with the trailer connected at 20 mph also shows 12 volts delivered to the trailer braking circuit.

Mouse, you are spot on! The argument that the RV manufacturers don't want our trailers to get out of control and possibly jackknife is interesting. In other words, to prevent us from sliding the tires on our rigs, and possibly losing control, they have provided a mediochre braking system which...