Trailers and truck braking

Waaazooo · December 24, 2016

So towing a car and trailer back to Maryland through West Virginia. I nearly lost my brakes. Pedal went really spongy and could've almost went to the floor. I pulled over and let them cool and boy were they hot.

So my question is, should I move to a higher heat performance setup from oem? I'm considering stoptech 6pots with a blank 2 piece disk and motul 550 fluid.

There is a side of me that says overkill and there is also a side of me that says... never have braking issues again.

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ember1205 · December 24, 2016

I wonder why the truck brakes were that hot in the first place. Did you verify that the trailer brakes were working properly and set to the right boost level? With the integrated controller, I need to set the boost at 4.5 just to tow an empty equipment trailer with a weight of roughly 2500 lbs.

Waaazooo · December 24, 2016

I wonder why the truck brakes were that hot in the first place. Did you verify that the trailer brakes were working properly and set to the right boost level? With the integrated controller, I need to set the boost at 4.5 just to tow an empty equipment trailer with a weight of roughly 2500 lbs.

The truck was had identified that the it had a trailer in tow, trailer brake (oem) was set to 6. (They were stinking up the air too)

I had a uhaul trailer with a car on it. It towed fine... until the steeper grades on the wva/md line.

Just curious in thinking about the boiling point of the oem fluid because the oem pads are too "versatile".

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J-man67 · December 24, 2016

My bet is bad brakes on the rental trailer. I just towed 9800#. Set at 5.5 gain. A lot of stopping, never worried about the brakes.

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sdeeter19555 · December 24, 2016

My bet is bad brakes on the rental trailer. I just towed 9800#. Set at 5.5 gain. A lot of stopping, never worried about the brakes.

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Even just out of adjustment...

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Chevor · December 24, 2016

Use lower gears going downhill....saves the brakes.

sdeeter19555 · December 24, 2016

On second read, Uhaul trailers don't typically have electric brakes, they have hydraulic surge brakes? So if that is the trailer you were fighting, then you could have maxed out the brake controller with no luck.

I agree with previous posts, something was wrong with the trailer, or like I said, the brakes were out of adjustment. I've towed a good many Uhaul car transports, never once had issues with braking.

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nht mike · December 24, 2016

I'm not so sure there are any upgrades to the OEM that will give you the performance you are looking for. Have you ever heard "use the same gear to go down hill as you used to go up"? That's where I would start. Use your manual mode to lock the RPM's at 3500-4000, and let it roll. Your throttle float between on and off and will still have an RPM cushion if you need to down shift occasionally to scrub off some speed.

Mike

I'm not so sure there are any upgrades to the OEM that will give you the performance you are looking for. Have you ever heard "use the same gear to go down hill as you used to go up"? That's where I would start. Use your manual mode to lock the RPM's at 3500-4000, and let it roll. Your throttle float between on and off and will still have an RPM cushion if you need to down shift occasionally to scrub off some speed.

Mike

Waaazooo · December 24, 2016

I'm not so sure there are any upgrades to the OEM that will give you the performance you are looking for. Have you ever heard "use the same gear to go down hill as you used to go up"? That's where I would start. Use your manual mode to lock the RPM's at 3500-4000, and let it roll. Your throttle float between on and off and will still have an RPM cushion if you need to down shift occasionally to scrub off some speed.

Mike

I'm not so sure there are any upgrades to the OEM that will give you the performance you are looking for. Have you ever heard "use the same gear to go down hill as you used to go up"? That's where I would start. Use your manual mode to lock the RPM's at 3500-4000, and let it roll. Your throttle float between on and off and will still have an RPM cushion if you need to down shift occasionally to scrub off some speed.

Mike

I've heard that before and that's applicable when you are not in traffic patterns. Because when you're driving with traffic and their speed oscillating between 55-35... it really was the turn in braking that the traffic was doing.

Yeah, larger surface area rotors disperse heat better and opposing piston brakes have higher heat resilience. Higher boiling point fluid keeps the fluid dense and air free.

It sounds like it may not be a truck issue as much as it was a bad trailer occurrence. Never the less it's humbling experience on a 4% grade and the loss of pedal response.

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ember1205 · December 24, 2016

On second read, Uhaul trailers don't typically have electric brakes, they have hydraulic surge brakes? So if that is the trailer you were fighting, then you could have maxed out the brake controller with no luck.

I agree with previous posts, something was wrong with the trailer, or like I said, the brakes were out of adjustment. I've towed a good many Uhaul car transports, never once had issues with braking.

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Ding ding ding! We have a winner. U-Haul uses surge brakes on their trailers, even the ones that need heavier tow vehicles that should be equipped for towing. If they were to go to an electric brake system, it would actually decrease (significantly) the number of trailer rentals they could "sell" due to lack of tow vehicles having brake controllers.

I hate surge brakes and will never tow a trailer that uses them.

Personally, I would immediately take the truck to a garage and have the brakes looked at. If the wear is significantly more than it should be, and it can be attributed to the towing of a trailer with faulty brakes, get it in writing and go after U-Haul for the repair.