Fifth wheel brakes
This is my first 5th wheel and I have a question about the brakes. The brakes on the 5th wheel do work but should I be able to lock up the brakes with the gain on the brake unit adjusted up all the wa...
Forum Discussion
With the same truck and built in controller, I could lock a bumper pull with 3500 axles and a flat bed with 7000 axles=--both ALKO axles. A small fifth wheel with Lippert 4400 axles and a larger fifth wheel with Dexter 5100 axles could not be locked up and did not engage well enough to carry their share of braking with the controller on full. In fairness, the Dexters were not set in because I took the trailer straight to an axle shop and had disc brakes put on. They lock up now and the controller is set on 6.5. I don't want to make this about brands--there is another thread doing that. I did replace the 4400 axles with 5200 axles to get 12" drums. When that didn't help enough I had the backing plates changed to Dexter 7000 lb brakes. All that helped, but the trailer still didn't brake its share. With several different trailers, I dramatically increased the wire size going to the brakes with improvements in every case. I am beginning to wonder if the axle manufacturers are doing this on purpose to prevent folks from being able to lock up their wheels in a panic stop (which defeats braking.) Personally I would rather be able to adjust the controller to do its share.
