Picked up the new home. Road warrior

cwill925 wrote:

Bedlam wrote:
The fifth wheel has independent braking of the tow vehicle, but the TV needs to have sufficient brakes if something goes wrong. There are braking standards with the the FW brakes working properly, but I have not seen a standard with the brakes disabled. So the question is what is sufficient TV braking? Towing the passes when full will strain your power train. You can drive smartly and slow down instead trying to keep up passenger cars or gear the differentials down and keep your top end speed down. Use your exhaust brake on the way down - If you are using your your service brakes, you are going too fast for conditions (weight and grade).

At some point you may want to upgrade to a larger or newer TV for added comfort and capacity, but you will not know until you have completed a few trips fully loaded to your favorite destinations.

The braking factor is the reason I upgraded to a larger truck. My F-350 really struggled to stop the rig. It had the power to pull the Fuzion 362 loaded with street bikes or a Smart Car. The F-350 is a single rear wheel so the stability was not as good as a dually.

On one trip the pig tail wiggled out, no lights, no brakes. I got pushed through a busy intersection in Birmingham Alabama. Luckily I didn't hit anyone or get t-boned from the traffic coming from the side street.

On another trip I got pushed down the south side of Monteagle Mountain headed to Chattanooga. I smoked the brakes on the truck and trailer. My F-350 does not have and engine/exhaust brake.

The Freightliner M2 doesn't care if the trailer brakes work or not. I bought the M2 used, not knowing the trailer brake relay was not working. For several trips the trailer brakes were not operating. The M2 stopped the rig with no problem. The two stage engine/exhaust brake is amazing. I never need the service brakes on downhills or ramps.

One of my tag lines is "too much truck, maybe... too much trailer, never again”.

People argue weight numbers on the forum all day and all night, and that’s OK. Discussions like that keep people on their toes, studying their rigs. How you add numbers or stats to braking capacity, I don’t know, but you will know if you go over the limit. Some will call it the pucker factor. If someone can quantify that limit, please share it.

Man, good info. THIS is what i want. Real life stories..
THAT frightens me and makes me want to look for a new truck.
I will do a couple stops with my TV brakes and the exhaust brake without the trailer brakes and see how it does. If im not comfortable with that distance, i will get a new truck.

But that leads me to the next question.. The dually version of my truck in around that year only has a tow rating 2000 pounds heavier on the GVWR. That puts me still under my rating. What really gets me is that if i had 4.10 rear axle ratio my tow rating goes up. THAT HAS NOTHING to do with stopping or being safe.. That just has to do with pulling. It pulls great...
I dont want a new vehicle. But i will get one... Any recommendations?

Thanks for taking the time to offer real time experience about this. Glad you made it out ok.