Trailer Brakes - How hot is TOO hot?
Hi everyone, I have a new rig (see sig). It weighs 12,130 lbs unloaded and we may have 400lbs loaded in it so we're not close to overloaded. I've been worried because I have the gain set to 10 (...
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Your trailer dry weight is pretty close to what I have, and I would expect given your axles you have pretty much the same 12X2 brakes. My experience even with steep mountain driving is that the engine brake on my Ram Keeps me from using all that much braking and thus the brakes don't get very hot. That said, Hot is kind of a relative term so if you get an IR gun and get actual temps folks might be able to help out more, but personally I would get professional help in checking things out if I wasn't sure being as how properly functioning brakes are such importance safety wise.
As others have mentioned, you have t break in your brakes before they work effectively.
Finally, as BossHog mentioned, your Ram truck brake controller is seriously flawed in that it doesn't apply full braking power to your trailer. My brakes draw approximately 12.3 amps when hooked straight to battery voltage, and max out at approximately 7 amps from my IBC when not moving. I've only checked the Pulse width, or duty cycle when driving rather than measuring current so I can't confirm current, but voltage pulse width maxes out at 67 percent on my truck, even when traveling well over 30 mph, so I question whether the truck ever will apply full braking. So far, Chryslers refusal to admit to, or deal with the issue in any way has convinced me that there will never be another Chrysler product in my future.
As others have mentioned, you have t break in your brakes before they work effectively.
Finally, as BossHog mentioned, your Ram truck brake controller is seriously flawed in that it doesn't apply full braking power to your trailer. My brakes draw approximately 12.3 amps when hooked straight to battery voltage, and max out at approximately 7 amps from my IBC when not moving. I've only checked the Pulse width, or duty cycle when driving rather than measuring current so I can't confirm current, but voltage pulse width maxes out at 67 percent on my truck, even when traveling well over 30 mph, so I question whether the truck ever will apply full braking. So far, Chryslers refusal to admit to, or deal with the issue in any way has convinced me that there will never be another Chrysler product in my future.
