Lost Brakes on TT.. Issue solved.
The past two times out camping It seemed my TT brakes were not stopping as they were when I first got the TT. I ended up turning the gain all the way up on the controller for the last trip. ( Prodigy P3)
After doing a brake inspection and adjusting all 4 wheels My stopping power was better but still I had gain all the way up. I was able to lower the % to the B2 setting on the controller.
After getting home and pulling in the driveway I felt the TT rims with my hand. The two front where hot hot and the rears were just hot..
Knowing something was amiss , a few days later I took action to find the cause/issue. I was also thinking I may have over tightened the bearings on the front and or adjusted the brakes too much on the front axle..
Well I jacked up the rear of one side of the TT and plugged the harness into the TV. I spun both wheels and had my 8 yr old son help me by sliding the brake lever over. Low and behold the front axles where the only brakes working. The rears were dead..
So climbing under the TT I found two areas of lots of electrical tape and wire nuts. Starting with the front I removed the tape and wire nuts. All was fine there.
( Also note its odd that the wires to the other side of the TT run inside the axle and come out the other side of the axle. I assume so that wires dont get ripped apart from road debris. But how on earth would you fix a break in the wire inside the axle?)
Anyway upon removing the rear axle tape and wire nuts the whole thing just fell apart. All wires were corroded and left inside the wire nuts and I had 4 wires sitting there looking at me with no strands at all..
So I re stripped all wires clean, re wire nutted them , and re tapped.. ( I would prefer to butt splice them and that will be another project when I replace all 4 brakes next year)
Success. All 4 brakes are now stopping with great power. I can now lock up the TT brakes if needed.
Moral of the story? If you have an older tt check the factory wiring before you lose brakes wile driving.. Remove tape and wire nuts and redo all connections for piece of mind..
Many may be surprised at what they find..
Just a story of what happened to me and it may help someone down the road..
Have fun in your travels..
Mike NJ
After doing a brake inspection and adjusting all 4 wheels My stopping power was better but still I had gain all the way up. I was able to lower the % to the B2 setting on the controller.
After getting home and pulling in the driveway I felt the TT rims with my hand. The two front where hot hot and the rears were just hot..
Knowing something was amiss , a few days later I took action to find the cause/issue. I was also thinking I may have over tightened the bearings on the front and or adjusted the brakes too much on the front axle..
Well I jacked up the rear of one side of the TT and plugged the harness into the TV. I spun both wheels and had my 8 yr old son help me by sliding the brake lever over. Low and behold the front axles where the only brakes working. The rears were dead..
So climbing under the TT I found two areas of lots of electrical tape and wire nuts. Starting with the front I removed the tape and wire nuts. All was fine there.
( Also note its odd that the wires to the other side of the TT run inside the axle and come out the other side of the axle. I assume so that wires dont get ripped apart from road debris. But how on earth would you fix a break in the wire inside the axle?)
Anyway upon removing the rear axle tape and wire nuts the whole thing just fell apart. All wires were corroded and left inside the wire nuts and I had 4 wires sitting there looking at me with no strands at all..
So I re stripped all wires clean, re wire nutted them , and re tapped.. ( I would prefer to butt splice them and that will be another project when I replace all 4 brakes next year)
Success. All 4 brakes are now stopping with great power. I can now lock up the TT brakes if needed.
Moral of the story? If you have an older tt check the factory wiring before you lose brakes wile driving.. Remove tape and wire nuts and redo all connections for piece of mind..
Many may be surprised at what they find..
Just a story of what happened to me and it may help someone down the road..
Have fun in your travels..
Mike NJ
