20,000 Teton 5er - Truck Needed (legally)

I had a panic stop last September going south on 395. I was very happy for the great result but not a 20,000 lb load.
chevman

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hone eagle wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

hone eagle wrote:
statements like "trailer brakes stop the trailer " make the hair on the back of my neck stand up .

:h :H :H

don't happen ever
take a truck any truck ,panic stop from any speed you want ,now do it with a trailer hooked on - same distance ? highly doubt it.
Trailer brakes are worse then useless if you believe and trust them to stop the trailer .
They are smaller then the brakes on a '60s econo box and are expected to stop trailers weighing 3 times more?
come on
now get them toasty like coming down a hill or stop and go freeway driving . and are they all perfectly adjusted?
When a mod blithely states 'trailer brakes stop the trailer' I get a chill.

You need to take a ride with me and do a panic stop, you will be shocked as I was at how fast the truck and RV stopped.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever had your RV stopped and your brakes checked like you describe? I've never heard of, or talked to anyone who has ever been checked that way. Just wondering as I wasn't even aware of it.

Whether you agree with folks that say the truck brakes stop the truck, trailer the trailer does not matter. I would agree, that electric brakes are not that great. BUT, if you get inspected, a test or two or three an leo will give you is the trailer had better hold the truck! If you pull the trailer with the truck, and all the brakes are locked up, that is a pass. But if the brakes on the trailer are not locked up, not holding the truck with the emergency cord pulled, or you having your finger on the manual lever on the brake controller, you WILL have a failed brake system per that LEO! That trailer will not be allowed back on the road being towed until it can meat those standards!

If your trailer brakes do no meet this standard from the day you buy your trailer assuming new, then it does not meet state and federal laws, return it! not that you probably can return it. But you need to get the manufacture to make it meet the laws that you have to travel under.

I've been able to stop my dump truck with the 2 - 6K axel brakes on my equipment trailer! I stop quicker with the trailer brakes working than with out. I've stopped quicker with my sw 2500 and a dw 3500 with a single 3500lb axel with brakes on than the same pulling the same trailer with no brakes. Brakes on trucks lasted longer too. To say I am not a fan of trailer brakes, would be improper.

No one wants to depend on "JUST" the truck or trailer brakes to stop higher loads. That is not fun, having been there done that! One should have proper brakes on the trailer if the trailer weighs more than the tow rigs cargo ability. ie if you have 2000 lbs of payload to gvwr, then a trailer weighing 2001 lbs plus per say, should have brakes on the tv imho. Hence why I put brakes on the single axel trailer. Made life a lot nicer when you have a truck full of yard debris, 2000+ lb trailer behind you pushing you along.......

Marty

hone eagle wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

hone eagle wrote:
statements like "trailer brakes stop the trailer " make the hair on the back of my neck stand up .

:h :H :H

don't happen ever
take a truck any truck ,panic stop from any speed you want ,now do it with a trailer hooked on - same distance ? highly doubt it.
Trailer brakes are worse then useless if you believe and trust them to stop the trailer .
They are smaller then the brakes on a '60s econo box and are expected to stop trailers weighing 3 times more?
come on
now get them toasty like coming down a hill or stop and go freeway driving . and are they all perfectly adjusted?
When a mod blithely states 'trailer brakes stop the trailer' I get a chill.

I COMPLETELY AGREE and if I were to do a WAG, I would say that in any aggressive braking event the TV will do 75% of the braking with the TT doing 25%. Now this might not apply to the ultra high end TTs/5ers with hydraulic over electric and disk brakes. There is just no way a completely 100% electric braking system with a sliding magnet applying the force for the shoes is that effective. Also, our TT braking systems are not even in the same ball park as the 18 wheeler trailers with the air brake systems.

People who hook up that TT weighing almost 1.5 x the GVWR of that light weight 1/2T or SUV and think they have a decent braking system are only fooling themselves and I just hope they never get into trouble and need to stop quickly.

Larry

So now we are stopping both TV and trailer with just trailer brakes ?
Maybe in a mile or so .
just stopping is not enough.
A recent test I saw on u-tube of up graded brakes and controller resulted in a 80 foot improvement.
80 feet
eight oh
That speaks to a massive fail in standard set ups we buy.

"IF" your trailer brakes will not stop the WHOLE rig, and a CVEO pulls you over, you are dead in the water with a "failed braking system" along with having to "FIX" said braking system on the side of the road, or get a low boy to tow the trailer, and or truck to where it can be repaired.

So at the end of the day, your truck brakes stop the truck, trailer brakes need to stop both truck and trailer.

Marty

I firmly believe that RV tow vehicles should have adequate brakes to stop a combination in case the trailer brakes fail. It happens a lot with RV trailers, since they don't exactly use quality brake systems or wire them in a sufficient manner.

Commercial trailers have rigid inspection requirements including for slack adjustment, and are fail safe (loss of air pressure causes the springs to apply them). RV brakes have neither.

hone eagle wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

hone eagle wrote:
statements like "trailer brakes stop the trailer " make the hair on the back of my neck stand up .

:h :H :H

don't happen ever
take a truck any truck ,panic stop from any speed you want ,now do it with a trailer hooked on - same distance ? highly doubt it.
Trailer brakes are worse then useless if you believe and trust them to stop the trailer .
They are smaller then the brakes on a '60s econo box and are expected to stop trailers weighing 3 times more?
come on
now get them toasty like coming down a hill or stop and go freeway driving . and are they all perfectly adjusted?
When a mod blithely states 'trailer brakes stop the trailer' I get a chill.

Hmmmmmm, I guess I look at it another way.

Take your Volvo and put 55K on the tail and roll down the road at 60MPH without the trailer brakes hooked up. Go into a panic stop with your 80K lbs and see what 55k does to that 25k lb tractor. :E Now do the same thing with the trailer brakes hooked up. See what I'm talking about?

My trailer brakes can stop my whole rig. Every year I do this test to make sure my trailer brakes are up to snuff. It passes every year. :)
My trailer brakes can smoke my tires at 60mph if I yank on the controller stick. This tells me I'm getting 100% stopping effect out of my trailer brakes.

Now I admit my trailer only weighs 7K and my truck weighs somewhere around 8,200 lbs. But like I said, my trailer brakes alone can stop everything and my truck brakes alone can stop everything. I would not have it any other way.

I will also admit some trailer brakes are junk and not up to the task at hand.