Help with the towing math
Hello. I am a new member here and this is my first post. This is a question often asked on here and the answers that have been given are always helpful to those that have asked but I am having a diffi...
Forum Discussion
westend wrote:
BTW, the tow vehicle's braking system is engineered to stop (safely) the weight of the vehicle and it's cargo, not towed weight. That role is taken up by the trailer's braking system.
In theory that might be true, but I think the vehicles braking system and it's overall capability has a HUGE EFFECT on stopping the entire GVW of the towed combo and most likely does the LION'S SHARE of the braking duties, especially in the more aggressive braking scenarios. There is just no way that those electric brakes with that sliding magnet is going to put the same braking force on the trailer less efficient "DRUM" brake shoes as the power assisted hydraulic brakes found in vehicles now with a lot having disk brakes on all four wheels. This disparity is why on vehicles with disk brakes only in front wear out two sets of front pads to one set of rear shoes. While this is a WAG I would not be surprised if one was able to allocate how much braking is actually done between say a 10K trailer towed by a 10K vehicle that the ratio might be in the neighborhood of 25% trailer and 75% tow vehicle. This is where IMO the too much TV for the trailer towed really shines and makes these more capable TVs light years ahead in the safety area over the lighter duty tow vehicles. This doesn't even consider the effects of say that 10K towed trailer "PUSHING" on the TV during a very aggressive braking event because the TV is trying to decelerate at a much higher rate than the towed trailer behind it.
Larry
