Old brakes, Old trailer
I have a 1985 Wilderness 3000CL TT, it is in very good condition, aluminum siding still shines, upholstery perfect, everything looks and works good, except the brakes. I think it spent most of it's...
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Wow!, great advice by everyone. Interestingly enough, I've been thinking I should run individual wires from the front junction box to each wheel, now I know I should. Didn't know it was called Star. I'm surprised that 10 gage is recommended, that's a lot more power going to each wheel than I thought I'd need. My question is, since the wires attached to the magnets aren't 10 gage, wouldn't that be overkill?
The stock wiring was absolutely tiny, maybe 20 to 18 gage going from one side to the other, thru the rusty axle. I replaced it, but not with 10 gage.
At least I did seal all my new connections with liquid black tape.
I'm impressed with the wire protection many of you have employed, that makes a lot of sense. On all of my dozen new trailers I've ever owned, I've noticed that the brake wire connections were hanging loose, all over the place. That's always concerned me, but I stupidly figured the manufacturer knew what he was doing, not. I at least cable tied them up under the frame rails.
Any idea why when applying a small amount of brake pedal voltage (Prodigy shows 1.6) would cause one wheel to lock up and the other not to work at all? Could bad wiring to that?
Just saw reply from opnspaces. I do run the Prodigy at B3 and at full gain. I keep the brakes adjusted as tight as possible. There is a dedicated ground wire going from the van to the TT. I don't rely on the trailer ball for a ground. In fact, doing this recent testing, the van isn't even hitched to the TT, its just close enuff to plug in. From what everyone has said, my current TT brake wiring system clearly sucks.
I've always used the manual control when stopping. The van brakes, while in good shape, aren't all that strong (all drums). I like the trailer to pull back on the van, so I gently manually apply the brakes to help scrub off speed long before I need to stop. When you drive a flat front forward control van you drive way ahead of yourself and must ready to begin applying the brakes way before you think you might need em.
The stock wiring was absolutely tiny, maybe 20 to 18 gage going from one side to the other, thru the rusty axle. I replaced it, but not with 10 gage.
At least I did seal all my new connections with liquid black tape.
I'm impressed with the wire protection many of you have employed, that makes a lot of sense. On all of my dozen new trailers I've ever owned, I've noticed that the brake wire connections were hanging loose, all over the place. That's always concerned me, but I stupidly figured the manufacturer knew what he was doing, not. I at least cable tied them up under the frame rails.
Any idea why when applying a small amount of brake pedal voltage (Prodigy shows 1.6) would cause one wheel to lock up and the other not to work at all? Could bad wiring to that?
Just saw reply from opnspaces. I do run the Prodigy at B3 and at full gain. I keep the brakes adjusted as tight as possible. There is a dedicated ground wire going from the van to the TT. I don't rely on the trailer ball for a ground. In fact, doing this recent testing, the van isn't even hitched to the TT, its just close enuff to plug in. From what everyone has said, my current TT brake wiring system clearly sucks.
I've always used the manual control when stopping. The van brakes, while in good shape, aren't all that strong (all drums). I like the trailer to pull back on the van, so I gently manually apply the brakes to help scrub off speed long before I need to stop. When you drive a flat front forward control van you drive way ahead of yourself and must ready to begin applying the brakes way before you think you might need em.
