Exhaust Brake
We had a great summer of travels in 2017, spending 42 days in our new 5th wheel. We purchased a 2015 Cedar Creek 38FB2 5th wheel....its 42 ft long. We are pulling with a 2015 Chevy Silverado 3500 Du...
Forum Discussion
memtb wrote:
CarnationSailer, Assuming that the brakes are in good working order, and your brake controller is working properly,you may be experiencing a common trait among many RV’s of today....not enough brake for the trailer. Many manufacturers put the minimum axles on their units...meaning that the brake size is likely minimum. In “yesteryear”, before the hydraulic disc brake systems becoming more popular...some of the higher end rv’s put a larger brake system on the axle: example a 7K axle would have the 8K brake assembly. We had a 2001 Teton set-up that way. Lots of braking power when needed!
It is probably a wiring issue if brake components are fully functioning. OEM trailer builders notoriously skimp on material and installation details. A 30' fifth wheel should have 10 gauge wire to the brake magnets to insure there is no voltage drop n the wiring run. Typically you will see OEM installs of 14 or 12 gauge wiring on 30'. The other issue is the splice methods (quality) of the wiring.
I rewired my 30' trailer with 10 gauge in a home run wiring scheme with outstanding results. When new the trailer brake controller needed to be set in the upper range of settings -both adjustments to barely skid tires on a well graded gravel road at 20 mph. After wire upgrade - the same settings immediately locked up all the trailer brakes. My controller is now set in the lower mid range of both settings. This was using a prodigy controller at the time. Now I have a MaxBrake unit -no longer built, that makes the Prodigy seem archaic in operation. Braking is very seamless now and works well for a drum brake system. Still have to be mindful of brake fade on long steep descents found off the interstate system.
