Forum Discussion
willald
Jan 13, 2014Explorer II
wa8yxm wrote:
Both of the systems you cite are "Box in the driver's seat" systems, These must be installed (By you) EVERY TIME you tow, the odds of a mistake go up with each install.. The odds also go up with time on an "Oh, I'm only going a short distance, I'll just forget it this one time" and later wishing you'd not forgotten it.
I much prefer an INSTALLED system.. These systems include in no particular order.
M&G (for motor homes with air brakes IF it will fit your towed)
Air Force One
Invisible Brake
US-Gear Decelarator
Ready Brake
Long list of others.
I have other issues with the box in the driver's seat too.. If you use one consider adding a towed-charge system to your consist. This helps to prevent towed battery run down.. Now I know folks who say they have towed 2 or 3 thousand miles without unhooking using one of these systems and no dead battery on towed... I believe them.. I also believe the ones who say they have towed 2 or 3 HUNDRED miles and the towed was dead. And I know why, (older battery). but, hey.. Why risk it.
Hookup with the US-Gear Decelerator is like 2 seconds. Same for the M&G and Ready Brake, not sure on Air Force one but guessing it's the same, Invisible brake is zero seconds.. YES, zero.. Believe it or not. (It is not called Invisible for nothing) all you do is plug in your tow lights.
Think about this.
wa8yxm makes some excellent points. I too am not a fan of any of the 'box in the drivers seat' type systems, for the reasons he alluded to here.
And, one other reason: Systems like that, and really ANY electronically controlled system, come with one huge risk: Electronics can fail, and cause it to over-break your toad. This can (and has) resulted in very expensive damage to toad vehicle brakes. Because of the 'nature of the beast' of towing such a small vehicle with such a large one, major damage could be done to the toad brakes before you'd ever know there was a problem.
With the ReadyBrake system, once its initially set up and installed correctly, it is darn near IMPOSSIBLE for toad over-braking to ever happen.
That, and one great thing about a simple, cable-operated system: You can visually inspect it for wear, and replace most parts easily for less than $20 from a local hardware store. Can't really check electronic components for wear, they just quit without warning. Not going to replace their parts quite as easily, either.
Will
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