Can I tow it without brakes a short distance?

A friend of mine towed his 7K trailer about 2500 mi home after his brakes went out while on a vacation. He said he just made sure to stay a safe distance back and rely on his Silverado dually brakes, Alison trans braking and the turbo brake

I was thinking back to when I had a TT many years ago, and I was towing it in the mountains up behind Augusta, MT. A grader was working on the road, and had piled up a hump of gravel in the middle of the road. I had to straddle that hump, and the gravel ripped the brake wiring off the trailer axle.
I didn't have any splices, no wire, and no crimping tool.
I had to tow that trailer all the way back to Great Falls with no brakes!
My tow vehicle was a 1976 Ford E150 passenger van, 351M V8.
I had no problem coming down the mountain roads, and none on the freeway, either.

Just wait for one of us diesel owners to chime in and say you can go without trailer brakes, regardless of weight, cuz we have engine brake!

Whoops.. guess I just did that.

Mike (grin)

I would, if it's under 350,000,000 tons your good to go!!!! Don't believe me ask the salesman at the Rv dealership. Lol

I just love where this went:B

harmanrk wrote:
But lets flip this around, what if I have the proper connector for the trailer and a brake controller, so I have brakes on the trailer, but the brakes on the truck don't work? Am I good to go in this situation?

You are kidding right? You have no business being on the road if you don't have brakes on the truck. :R
Barney

But lets flip this around, what if I have the proper connector for the trailer and a brake controller, so I have brakes on the trailer, but the brakes on the truck don't work? Am I good to go in this situation?

Walaby wrote:
As with most questions controversial in nature, if one waits long enough, they will receive an answer they want t
Mike

I;m still waiting:B
Just kidding:W ROFL
Thanks guys, I knew all along I wasn't gonna tow it without brakes:C

MFL wrote:

It is easy to run jumper wires from your 4-pin connector, to the seven pin on the trailer, to get running/stop/turn signal lights.



Jerry

If he takes the time to temporarily wire something up....just wire it up right.

Edit: Just saw that he does have an adapter to do the lights...but still, just go out and pick up the wiring harness and do it right.

I would do it too. BUT, a caveat from experience. I find no matter what your law in your state says about brakes, i am assuming you have met ALL other legal requirements.........If the trailer out wieghs the payload available of the tow rig, it is nice having brakes on the trailer. Even if you tow rig is a one ton dually pulling one of them utility single axel trailers with a typical 3500 lbs capacity axel plus hitch wt trailers. While it may not seem like you will stop quicker, yes you will with brakes on the trailer! This is doing speeds in the upwards of 45 mph pulling a trailer with lawn mowers etc totally maybe 2000-2500 lbs total!
With that said, in the state of washington, you get 1500-4500 lbs of trailer max wt, with a caveat of no towed rig, be it a trailer, car towed etc, over 40% of the gvw of the tow rig without brakes. So if OPs van is good to say 10,000 GVW, he would get a max trailer of 4000 lbs with out brakes. Yes I realize "MOST" 150 vans from Ford are rated less, but there were a number of E150's in later years that were 8 lug 8800 gvwr vans.....
With that said too, I have moved a 20K 12x40 mobil home off the highway in 4lo with my old 88 SW K3500. Speeds no more than 10 mph. Stopped reasonably well for speed etc. No I would not want to haul it down the freeway at 60 mph!
Assuming one has a brain, or at least a brain electron like I do, use it with some common sense, and you may or may not make it to where you are towing too! As even if you plan everything with in a rating, some DS in the rig ahead, may blow thru an intersection, you're toast!

Marty