Brakes on travel trailer

[Night Stone]

Just wanted to pass this information to all. On my previous truck I had a Tekonsha Voyageur installed, basic stuff, no issues or warnings about trailer.

With this current truck I have the Tekonsha p3, which has the diagnostic feature. I am so glad we did. Why, because it only detected 1 axle not the second and was showing overload no brakes. So I had my trailer at a dealer for service work and guess what they found. Only one axles electric brakes was actually hooked up. The other was not, apparently the manufacture didn't fully push the connections in all the way for it work. Here I am driving the trailer the past 3 yrs and not knowing I have only set of brakes working and not both. Thus careless workmanship putting my family and others on the road at risk. Yes I am upset but I am glad the dealer caught it before the next trip we are taking.

Just wanted others in the forum to know to be sure to check your electric brakes for connections and such. If you don't have the diagnostic features from the brake controller to find issues.

Dave

[GreenImp]

A few weeks ago while prepping for a trip to Glacier National Park, I pulled my hubs to check my bearings. I found the wires to one of my brake magnets had been cut by the hub (installer didn't clip the wire out of the way properly).

The good news is I now have ONE brand new brake!

The bad news is I have ONE new brake (and 3 with a couple years worth of wear).

[DutchF]

Time and again you read about poor factory workmanship, dealer tech screw ups etc. Seems like checking things like this yourself could prevent it. GreenImp did. I do too. And like GreenImp, yesterday while performing our yearly inspection, I found a failed seal that leaked grease and prevent one of the brakes from working.

No problem. New brake assembly was $50 from local trailer (not RV) dealer. Also found 3 of the factory lug nuts had thread stretch (not stripped) and were difficult to remove (and I use a torque wrench to install and check before each trip). I was not able to find the exact match and the RV dealer says it would take a couple weeks to order them. HA! Stop by my local Discount Tire (I love these folks) and picked up 32 new, heat treated, plated (not those cheap tin caps), locking lugs with TWO key sockets for $25! Replace all the factory nuts with better ones and they all spin right on now, smoothly!

Getting new tires Monday. Ordered a set of Sailun S637, G rated, 14 ply, all steel carcass (not just the belt) tires from local truck service center. Our Westlake E rated, 10 ply, steel belted tires lasted about 11,000 miles. (NOTE - our wheels are stamped with a rating of 3,960 lbs @ 110 psi which = G rating).

[nomad297]

You can't buy a better aftermarket brake controller than the Prodigy P3. I loved mine.

Bruce