[AT] Spam> My Trailer made sparks

[Henry Miller]

I can't help with you other problems, but I did look at brake controllers a few years back.

I have a prodigy controller which is good.  Make sure whichever one you buy has some way to sense how much brake you have applied.  (Either some sort of cable to the brake pedal, or a decelleration sensor prodigy is the latter)  RV owners ask this question all the time (I would assume horse owners as well), and 2 brands come up as the only choices to look at.  (I forget the other brand, they have the cable to the brake which I didn't feel like installing so I didn't look farther)

Most controllers just apply more brake the longer you hold the pedal.  In a panic stop it takes 10 seconds to get everything from the trailor.  When you are slowing down slowly the trailor soon is given the brakes everything.   I'd call these cheap, but some like this cost more than mine!  

When you buy it get the cable that connects to your truck if you can.  I don't know what year your truck is, but most trucks have a connector under the dash to plug the controller into, this generally works better than wire splices.   You pay far too much for the connector, but what can you do.

Poor brakes are the only thing I won't accept from a vehicle.  I can skip gears when shifting. I can live with a misfire so bad I can't reach 70 (unloaded).  If the brakes aren't perfect it isn't driveable.  (I want the rest perfect, but it often isn't worth it)

Roy Morgan <k1lky at earthlink.net> wrote:

>My Bison two-horse trailer has served well till this last trip. Near  
>Gettysburg, PA, I learned of the smoke coming from the rear wheel from  
>a kind driver who honked my attention to it.  After a short rest to  
>mess with the electric brake system a bit, I went on quite slowly.   
>The wheel began to make sparks.
>
>  I was lucky to find a truck repair guy who also does horse trailers  
>just 3 miles from where I limped to a safe parking place. Turns out  
>one of the wheel bearings had let go, even though there was plenty of  
>grease, and let the drum contact the brake shoes, which first smoked,  
>then overheated, then let out the sparks.
>
>Do folks on the list periodically clean and repack wheel bearings to  
>make sure they are ok?  Or just wait till the smoke leaks out.   
>Certainly it's a different matter with a hay wagon in the field than  
>it would be with a horse trailer with a half million dollars worth of  
>thoroughbreds on their down the interstate to the owners place.  (My  
>trailer was empty.)  I'm told that if a bearing overheats an axle it  
>can cost you a grand to get it right again.
>
>I trust a torque wrench is not really needed: what is the normal  
>procedure?  I seem to remember "tighten up snug then back off one flat".
>
>It turns out my Ford F-250 has NO trailer brake controller (duhhh!).   
>'Was one, but it stayed with the previous owner (So I had no trailer  
>braking at all).  Any favorite type or brand?
>
>Roy
>
>
>Roy Morgan
>k1lky at earthlink.net
>529 Cobb St.
>Groton NY, 13073
>
>
>
>
>
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