Looked at your TT / 5er brake wiring lately?

[rweis]

I'm going to take a 2500 mile trip in july Oo.



Just had an axle replaced (2 axle 5er) (That's another story). Thought I better check the brake wiring, the axle shop is a BIG truck axle / springs shop, not a wiring shop, they deal with 50 ton jacks not wire nuts.



They had "engineered" the wiring on the replaced axle, but I fuguered that would be the case. 300# BIG guys are good with semi axles, not with little wire nuts. However the manufacturer brake wiring left something to be desired.



Seems one of the magnet wires was a "little short" so they just twisted in a 2" "jumper". No wire nuts, no electrical tape, just a twisted in splice.



Ok so I went to HD and got what I needed and found that there are waterproof twist on connectors now. Apparently they are filled with a gel or paste of some kind and you twist them on and the twist connection is now weather proof.



I totally rewired mine and soldered all connections then screwed on the water proof connections on the soldered connections and zip tied everything down real well leaving a loop for axle movement. And yes I get a little anal, but the RV weighs 13k and I want ALL the brakes functioning correctly.



I just had the annual bearing repack done as well.



However, the point of the post is if YOU haven't visually checked your brake wiring in a while and ASSUME (makes an *** out of U and ME) all is well, might be time to "get out and get under" to make sure some "jumper" was not "needed" somewhere during the manufacturing process.



Bob Weis

 

[SSage]

Thats a good idea. You never know what condition the wires are in till you look.

 

[GerryDrake]

Bent an axle on the road, had it replaced, drove probably 2500 miles more and took it to a frame shop to have the axles aligned due to tread wear.

Aligned it and..... oh, we hooked up the brakes on the new axle for you, no charge... .

Now I check 'em each spring when I grease the bearings and adjust the brakes.

 

[Kirwin]

One more way to verify this

When I do my annual (at least, but any time I have the trailer up in the air) inspection this is what I do: ensure that the trailer is not plugged in (to ensure the converter won't be supplying a higher DC voltage) This minimizes the amount of heat from the magnets. Have some one spin the tire that is in the air then pull out the break-away brake plug the wheel should stop immediately! Reinsert the break-away plug verify that the wheel releases. Repeat this for each wheel. This checks a couple of very important things: That the break-away switch works and that there is actually brake action from the magnets and its associated wiring. The break away switch is merely a on/off switch to supply +12 V to the brake wire (the same wire that comes out of the trailer connector) from the trailer battery. The magnets can't be left for long periods with the full 12 V applied so don't leave the plug out forever. This is the best way I know of to actually test that all 4 wheels actually have brakes. Of course the visual inspection can also find any obvious things but wires disappear and reappear under the trailer from odd places. Ken Irwin

 

[FJfonda]

It amazes me sometimes

The stuff that is running our roads--- and that they can even stop some of the rigs. I have found for my stuff ... I trust no one but me to do my work. Even new stuff needs to be checked over. I purchased a new 12,000 lb boat trailer and was shocked what I found in a routine "is anything gonna fall out" check. Turns out, the trailers are shipped to the dealers in pieces and the local "lugnuts" put it together. Boat trailers are hydraulic brakes and, like a car, should have a flex line to allow the axle movement without fatigue to the brake line. I found the flex line plumbed to a fixed spot and the metal brake line flexing as the axle moved up and down. It was this way on both axles. It was just a matter of time!!! This along with the fact that they tried to send me down the road with no brake fluid in the system, and together with setting up the tounge wt to 75 lbs for an 12,000lb load... ... all this and it PASSED a NY state vehicle inspection!!!!

More ammo ----- recently stopped to help a dually pulling a BIG horse trailer... . in the trailer was lottsa horses... in the cab 3 generations of female horse enthusiasts. The trailer brakes weren't working right... one quick look was all it took --- there were loose wires twisted together and hanging down where they would have been knocked off running over a dead squirrel. Some incorrectly connected. With examples like these... and I'm sure many more out there, how can you trust anyone to do work for you?