Parking camper, do you pull the brake cable?

[KRStone]

Wondering if you all pull the emergency brake cable located near the tongue of the trailer when you park it.



Was camping with some friends and a guy did that and said he always does.



Thoughts?



KRS

 

[Schumacher]

I would think the emergency brake battery will drain over time and the brakes would no longer be activated. I chock the wheels or use a scissor chock that pushes between the tires to lock them together.

 

[CKelley1]

yes schumacher is correct. it is only used for breakaway. it only last a few minutes and then the battery is dead. the first cold night the battery is ruined

 

[RustyJC]

No, you don't pull the breakaway switch to park a TT or 5th wheel. You use wheel chocks.



Rusty

 

[Hoefler]

It will also cause the magnets to overheat and fail.

 

[KRStone]

THANK YOU!



Glad I asked.



KRS

 

[jelag]

Here is one answer not mentioned... without the wheel turning there will be no brakes... the magnets will attract to the drum and stick and there will be no leverage to apply the brakes... it takes a spinning drum and the magnet skidding on the moving drum to create the leverage to apply the brakes... faster spinning drum or more voltage and more brake, slower drum or lower voltage less brake...

To test them on a set of jack stands you sometimes can rotate the wheel if the person in the cab didn't push the lever down hard enough or there is a bad connection in the brake away circuit...

 

[Blu-meanie]

My brother-in-law did that when he first got his 5th wheel. Always seemed to have dead batterys. Dah! He found out that wasn't what you do when he took it in for some warrenty work, the guy watched him pull it out and kindly informed him on how to disconnect his trailer. CPA type... . go figure.

 

[GCroyle]

One other "rare" variation of trailer brakes:



Hydraulic Disc Brakes.



My trailer has tandem axles w/hydraulic brakes.



Absolute NO NO and doubtful that anyone would, it makes a bit of noise from the pump running, overheats the pump. Expensive actuator failure forthcoming.



How rare is hydraulic disc brakes? Not sure but a campground host at a Corp of Engineers camp in SC asked me what the noise was while I was backing in and applying the brakes.

 

[jelag]

Gary, there is a book published by the Corp that outlines all those campgrounds and if you have an old age pass... . (Senior National Park Pass) the fee is 1/2 of what ever is posted... OH that's right... you still a kid... sorry

 

[Shadrach]

To keep my trailer from moving I quite often leave it attached to the truck if we are not going to be there many nights. I have even rehooked up the safety chains when I'm parked on a bit of a slope. I also use wheel chocks. Shad

 

[AMink]

I always thought it would be a neat thing to have a manual brake setup for when you park your trailer. Alas, it's wheel chocks for now! I usually get level side to side then chock the front of the wheels, pull into the chock a little and while there is pressure on the front chock I place the rear one. Then the trailer is as solid as it's going to get. Level it out and put the landing gear down. No matter what you do, it always wobbles a little.



I saw a sticker once that said, "If this trailer's rocking', we're brushing our teeth!"