Tow brake installation - long January 25, 2005, 02:38:28 pm Yahoo Message Number: 49876Well, there are installations, and there are installations. I've had the good fortune to have a poor installation corrected. I've had US Gear Brakes on both of my Lazy Dazes and the Saturn for 3-4 years. We recently bought a Honda Element, so had the US Gear Brakes put on the Element. The only components that migrated from the Saturn to the Element were the primary components, with all wiring, circuit breakers, connectors, vacuum connections and hoses, etc., factory new to eliminate any possibility of error. Fellow travelers, I now believe I never had much use out of the brakes before Mike Sylvester* installed them on the Honda. (See phone number, etc. below, and yes - I've added it to the data base.) I know I've extolled this fellow's talents on this list before, but this re-installation really brought home that we don't always know what we have. Or, as in my case, DON'T have. How would I know if I had good (or properly installed) auxiliary brakes on the toad? I had nothing to compare it to. And, I didn't even know how to test it. Now I do, and I'm sharing that info here. After Mike got everything installed on the Honda, he performed a break away switch test; put car in drive, pulled the pin, and insured that the brake held the car in position under idle and a slight increase in engine speed. System worked properly. He also did this for me on the Saturn before he took some of the components off, and it showed that when activated it would not hold the car in position. As such, the safety issue of the break away was severely compromised and would not stop the car within a reasonable distance. Now for what may be the most important part of the installation, from the owner's point of view. The test drive! (There was no test drive on the first installation.) After Mike installed the brakes, he & I drove the RV and the car to a big Casino parking lot nearby that had a large empty area. We tested the brakes at a normal stop at 2-3 different settings on the controller, and two 'emergency' stops at different settings on the controller. We also tested the manual stopping. This means that I applied the tow brakes by hitting the switch on the dash, not the brakes in the RV. Man - what a difference! So for the first time in about 3-4 years, I not only have auxiliary brakes, they actually work!!! I could feel the difference in different stopping situations when he disconnected the brake and had me stop without the brake system active (boy if that doesn't make one a believer of the US Gear system, nothing will). Then I drove back and forth in the parking lot, and he stayed outside while I drove by and he watched the toad. He confirmed that the hitch, tow bar, wiring, and systems all work smoothly and consistently. Something else that Mike noticed - the controller in the motorhome had become a bit dysfunctional due to moving around and losing proper positioning. Even if the brake system had no issues in the toad, the performance of the unit would have been severely compromised if not dysfunctional. I didn't know it wasn't supposed to move around on a swivel.Sarah Mz. Daisy Two/Too 2003 26.5' RB in Quartzsite, AZ *Mike & Lisa Sylvester The RV Guy, Inc. (505) 228-1389 email web page www.thervguynm.com
Re: Tow brake installation - long Reply #1 – January 25, 2005, 09:13:47 pm Yahoo Message Number: 49884Sarah Blackwood wrote:"I've had the good fortune to have a poor installation corrected."Very informative, Sarah; thanks for posting the particulars of how the system *should* work and the reference to a competent and skilled installer!Joan
Re: Tow brake installation - long Reply #2 – January 26, 2005, 07:03:58 am Yahoo Message Number: 49891Quote"Well, there are installations, and there are installations......" Dear Sarah:Excellent report!Please upload, if possible, your recommendation to our Maintenance and Repair Database!Eudoro
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Tow brake installation - long Reply #3 – January 26, 2005, 07:57:43 pm Yahoo Message Number: 49917Eudoro wrote (snip) . . . Please upload, if possible, your recommendation to our Maintenance and Repair Database!. . . Already done my dear - hugs all the way to the other hemisphere to you, Sarah
Topic: Tow brake installation - long (Read 3 times)
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Topic: Tow brake installation - long (Read 3 times)
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