Good luck!

 

So I was doing some more internet research last night and stumbled on to a comment made by Sean at Propride about Hensley clearance to the adjustable stinger he sells. The concern was at full turn, and it's true. As the links collapse the edge of the head comes around right over the top of the wedges. This is really only an issue because I am trying to shorten it all up as much as possible.

It doesn't appear to be unsolvable and with my plan to trim all the excess duck bill off the HAHA head there will be plenty of room for all but the most extreme turn angles.

I will update when I get some more to show.

 

Got mine back from the dealer, toppers are on and look good (I need to get some pics). I am sort of glad I didn't do it because it needed to have topper strips installed too.


The recliners finally work properly. FR had to replace them as there was no fix.


70 degrees today, wish I was camping.

 

Greetings all,

I haven't made my way through the first 100 pages of this thread yet.

Just wondering if anybody here recommends any sort of supplemental braking equipment. My family does cross country road trips when we hit the road, and there are some passes on the west half of the US that I would be hesitant to take without additional breaking while I am pulling my TT.

Thoughts?
Chad

 

Well any TT will need to have it's own functioning brakes system (most are electric brakes on all axles) and the tow vehicle will need a quality brake controller.
For the brake controller I use the Tekonsha P3 https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...l_9i6brzfuup_b along with the matching Ford wiring harness for excellent plug and play results.
Before towing with the new EX be sure to give the braking system a good thorough going over. If everything checks out OK with good pad material thickness, all slide pins are free, rotors and calipers in good shape then you should be OK. If you want to optimize the braking, a good full fluid flush will give you better pedal feel and should improve the overall braking performance, fluid flushes are one of the most neglected vehicle maintenance items.
Electric trailer brakes are pretty simple mechanisms, but they still need to be inspected (and the bearings greased) and they will sometimes need periodic adjustments to maintain good performance. I try to keep mine adjusted to the point that are just a whisker away from any contact when spinning the hub/drum with no power going to them, this gives me good solid braking performance from them. I also do a breakaway switch test a few times every camping season where I will pull the tab out of the breakaway switch (the other end of the small cable you hook to your tow vehicle chassis, NOT to the hitch!) and then try to pull forward, the brakes should be locked up. Don't leave that tab pulled out of the switch for very long though, the full power going to the brakes when it is out can overheat the wiring if left activated. I also do a brake check with the manual lever on the brake controller on EVERY tow before we either leave the driveway or campground, with the lever pulled all the way over the trailer brakes should stop the truck/trailer with no truck brakes applied.
When towing our TT we have an approximate 19k combined weight and it stops pretty well, not too much differently than when solo really. For better control on the longer/steeper downhill runs I push the "OD OFF" button on the shifter to get some engine braking into the action (not sure how differently the 7.3 will do with this?) and I will pulse the trailer brakes a bit with the manual lever to keep our speed in check while keeping the EX's brakes nice and cool so they are better prepared for any unplanned excitement.

 

WE3ZS,

Lots of good info in there, thanks.

My double axle TT does have electric brakes on one axle, which took me by surprise when I first discovered it. When I bought my X, it came with a brake controller, but I don't recognize the brand, so I'll likely upgrade.

My main concern about "supplemental" braking comes from this past summer when I towed my TT down the Teton Pass (9,200' I think) and even with my Tow Vehicle's (Duramax) assisted towing mode and TT's brakes, my TV brakes still got uncomfortably squishy by the bottom of the hill. In an X which doesn't have Assisted Towing, I'm worried about a brake failure.

I was wondering if anybody in this thread has had this concern, and decided to install something like an exhaust brake, or had thought slotted/drilled rotors were necessary.

Thanks again,
Chad

PS- you answered two of my questions on two different threads very shortly after I posted them. Kudos

 

I'll bet that your TT's unbraked axle could be easily upgraded to also have brakes. If it has the same 4 bolt flange behind the spindle as the axle with brakes you could buy the matching complete brake set and new drum/hub (your existing hub might even be a drum/hub). When I replaced all 4 of my old ToyHauler's brakes sets they were about $100 per.
Well adjusted trailer brakes can provide a good amount of stopping power.

 

We traveled all of the states this year with our Excursion and Toy Hauler. We have a prodigy P3 Brake Controller and a stock brake setup on the EX. The heaviest the TH came in was just under 14k lbs. The average was about 12-13k

Teton pass is 8,432ft with a max grade of 10%. I have not done Teton pass yet, but I gone over a few 10% grades. I try to hit the larger grades at night when there is less traffic and cooler temps. We make sure to keep the speed down and the trans in a lower gear and kept an eye on all the temps. At no point did I feel that we were unsafe or in a dangerous situation. My trailer does have electric brakes on both axles. When we make it to the summit, I let the truck idle for a bit to get all the temps back down. When we make it to the bottom, I also let the truck idle for a bit to let everything cool down.

You should be fine with well maintained stock brakes and a good brake controller. We are just about to finish our last leg of this year's trip in a few days and leave Dallas, TX and head back to the MD/PA area. I have pretty much been on the road since March and the whole family since June.

 

If I was super concerned with braking power I think I'd call Kodiak or Titan and get a disc brake setup for the trailer. I think it's going to be a $1500 upgrade though.

Besides that get the best brake controller you can afford, and make sure the shoes are properly adjusted and not worn.

Not sure what vehicle you are towing with now but assuming a "X" then a 6.0 Trans cooler upgrade is well worth it and I would imagine it would apply to a V10 truck as well.

 

Just sharing....


Stewart

 

I like this

 

Dang.... wonder how fast the wind was blowing?

 

The guy passing the tractor trailer......

I realize I'm Monday morning quarterbacking, but it seems like he had more than enough time to hit the brake over-ride button and apply the trailer brakes ?

 

You're making the assumption that 1) he understands what a brake controller is capable of and 2) he had it set up correctly. There seems to be a huge lack of knowledge when pulling a trailer. I honestly think you should have to have a license to tow a trailer, I had to get one to drive a motorcycle on the street.

 

Would they have you parallel park with a TT?