It’s easy to be a critic, but this is not the ideal way to set up trailer brakes.

The truck’s brakes are massive compared to the trailer’s brakes. I suppose for someone who pulls their camper a few 100 miles a year, this wouldn’t matter much - but I was towing up to 30k miles/year. ‘Ideal’ trailer brake setup was required for safety as well as reasonable service life for components.

I will defer to trailer authorities for details about what is ideal - but in a nutshell, the trailer should assist the truck by stopping its own weight. Those skinny shoes inside drums are far less efficient at shedding heat. This becomes a major safety concern in those situations where traffic is stop and go from 40-50mph to 0mph we all see in highway back-ups. A few of these events in a short period of time will render the trailer brakes useless (brake fade) and can even get them hot enough to be a fire hazard. Lesser quality brake pads on the truck also suffer in these conditions. Not sure if I’ve mentioned EBC Yellowstuff pads before, but they are very resistant to heat fade and continue to provide superior (to any other pads) stopping power even when HOT.

 

different driving styles and areas come to play here Jason, IMO if you set a 50/50 ratio or even a 30/70 trailer braking, the truck as well as the trailer aren't working as hard to stop the combine weight, in my field of work I hardly see trailer brake failure or truck brake failure, but I also don't live in a hilly area so it might be a different set up than the guys that live in hill country.

When ever one of the novice drivers hooks a trailer even with small loads they tend to wear the truck brakes quick and warp the hell out of the rotors, because they never set the trailer braking correctly or the trailer comes back with "waved" tires because they have the trailer brakes all the way up I guess it all comes down to weight and location.

 

Well, my mis-marked/discounted Hawk SD pads should be here Saturday. If they turn out to be the rear as priced and not the front as advertised, then I might take that as a sign from the heavens to go with another brand of pads. ***sarcasm on***Perhaps Power Stop, Wagner, TRQ or another brand since no other recommendations have been made...***sarcasm off***

 

I've read that trailer disc brakes are the cats meow. Have you ever had trailer sway? When you lock those trailer brakes it straightens the truck tight away and thia ia what you want when a panic brake situation that's why I mentioned to set the trailer brakes higher it takes the stress of the truck brakes such as heat and warpage. Trailer brakes run way cooler than trucks want to test? check temp when you stop you'll see which ones hotter.

 

I have not looked at those brakes for the trailers. Really, since we started on a 30 ft travel trailer and then went to a 37 ft 5th wheel and now a 28 ft 5th wheel, I don't have any trouble really. The driver side caliper failed, that is all there is too it. I thought I had the problem fixed after the first it seized because the hold down pin was wedged between the pad and the piston. I also performed a full service and everything appeared to be good.

Apparently, the caliper piston didn't like to return to a non-contact position after a certain amount of heat or pressure was applied. While on the road, I replaced the caliper and hose just to be sure we would not have a problem on the way home during the 250 mile journey through the mountains. I knew I did not want to use an AutoZone hose long term, but it was worth the extra cost in order to have peace of mind about the brake performing well enough to get us home. Once home, I could pick and choose what parts I wanted since I have time to wait for them to arrive.

I have been in a few emergency stop situations with this trailer, I would say 5 or so and it tracks true and well. One was down hill even and I had my hand on the plunger, but didn't need to use it. I prefer the towing method of a 5th wheel over a properly set up weight distribution system of a travel trailer any day of the week. That is just my preference though. I know there are things like the Hensley, but I prefer a 5th wheel in every way.

In the 7 years of towing heavy cross country, I never once had a problem with the trailer or truck brakes with the 60/40 split. Until the caliper failed on the truck. But there is no stopping that from happening on a 20 year old truck running what I believe to be OEM parts.

I actually have been testing the brakes on the truck and trailer with an IR gun during each stop. Believe it or not, the truck and trailer brakes are pretty close. Usually the truck will be ~130* and the trailer will be ~100*, sometimes down to 90's. I really think I have an ideal setup right now for slow stop and go traffic as well as descending a grade. When I had the trailer brakes as the dominate stopping power, I didn't like the way it slowed or stopped at all. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and advice with me, but as Jason said earlier, you can offer the best advice in the world, but you cannot make us follow it.

It was something like that...

 

Driving style is the most critical component. A friend called awhile back and was surprised he killed the pads I recommended in 20k miles. With very little prodding, I uncovered the fact that he drives his 500hp, 9k lb truck like a sports car in city traffic. ALL THE TIME. His tire wear also reflects this. He described rushing home because his dad was having a medical issue and made a 40min (speed limit) commute in 15mins. Not smart. He called me because his brakes were HOT - likely in the 800* range...

So, when the yellow pads had to be replaced ‘right then’, he tossed a set of parts store ‘premium’ (not ceramic - they REALLY suck) pads on. Another call followed. ‘Holy ****, these pads SUUUUUCK’. I suggested he modify his driving style to get more life out of the aggressive pads and he LOL’d.

Teaching employees to drive seems like an unreasonable challenge. If you’ve found a work around for that, good work. I have a friend that serviced OTR trucks had a lot of control over how long a driver kept his job. He was on the front line and could judge a good driver from a bad one without ever seeing them drive. Brakes and tires have a lot to do with that.

 

Good thread. My front passenger side locked up on me last weekend and that is what I will be doing this weekend. I got new rotors/calipers/brakes for both sides, I always try to really lube up the slide pins just in case. After reading this I will probably go get a new brake line hose for both as well. I went with all advanced auto parts and Carquest severe duty brake pads. I just had to redo the rears last month as they locked up as well. Always something.

 

@beachcamperf250 , I STRONGLY recommend lubing slide pins with dielectric grease. I’ve found nothing that lasts longer. Also a good plan to change the brake fluid at least at pad changes. Slurp the old stuff out of reservoir and refill with fresh fluid, then gravity bleed all (4) corners until ya get fresh fluid.

Those are the literally the pads my friend says suuuuuuucked for stopping power after he had been using EBC pads (in the post above). They will probably give you a refund for those if you choose to upgrade. They stop the truck, but with more effort and more heat increasing the wear on other components. Better pads stop with less effort, but have the ability to put ABS to work if need be.

 

I would like to thank Jason for the Dielectric grease trick. It's all I've been using, never in a million years would of thought that electric grease would last longer than qualify slide pin grease. And for that my hats off sir

 

I put those severe duty ones on the rear with new calipers and rotors and had no issues stopping with the TC on, that is around 5500 lbs. I always used hub grease on my slide pins but will try the dielectric grease this time, thanks.

I have been in 250's with the slotted rotors and ebc yellows and it will yank you out of the seat when stopping, they are nice.

Since I already have everything ready to go and planned for this afternoon I will install the ones I have and keep an eye on them and report back. I had put them on my previous f250 and didn't have issues, but again I know they don't compare to ebc's.

 

Bake fluid, aren't we suppose to use dot 3? I thought I read Sous is using dot 4. Just to be sure.

 

According to page 179 in the owner's manual, only DOT 3 brake fluid is to be used. Although, it is my understanding that DOT 3 and DOT 4 are compatible and interchangeable in every way. Perhaps I am wrong...


The fluid I used during the first service about a month ago was Valvoline DOT 3 & 4 as seen below.



When we were in Knoxville and I was performing the on the road repair, the AZ only had Valvoline DOT 4 fluid (VVDOT432) which I cannot seem to find an image of, but have sitting here next to me. It looks identical to the bottle above, but says DOT 4 and has a red cap instead of blue. Again, I did some light research when I was at AutoZone waiting for them to pull the parts and read that DOT 3 & DOT 4 were interchangeable and compatible, but I have been wrong a lot lately so maybe I am wrong regarding this too.

Off to search a bit more before making the decision to use the DOT 4 fluid or trash it and purchase some more DOT 3 & 4.

 

This was taken from the Amsoil site source: https://blog.amsoil.com/dot-3-and-do...OT%204%20fluid.

 

Oh my, ‘hub grease’, bearing grease, chassis grease etc have the SHORTEST service life of anything - except maybe antisieze. ‘Caliper’ grease is OK, but I’ve compared some high dollar stuff to good ole 100% silicone grease (quality dielectric grease) and the dielectric works better and lasts the longest. It has a HIGH melting point - which is why it stays put the longest. The other products gets really ‘thin’ and just run out when hot.

Your pads are fine, just really anemic performance once you get used to something better. If you had ‘ceramic’ pads or ‘low dust’ pads or worse, the ‘economy’ pads - I would encourage you to change them. They have dangerously weak stopping power and destroy rotors.

 

I brought it up Sous because I thought the Dot 4 would absorb water also. That's why people have always said use dot 3. At least that is what I remember reading on here somewhere. I guess you should be fine then.