We bought the old truck to pull our horses around the valley. I really never thought the truck was towing worthy since I bought it, but it's time it earns its keep. We're taking the horses out to the foothills for a trail ride. Hopefully the truck pulls well. I'm estimating between 6,000lbs and 8,000lbs. I give it a 2,000lbs range because I don't know the exact weight of our old, all steel, 4-horse stock trailer.

 

It pulled very well through the twisty hills. Stopping on the other hand. I had one close call where I was practically standing on the brake pedal. I thought for sure the family that cut me off was going to be in the obituary page.

 

people that have never towed anything don't understand how long it takes to stp all that weight. drive a semi it is much worse.

 

I've towed a lot in our '00 PSD and the '04 Cummins we sold. No braking issues. The IDI brakes aren't anywhere near as powerful. I don't think I want to let my wife try towing with the IDI yet.

 

Need to be sure they are all working right, as the IDI is no different than any other truck of the age. Also be certain the trailer brakes were working as well... even if they work on the other trucks, there may be an issue on this one.

 

well at least you got a truck to can tow. around here everyone thinks their little 1/2 ton or worse mini truck can haul/tow everything they own when moving, or the pontoon boat that weights as much as the truck.

 

The truck should stop no different if not better with a moderate load like that as long as the trailer brakes are up to par and the controller is adjusted correctly. I'd be looking at the trailer brakes in the morning. Glad to hear your using the truck for what it's meant for.

 

I had similar experience when I first started towing with mine 3-4 years ago. Over time I've replaced the pads, booster and master which helped with my smaller car trailer, and now with heavier enclosed trailer the adjustment of the trailer brakes as others have mentioned as well as using a WD hitch to put more of the load on the front braking wheels is important, as is having good tires up front.

 

TRAILER BRAKES?!?

Our trailer's brakes were disconnected before I bought it and I still haven't gotten around to them. The Powerstroke brakes handle it fine. Not so on the IDI. I will probably have to rebuild and rewire them completely.

 

6-8k with out trailer brakes on a horse (stock) trailer... Hmmm, Don't like horses??

Any living creature deserves at least a chance!

Sorry, But thats just wrong!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

I've seen more issues with functioning trailer brakes than w/o trailer brakes because the owner doesn't know how to adjust them per the load. One guy depressed the brakes and his trailer brakes locked up. I also saw a trailer go wildly out of control because of its brakes on ice. Poor horses.

I have the old style controller on my IDI. I don't know if it has an adjustment. It's the kind that you can manually grab the lever and control the braking.

 

Is it hydraulic? They do generally also have adjustment ***** as well, look on the underside. Some of the quality electronic units also have the manual control like that as well.

Keep in mind the newer trucks also have larger brakes. This was due to many people doing as you do, running without trailer brakes, as well as the trucks themselves being rated for larger loads.

Trailer brakes should never cause a trailer to fishtail on ice, even at max setting, but if they were set too light, then it is possible, due to the trailer trying to pass the truck...

 

Any half decent controller has both, adjustment as well as manual lever/slide.

Don't think I've ever seen one without! Ain't seen everything though.

And I've personally lived through exactly the opposite TWICE!
You will never live it down, it haunts you every minute of every hour and I wasn't even the driver, I was just a kid that survived!

You think they are required for no reason, more accidents happen because of no trailer brakes then brakes that lock up ... At least they stop it!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

The controller that came with my truck (electronic) had no manual control... It is since gone. I like having manual control for those occasions the trailer wants to wiggle (mostly an issue on the bumper pull... )

 

Yeah I'd recommend getting the trailer brakes working as well. I just did a complete brake system replacement on an '02 excursion. In that case his trucks brakes failed and it's the trailer brakes that stopped him. Once you've lived through a complete sudden master cylinder failure on your vehicle, you'll think twice about towing big loads w/o trailer brakes! My sudden brake failure was in my old civic on the way to high school. Thank goodness for a manual transmission! I thought for sure I was going to blow the engine in that thing! It didn't like being in first gear at 50mph I calculated it out, and it's just over 9,300 RPM. But hey I managed to stop it about 3 feet before the stop line right as a semi truck passed by on the highway I was coming up to! The travel trailer I tow is just over 7,000 lbs and I've towed it once without trailer brakes (right after I bought it - unadjusted trailer brakes!) It's much nicer to tow with the trailer brakes working I can assure you. I've got a Teckonsha P3 controller installed and I couldn't be happier with it.

And interestingly, my old '85 F350 has grabbier brakes than that '02 excursion. The excursion got 4 new calipers, 4 new rotors, new pads on all 4 corners and a new master cylinder. Completely flushed system with brand new brake fluid. Hoses all in great shape and everything checked over. I figured I must have had some air in the line so I bled out a whole gallon of new brake fluid trying to get the air out. I kept thinking to myself "Something's wrong here, my old truck has MUCH livelier brakes!" But I let the owner drive it and he was excited as can be and said "This thing hasn't stopped this good since it was new!" And the newest thing on my truck's brakes is a 3 year old master cylinder!