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Old 08-27-2009, 02:45 PM   #1
bjj5633
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trailer brakes locking up

Here is another one for you guy's. When bringing the new fw home from dealer I pulled into the yard and the truck and fw came to a halt,I looked at dash and it said trailer electric failure so I went and looked at fw and the breakaway switched had pulled out. I had taken the turn and it lockedup 20ft later on a straight road. I called the dealer to see if something in fw made that switch popout he said noway it must of got caught and pulled out. I am concerned it might happen again. should i believe them. thanks
 
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Old 08-27-2009, 03:27 PM   #2
awaywego
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I put a piece of clear plastic tubing over mine and it keeps it out of the way and has not pulled the plug out in years.

Make it about a foot or so shorter than cable.

Others will be along with other ideas soon.
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Old 08-27-2009, 03:35 PM   #3
noneck
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Where do you hook the loop of the break away cable? I put a dedicated spring hook on my FW hitch, also make sure I lay it w/o coiling so it won't snag when turning corners etc.
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Old 08-27-2009, 03:41 PM   #4
bjj5633
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When i left the dealer he put it on the hitch arm. My main concern is the fw didn't spit it out because of a failure. thanks
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Old 08-27-2009, 03:58 PM   #5
noneck
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Ahhh, right...so that thing plugs into the switch to "open" the contacts, it will not spit out on its own but is intended as a "break away" event causing brakes to be active and stop the trailer because a catastrophic event occurred.
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Old 08-27-2009, 04:06 PM   #6
bjj5633
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ok great, I got that message on the dash board about electric failure, so I just wanted to make sure that came after the switch came out and not before. Thanks
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Old 08-27-2009, 04:13 PM   #7
HamRad
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Several members have reported getting the brake cable pulled because it caught on something. Usually it is just a matter of putting the brake pin back in position.

We try to position our cable in such a way that it would be difficult to accidentally pull the pin. Other than that we don't do anything special. So far so good.

Good luck.

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Old 08-28-2009, 09:15 AM   #8
sreigle
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Yep. Happened to us as we turned into a pullthru site. I think I'm going to borrow Wayne's idea of the clear tubing.
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Old 08-28-2009, 10:37 AM   #9
firetrucker
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I put a small horseshoe magnet on the pin box and run the cable through that, which has kept it from snagging on anything. The only time it has ever come out is when I drove the truck away without disconnecting the cable.

Bob
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Old 08-28-2009, 11:27 AM   #10
skypilot
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I pulled mine out a couple time when I first got our Mountaineer when making sharper left hand turns -- the cable was so long it would sag down and get caught in a lock or something in the hitches support structure. I ended up tying a couple of knots in the cable (effectively shortening it) and now I can turn 90 degrees left or right and it doesn't catch on anything.

I like the tubing idea -- that would make it even less likely to catch on something.

Now that said, and not to steal the thread, but I also connect it to the handle on the hitch. Wife asked me long ago, what happens if the hitch goes (I have a Signature sseries hitch) -- I don't have an answer but I probably should look for a different connection point.
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Old 08-28-2009, 04:11 PM   #11
bjj5633
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That's where mine was connected on the hitch handle. Thanks
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Old 08-29-2009, 06:48 AM   #12
sreigle
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Mine also is looped over the hitch handle.
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Old 08-29-2009, 01:56 PM   #13
bjj5633
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So everyone agrees it didn't get spit it out it pulled out.
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Old 08-30-2009, 01:20 AM   #14
noneck
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Without being there hard to say with absolution...but as you can see we have had this happen and made adjustments to prevent reoccurance.
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Old 08-30-2009, 02:51 AM   #15
Mudchief
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I don't think you have anything to worry about. I also have had that happen and I added the tubing over it and have not had it happen anymore.
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Old 08-30-2009, 03:46 AM   #16
bjj5633
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Ok Thanks
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Old 08-30-2009, 03:33 PM   #17
richfaa
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Here also.. Pulled out making a very sharp bend out of a small fuel station in New Mexico Had the 05 F-350 V-10 at the time and it just kept pulling the 3400 with all 4 wheels locked till I hit some good concrete and ole soup for brains figured out something was holding us back.
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Old 08-31-2009, 03:05 AM   #18
bjj5633
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Scary stuff.
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Old 08-31-2009, 03:16 AM   #19
steves
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I put a quick connect chain link on the side of my hitch (bottom hitch adjustment hole) and connect my brake-away cable to it. I've never had an incident with pulling out the brake-away plug in any type or degree of turn...? maybe I'm just lucky?
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Old 08-31-2009, 04:05 AM   #20
bjj5633
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That sounds like an easy fix. Thanks
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