new p3 controller update - Montana Owners Club

FLSTS03 · 08-18-2009, 01:44 PM

I can not imagine why i waited so long to install a Tekonsha product. The P3 worked as advertised and as recommended by those on this forum.

Thanks to those who gave the P3 a thumbs up

Steve

grampachet · 08-18-2009, 04:06 PM

Steve I agree with you. We left Langley BC drove over Snoqualmie Pass went down a 10% grade to Grand Coulee Dam. on over to Glacier National Park and now back to Pasco, WA. The P-3 is so worth the $$.

sreigle · 08-22-2009, 12:28 PM

Nice, isn't it, to just forget about settings once you have it where you want it?

grampachet · 08-22-2009, 01:58 PM

It sure is! And then the assurance that it is what it should be too. I love fiddle music but not if it is fiddling with your break controller.

FLSTS03 · 08-22-2009, 04:11 PM

Steve, We have the same TV. How will the exhaust brake effect the P3?

sreigle · 08-24-2009, 09:57 AM

It shouldn't have any impact on it as far as I've experienced. I think they're totally separate. You just won't be braking as often when the exhaust brake is running.

dsprik · 08-24-2009, 10:34 AM

I have a question. On the video it says to set the P3 to 6.0 then gradually increase until you lock up your trailer wheels at 25 mph, then back off one adjustment.

Now I don't know about you guys, but my first thought is that I really don't want to drag my 14K lb, 40 ft, 3400 fifth wheel trailer down the road ANY distance with the tires locked up. Secondly, how in the world can you tell from inside your cab of your tv if the wheels are locked? I can just barely see the front of my wheels on both side, but I don't think I could tell if the are truly locked up.

Maybe if I have the wife run along side...

Must be a better way that I can see without me actually attempting this???

Last time I know I truly had them "locked up" was when I smelled rubber burning. That probably is not what we should be looking for...

Gramps · 08-24-2009, 12:28 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dsprik

I have a question. On the video it says to set the P3 to 6.0 then gradually increase until you lock up your trailer wheels at 25 mph, then back off one adjustment.

Now I don't know about you guys, but my first thought is that I really don't want to drag my 14K lb, 40 ft, 3400 fifth wheel trailer down the road ANY distance with the tires locked up. Secondly, how in the world can you tell from inside your cab of your tv if the wheels are locked? I can just barely see the front of my wheels on both side, but I don't think I could tell if the are truly locked up.

Maybe if I have the wife run along side...

Must be a better way that I can see without me actually attempting this???

Last time I know I truly had them "locked up" was when I smelled rubber burning. That probably is not what we should be looking for...

Dave, If you get the setting high enough to lock up the trailer brakes, believe me, you'll know it. Just hit the manual switch a little and you'll feel the brakes start to lock.

FLSTS03 · 08-24-2009, 12:45 PM

I intended to try the old method by setting the power to full, place the trk in drive, then start easing the lever back untill the vehicle starts to move. that should get you close. Instead I pulled 6.5 out of the hat pulled across town with alot of stops and gos and with unit set @6.5, all worked well. Steve

I guess you could tape a piece of red plastic to a tire as a way to measure tire movement, as a possiblilty.

sreigle · 08-24-2009, 03:43 PM

Dave, have your windows down. At those low speeds you can hear the tires lock up and can see the driver's side in your mirror. However, my experience with this 3400RL and our 3295RK before that is those wheels are not going to lock up at those speeds unless I'm on dirt or gravel. They don't on hard pavement. So I experimented until I was comfortable with the stopping performance, with the understanding there's a lot of weight there and it's not stopping as quickly as I'd like.

grampachet · 08-24-2009, 04:28 PM

Here is another thought. I just went to Grand Coulee dam and there was a 10% down grade. I found out the trailer brake was not set properly quite fast. When I was in the parking lot at the bottom I used my laser temperature gun and found the TV brakes were 400 and the trailer brakes were 100. It seems to me that they should be be about the same temp. Does that sound like another method of double checking to see if they are set properly? If you test the tempture of your brakes after a trip down a hill using the brakes?

dsprik · 08-24-2009, 05:22 PM

Steve, I agree. I don't think you can lock up the tires on a Montana. At least on my 3400...

sreigle · 08-25-2009, 09:01 AM

Grampachet, I never thought of checking the brake temperatures with my laser temp probe after a long descent but I would think with that much difference between TV and trailer brake temperatures that the TV is doing most of the stopping. Maybe a tech can tell us more definitively. With tow/haul and the builtin exhaust brake I'm not using the brakes much to control descents. I use them more when I need to come to a stop. But next time I make a downhill stop I'll try to check those temperatures.

grampachet · 08-25-2009, 10:48 AM

I noticed on a friends tv that the front disk and rear drums showed a greater difference than my disk front and back. So I would expect the Monty's drum brakes to show a lower temp then the disk of the tv. These are just what I saw on that one test. In otherwords the disk brakes were higher temp than the drums.

sreigle · 08-26-2009, 02:42 PM

That's what I've seen, too. The truck discs show higher temp than the trailer drums. I also look for all trailer drum temps being roughly equal. I also shoot the rims with the laser, thinking a hot bearing would cause a hotter rim. One rim much hotter than the others would make me think there's a problem.

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