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Old 10-24-2005, 03:09 PM   #1
Montana_4699
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Braked or not Braked?

When disconnected from the TV, are the 5er breaks locked on, as the air brakes on a tractor trailer?
 
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Old 10-24-2005, 03:59 PM   #2
Kathi
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NO!
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:02 PM   #3
Kathi
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Paul said, That little wire that comes with the power cord that hooks to the TV, that is the brakeaway switch wire. That hooks to the TV and if the 5ver gets loose that will apply the brakes on the trailer.
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:11 PM   #4
DHenry
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Kathi told you true "NO", chalk your wheels before you unhitch.
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:14 PM   #5
drhowell
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Under normal use your brakes do not apply when you disconnect the light cord from your tow vehicle. However the safety (emergency) brake will apply (as Kathi and Paul have said) if you pull the pin on the emergency switch on the side of your pin box. The very small cable that you anchor somewhere on your truck is designed to apply the brakes if the truck and trailer become separated.

This emergency system uses the 12 volt battery(s) on the trailer to apply the electric trailer brakes. This is not designed for long term use. Besides causing possible damage to the magnets, the 12 volt draw on the battery's will drain you battery in a very short time. When the battery's are dead the brakes will release.
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Old 10-24-2005, 04:46 PM   #6
palebluedot
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Ditto what drhowell said.
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Old 10-25-2005, 12:47 AM   #7
HamRad
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The first thing on a list when preparing to unhook your rig from the truck should be to place wheel chocks in the proper position. They should be on both sides of the trailer. Read a story where the guy only placed chocks on one side of the trailer. There was enough of a grade to cause the trailer to move when it was released from the truck. It simply pivoted on the chocks that were in place and ended up almost in the lake!

No. The brakes are not on and you should not use the break-away switch as a braking process. As already stated it is for emergency use only and will run the battery down in a hurry!

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Old 10-28-2005, 08:25 PM   #8
Fordzilla
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I have to share a story of the first time I had the emergency brake cable yanked out of the trailer I was turning a busy corner and the wire cought on the hitch. I was only going 5-10mph at the time but man did it stop in a hurry. Not nowing what happened I waited a second and proceeded to give the diesel more pedal until it drug all 4 tires about 50 feet to get out of the way and a local businesman came out of his shop and helped me understand what it was that went wrong. So now I am a little more careful about how I hook up the breakaway cable.
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Old 10-29-2005, 06:29 AM   #9
Thunderman
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Fordzilla

I have to share a story of the first time I had the emergency brake cable yanked out of the trailer I was turning a busy corner and the wire cought on the hitch. I was only going 5-10mph at the time but man did it stop in a hurry. Not nowing what happened I waited a second and proceeded to give the diesel more pedal until it drug all 4 tires about 50 feet to get out of the way and a local businesman came out of his shop and helped me understand what it was that went wrong. So now I am a little more careful about how I hook up the breakaway cable.
Ron & Melinda,
I thought perhaps that situation only happened to me. In my case I had a new 5er just purchased and was only around 200 yards from the dealer. I called the dealer, they sent a tech right away, he saw the problem immediately. Talk about embarrassing!

Weldon
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Old 10-29-2005, 03:58 PM   #10
Dave e Victoria
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I had a similar problem. The cable got hooked on a part of the hitch rail. I had to drag around a corner to get out of the way. I prevented the problem from ever happening again by slipping a piece of clear plastic tubing over the cable. I think I used 7/16 ID tubing. Besides solving the poblem, it looks professional.
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Old 10-30-2005, 03:21 AM   #11
montanared
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The same thing happened to me about 4 years ago, but with a travel trailer, not my 5th wheel. The cable was threaded through the safety chain (man I sure don't miss that setup) and a hard bump while crossing a construction detour yanked the pin and activated the brakes. Because the detour was gravel and rough, I thought the sudden change in the way the vehicle was handling was caused by the loose gravel and I just gave it more gas. About a mile later I saw the smoke. Cooked the brakes, and it is a wonder it didn't start a fire. It suddenly dawned on me how stupid it was to thread the brake cable through the safety chain. I guess I have to learn the hard way. Seems I did almost everything wrong back then, and there was no forum like this to set me straight. (Did I mention I love this forum?)

Now when I feel something unusual, I pull over immediately, once it is safe, and check it out.

A thanks to Dave for his suggestion about using clear plastic tubing. I'm gonna give it a try.
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Old 11-07-2005, 01:15 PM   #12
sreigle
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Same thing happened to me turning into a pullthru in a KOA in Louisiana on our five week trial run prior to fulltiming. I didn't know what happened other than we came to an abrupt stop. The Ford can tow mountains but this one it wouldn't budge, forward or backward. I had a number of amused neighbors when we finally figured out what happened. I just bolted in an eyebolt to reposition the cable and no more problems.
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