Community Forums

deandec · 01-25-2019, 09:38 AM

Most discussions of the Ready Brake that I read seem to have happy owners responding.

So I am ready to buy a Ready Brake to replace my Brake Buddy that is 17 years old.

I like the idea of no electronics to fail.

Has anyone had a bad experience with Ready Brake?

AKIQPilot · 01-25-2019, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deandec

Most discussions of the Ready Brake that I read seem to have happy owners responding.

So I am ready to buy a Ready Brake to replace my Brake Buddy that is 17 years old.

I like the idea of no electronics to fail.

Has anyone had a bad experience with Ready Brake?

I toiled over this for 3 months this past spring. I had written off the NSA Ready Brake early on because I thought it was gimmick. After reading over 60 positive reviews on Amazon and hundreds of positive reviews on this forum and others I decided on the Ready Brake.

My review will also be 100% positive. Super simple installation. Very functional. Very smooth and progressive. No electronics to glitch or fail. No drain on the Toad battery. No in and out every time you hook up or unhook. Works absolutely as advertised.

In all the reviews I did read there were one or two guys that said their RB got a little sloppy after 10,000-20,000 miles of towing. One guy mentioned sending his back to NSA and they rebuilt it or sent him a new one, I forget which.

For my non-airbrake gas coach the NSA product works perfect. There may be better braking systems out there for airbrake equipped coaches but for me the Ready Brake does a great job.

Fanukalum · 01-25-2019, 01:28 PM

I have towed my jeep over 35K mile behind a DP. No problem in the Rockies, No problem in Big City traffic, no problem on the worst interstate in the US (I-10).
The only negative, it might not meet all states DOT requirements for towing depending on weight of toad.

FIRE UP · 01-25-2019, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deandec

Most discussions of the Ready Brake that I read seem to have happy owners responding.

So I am ready to buy a Ready Brake to replace my Brake Buddy that is 17 years old.

I like the idea of no electronics to fail.

Has anyone had a bad experience with Ready Brake?

deandec,
Well, this really isn't a "bad" experience with R/B, just a tad bit of info that may, or may not apply. I'm one that had a R/B for quite a few thousand miles. It went through a couple of motorhomes, three or four Jeeps and one GMC Sierra 1500 4x4. Well, yep, it did get sloppy, VERY sloppy. I'm one of those types that, I don't have to send a tooth pick back to the factory to get it sharpened. In other words, I can handle fixing and or analyzing lots of types of problems.
So, I disassembled my Ready Brake all the way down to the last parts which, there's only about 3 moving parts anyways. A piston, a spring and some O-rings. Oh, and some oil too.

Well, it wasn't that hard to determine that the spring was pretty much shot and the oil was dirty. The O-rings looked OK but, my thought was, get a new spring, some O-rings, and whatever kind of oil they use. Well, after talking with with NSA direct for several minutes, they don't send out "parts". They only rebuild their units themselves. I told them I was looking at all the internal parts and that's all I needed. They wouldn't budge.

I said fine, hung up. I cruised down to my local auto parts store, picked up some matching O-rings, put a small spacer in the spring cavity to take up what the spring had been compressed some, and, some new hydraulic oil.

Put it all back together and sold it. I'm now using the M&G system because, we have a diesel with air brakes. I'd recommend the M&G over a Ready Brake in a heart beat, especially if one has a diesel. But, that's another story. As for the long time we used the Ready Brake, it worked and, worked pretty well. I was never really dissatisfied with it. If NSA would have sent me the parts, I might have stayed with that Ready Brake for quite a bit longer. Who knows?
Scott

cwit · 01-25-2019, 03:57 PM

I have the ready brute elite and have put 12,000 trouble free miles on it. Would I buy another yes I did, but that’s another story a long one.

3XACHRM · 01-25-2019, 05:06 PM

3 years and 35,000 miles with no issue.

hohenwald48 · 01-26-2019, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

deandec, Well, after talking with with NSA direct for several minutes, they don't send out "parts". They only rebuild their units themselves. I told them I was looking at all the internal parts and that's all I needed. They wouldn't budge.

I said fine, hung up. I cruised down to my local auto parts store, picked up some matching O-rings, put a small spacer in the spring cavity to take up what the spring had been compressed some, and, some new hydraulic oil.

If NSA would have sent me the parts, I might have stayed with that Ready Brake for quite a bit longer. Who knows?
Scott

I suspect, in the society we live in today, parts supplied to someone of unknown ability for something like a braking system might create some liability that NSA doesn't want to deal with. I've heard they will rebuild any RB system returned to them at no charge. That likely avoids liability problems.

I'm just "supposin".

Bikinjim · 01-26-2019, 08:22 AM

Similar to Fire Up, after close to 50k miles of pulling my Cherokee Trailhawk, my RBE became really loose and I noticed that the car could move forward and backward a couple of inches while the coach was stationary. This greatly changed the amount of slack in the brake sling when the car was forward (as under braking), or rearward (as under acceleration). I tightened up all the bolts in the RBE and this would help for a time but it would soon get sloppy again. So I contacted NSA and shipped the RBE back for inspection. They found that the shock had failed, replaced it, tightened up the towbar, and returned to me. NSA repaired the towbar and got it back in the mail the next day so I considered their service as excellent. However, as I had just gotten a new toad, I decided to use all new towing equipment and went with the Air Force One brake (M&G wouldn’t fit the toad) and a Roadmaster towbar this time. My perception is the AFO provides toad braking sooner and under more conditions than the RBE did.

What I learned from this experience was the RBE will wear and will need refurbishment if it is used long enough (similar to other brands of towbars). NSA service to inspect and refurbish their towbars is excellent, but the cost to the owner to ship it to NSA can be quite high ($95 in my case). Wear in the towbar will affect the brake sling slack and you have to be careful that the slack is adjusted with the car fully back (position like under acceleration) or you could inadvertently set it with insufficient slack which could result in unintended toad braking. Users of the RBE should frequently inspect the towbar for wear and looseness and have it refurbished when needed.

u04601 · 01-26-2019, 08:31 AM

The only problems I have had in the 16,000+ miles I have towed my 5000lb Jeep JKUR with the ReadyBrute has been the cable on the ReadyBrute slipping/breaking (twice). Called them up and they sent a new cable WITHOUT the plastic coating. Have not had any problem since. I do carry some extra cable now. Otherwise, it has been flawless.
Also, NSA machined custom tow bar connectors to fit my offroad bumper on the Jeep.

Big Bear Local · 01-26-2019, 09:00 AM

Have used mine on one Jeep TJ with three different MH's. Never a problem.

deandec · 01-26-2019, 10:52 AM

Thanks to all who have posted to my question thus far. I will buy a RB.

My Brake Buddy has had a couple of failures and factory repair (which I then had to repair).

One of the failures (human caused) required all new brakes on my Jeep GC while traveling that zinged me for $900. (just about the cost of two Ready Brake units)

I am not too concerned about additional braking provided by the system but definitely need a break away braking feature.

The reports of too much slack in the unit after many miles seems easier to deal with than an electronic device with a canned brain and no tolerance for error.

The slack issue also dictates not buying a used Ready Brake.

hohenwald48 · 01-27-2019, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deandec

I am not too concerned about additional braking provided by the system but definitely need a break away braking feature.

Just an FYI, NSA sells a system called the Ready Stop

https://www.amazon.com/NSA-RV-Produc.../dp/B00IK56R4A

The ReadyStop system can be installed with any supplemental brake system or on a toad with no supplemental brake system. It is completely independent of the ReadBrute or ReadyBrake systems sold by NSA.