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05-08-2021, 03:09 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Snow Hill, MD
Posts: 13
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Ready Brute not applying brakes
Went out this morning to test the Jeep Cherokees' newly installed Ready Brake Elite 2. Used a nearby empty parking area, had DW sit in car watching brake pedal while I drove forward and applied brakes at 20 mph and stopped. She reports no movement of brake pedal. The brake monitor light did not indicate braking. So I adjust the cable tighter (about 1" drop), try again with the same result. Disappointed.
Return home, check the actuator cable. I can pull the brake pedal down by pulling the cable at the front of the car by hand (although without the power brake system functioning when in tow mode, there is a lot force wasted overcoming the booster). Verified the monitor light in the motorhome and the switch in the car are working correctly. (The monitor light is turned on by a separate switch mounted in front of the brake arm, not by the cars brake system.) Went for another test drive on a local 55mph road. When I had no traffic around me, I applied the brakes to slow from 55 to 35 with enough force I was sure the toad brake would engage. The brake monitor light came on, so I assumed I have brakes, yeh! So I turned tried the brakes two more times and the light came on. When I got to the beginning of the driveway, I stopped and measured the disc rotor temperature and they were all at ambient temperature, about 65°F. Should warm up a little? Or am I expecting too much?
And do the brakes only work for near panic stops?
I had assumed (ya, I know) there would be some help from the toad brakes for most braking situation, such from highway speed to stop for a light. Not so?
Befuddled now.
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gary l
2004 Tiffin Allegro 30DA W20/8.1
SafeTSteer, 2016 Jeep Cherokee
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05-08-2021, 03:17 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Lansing MI
Posts: 2,811
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I would call NSA and see what they have to say. I'm pretty sure there is a spring in the surge brake that the momentum of the toad has to overcome in order to apply the brakes. The reason for this is that you don't want the toad brakes applying when you are going downhill and the toad is pushing on the ready brakes some. As to the brakes being at ambient temperature after you got home that doesn't surprise me, wheels and tires on vehicles are pretty good air pumps and bring a lot of air by the brakes for cooling. Since it worked at highway speeds I'm thinking it's working OK.
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An Old Fisherman
2017 Nexus Ghost 36DS, 2014 Ford F150 Long Bed
2007 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic
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05-08-2021, 03:28 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Burleson Texas
Posts: 225
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When we had Ready Brake installed, the installer said the car brake would not activate unless the car surges forward. I believe Arcaguy (above) described it correctly.
We already had a tow bar, so only needed the Ready Brake. But same function.
The light comes on in RV when I must slow down enough so the car surges forward. Ready Brake is working well for us. Simple, and just works.
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05-08-2021, 03:35 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Willard, Ohio
Posts: 287
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I think there is a problem somewhere. Our Ready Brute applies the toad brakes pretty much as soon as I apply the brakes to the MH. My dash indicator light is activated when the toads brake pedal moves. When I was setting up our toad I noticed a place for an extra brake light switch near the factory one so I added one and wired it to the dash light. Another thing I did was have a new stainless steel cable made with a turn buckle for adjustments. I rarely have had to make any adjustments to it. I had the cable made at a local marine store. I would call NSA and talk to them. There may be a problem with your tow bar. Good luck.
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John & Diane
2015 Windsport 27K, Sumo Solo's front, CHF front &rear, DIY rear track bar, Roadmaster rear add-on sway bar, and 5Star tune. 2014 Captiva toad and Ready Brute tow bar.
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05-08-2021, 03:45 PM
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#5
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Senior Member/RVM #90
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Columbus, MS
Posts: 54,578
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I adjust the cable so there is hardly any slack. Been using it 9 years with no problems!
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Joe & Annette
Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits.....
2002 Monaco Windsor 40PBT, 2013 Honda CRV AWD
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05-08-2021, 04:40 PM
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#6
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Kittery, ME
Posts: 60
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I had a similar issue with my new Ready Brute Elite I last summer. I have two lights on my RV dash, one that comes with the system to signal when the surge brake is applied, and a second light that activates when my brake lights on the toad are actually on. Last summer after installing all this we drove a total of 3500 miles and the toad brakes were only activated about 6 times, several of which when I hit the brakes abnormally hard just to get the toad brakes to hopefully work. This past winter I contacted Tod at Ready Brake explaining this and he suggested we send in the Ready Brake portion of the tow bar, which is just the first foot or so. They fixed it in one day, no charge, and sent back. I haven't towed yet but it does seem a lot looser and its easier to move the black lever up and forward when manually testing it. Your situation sounds similar so you might want to give them a call.
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2006 Itasca Sunova 29R
2006 CR-V AWD
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05-09-2021, 04:33 AM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Snow Hill, MD
Posts: 13
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Thanks to all who replied! I will be contacting NSA on Monday to try and get this resolved. Whaat a great forum!
Gary
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gary l
2004 Tiffin Allegro 30DA W20/8.1
SafeTSteer, 2016 Jeep Cherokee
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05-09-2021, 01:02 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Titusville, FL
Posts: 5,158
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It's important to understand that the indicator light connected to the Ready Brake only tells you that the Ready Brake "thinks" the toad brakes are activated. I don't use it at all. I wired the indicator light to the toad brake light. Now I know for sure when the toad brakes are activated. I actually wired mine so the light is always on and goes off when the toad brakes are activated. Kind of a "keep alive" indicator to let me know the system is fully connected.
It sounds like something is out of adjustment. Likely the turnbuckle has too much slack or the installer left too much play in the cable from the bumper to the brake pedal
I've been using the Ready Brake for 5-6 years now and it works great. The toad brake is applied with just about any amount of motorhome braking but has never engaged without me applying to motorhome brakes. I've heard the spring that prevents unwanted toad braking takes about 200 pounds of force to compress.
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When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
2023 Grand Design 2600RB, 2022 F-350 King Ranch tow vehicle, Titusville, FL when not on the road
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05-09-2021, 01:29 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 238
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These problems made me sit up and take notice... at the start of our next trip I'll ask DW to sit in the toad and observe... then I'll know if the light on our Brake Buddy is lying. Yeh, why do I have the feeling I'm going to be rigging a camera or phone to film the action instead?
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Steve P
2008 Monaco Knight 40DFT
2014 Honda CR-V LX toad
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05-15-2021, 08:15 AM
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#10
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Snow Hill, MD
Posts: 13
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Wanted to report back results. I called NSA last Monday, talked to Jessie who explained and made suggestions for adjusting the cable. Also checked the lever was able to move free. I also reviewed the cable install in the Cherokee and didn't like the angle the cable made to the metal threaded fitting on the firewall (about 25° angle), installed wedges under the fitting so the cable will run free now. Test drive showed I had the cable a little tight, adjusted the turnbuckle and the monitor light is now showing braking when expected. YEH!!
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gary l
2004 Tiffin Allegro 30DA W20/8.1
SafeTSteer, 2016 Jeep Cherokee
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05-15-2021, 07:20 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 350
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I used a Ready Brute Elite for about 40k miles. Had the notification light hooked up and it always illuminated under medium braking so I thought it was working properly. Then it began getting really loose and I periodically tightened up the bolts and it would loosen back up in a thousand miles or so so I contacted NSA who basically said what I was experiencing was normal so I didn’t worry about it. However while on a group trip, a buddy following said that my center brake light almost never came on unless I was braking really hard which indicated that the toad brakes were rarely activated. I think part of the problem was the looseness factor required the cable slack to be set under acceleration conditions (car would move an inch or two just by pushing on it by hand) so the cable wouldn’t be too tight during acceleration/climbing which could apply the brakes. Then during braking the car would move forward and put excess slack into the cable. I again contacted NSA who said to send it in. They found that the shock/spring had failed and replaced it and again tightened up the bolts to try to take out the slop. By then though, I had lost faith in the system and replaced the tow bar and braking system with another brand. My advice is to do frequent inspections of the looseness of the tow bar because that will result in tension changes of the cable and affect when and how much braking will result and potentially could result in inadvertent braking under acceleration or hill climbing circumstances (when the slop allows the toad to pull back from the coach). In addition, the spring/shock can fail and also affect the braking performance. And it’s a good idea to not rely on the braking notification light for indication of actual braking. Wire it up so that you get indication of actual brake pedal movement or otherwise verify actual braking, one way is to have someone follow you to see when/if the center brake light on the toad illuminates. Almost everyone raves about the RBE and I did too until I discovered my issues.
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Jim and Shelia
2017 Tiffin Allegro RED 37PA
2018 Chevy Equinox
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