RV Brake Longevity With Flat Towing

[BillJinOR]

Originally Posted by dlduck

TandW,

Who says I was using a tow dolly without a supplemental braking system?? I was using a Demco Kar Kaddy with surge brakes that worked fine. I was merely asking for feedback from others as to the issue of less wear and tear on the motorhome's brakes associated with flat towing versus dolly towing. I am continually amazed by people who jump to wrong conclusions just to make wrong statements before investigating the facts first! I can assure you that as a responsible motorhome owner I take every precaution to ensure I am operating at a high level of safety before I put my coach and vehicle on the road.

Dave

Dave when I read your post I thought the same thing. You had a dolly with no brakes because you said the motorhome “all the effort on the motorhome “. Context.
My dolly tow , as was your Demco if it was working properly did it’s share of the braking The difference is replacing two cheap dolly brakes vs 4 car brakes. I dolly towed because I liked the car I had and it wasn’t 4 down towable. I haven’t noticed any unusual brake wear on either. The car toad or dolly tow should do it’s share of the braking if you have either set properly there should be little to no difference between them to the motorhome.

[TandW]

Originally Posted by jeanluc001

To me the only reason to use a dolly is if your tow vehicle can't be flat towed. otherwise if it can be then the additional weight of the dolly not being there is less weight to get stopped. less wear and tear on your brakes. i tow a fiat 500 which is pretty light and use a used rv2 brake system off of craigs list. in just normal driving it doesn't engage at all but in sudden braking incidents it kicks in and works well. talked to a guy in wyoming that was pulling the same car as me and he never used a brake system and didn't feel the need for it.

Sure hope Wyoming guy will never lose his toad connection. What is the law there?

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by jeanluc001

To me the only reason to use a dolly is if your tow vehicle can't be flat towed. otherwise if it can be then the additional weight of the dolly not being there is less weight to get stopped. less wear and tear on your brakes. i tow a fiat 500 which is pretty light and use a used rv2 brake system off of craigs list. in just normal driving it doesn't engage at all but in sudden braking incidents it kicks in and works well. talked to a guy in wyoming that was pulling the same car as me and he never used a brake system and didn't feel the need for it.

I cringe whenever I see somebody who thinks they don't need a brake system on their toad. You may never need an auxiliary brake system until there is an emergency, and then you need it badly! Image you are driving along and a little girl pulls out in front of you on her bike. You slam on your brakes. Would you rather come to a stop 4 feet before you reach her, or 4 feet after?

[jeanluc001]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

I cringe whenever I see somebody who thinks they don't need a brake system on their toad. You may never need an auxiliary brake system until there is an emergency, and then you need it badly! Image you are driving along and a little girl pulls out in front of you on her bike. You slam on your brakes. Would you rather come to a stop 4 feet before you reach her, or 4 feet after?

yeah that's what i said to him more or less but he thought that the toad was so light it wasn't needed. I thought having a brake in the toad was good insurance just in case and we all know just in case happens all too often.

[Crasher]

To the OP's question. Surge brakes on a dolly "can" be fairly effective if working properly. Keep in mind that it only has two wheels that brake. Towing 4 down will almost certainly have better braking with four wheels braking. Toad aux brakes are adjustable to the point they will stop the vehicle as fast as the coach can stop itself. They work together much more effectively.

[MO Fred]

My Jake brake slows both the coach and toad down enough without applying service brakes until needed at about 5 MPH. Trick for using Jake brake…. Keep a safe distance, anticipate need for slow downs and need for complete stops.

[Crasher]

I highly doubt that the OP's Ford V10 has a Jake brake.

[MO Fred]

Originally Posted by Crasher

I highly doubt that the OP's Ford V10 has a Jake brake.

Yep…. That’s a fact. I was just saying…..

[chickie]

We use a system called Stay N Play. It can be used with diesel or gas engines. I set mine so the brakes don't smoke on normal braking. Haven't had any problems wit as ot yet

[Kid Gloves]

Originally Posted by chickie

We use a system called Stay N Play. It can be used with diesel or gas engines. I set mine so the brakes don't smoke on normal braking. Haven't had any problems wit as ot yet

Diesel or gas engines are irrelevant. The system can be used on coaches equipped with either air or hydraulic brakes.

[Bonron]

Originally Posted by dlduck

TandW,
Who says I was using a tow dolly without a supplemental braking system?? I was using a Demco Kar Kaddy with surge brakes that worked fine. I was merely asking for feedback from others as to the issue of less wear and tear on the motorhome's brakes associated with flat towing versus dolly towing. I am continually amazed by people who jump to wrong conclusions just to make wrong statements before investigating the facts first! I can assure you that as a responsible motorhome owner I take every precaution to ensure I am operating at a high level of safety before I put my coach and vehicle on the road.
Dave

Well you kinda did.. “had to apply more pressure than usual, Had to anticipate my stops”,,and I had the same thought. If that was the case, then you didn’t have the aux braking system set up right for your dolly. Hope you have better luck with 4 down.

[Leszek]

I use a Brake Buddy that I got on Craigslist. It works fine but I will definitely NOT recommend them simply because they are total rip off artists if you need a part or service. I can understand that their price for the unit is fair market value, but I needed a replacement part and their price for it was nearly the price of a full brand new unit. Anyhow, it works but I have to keep an eye on it and I do not plug it into my toad because if I do it will on a rare occasion fault out and drain the battery (that's caused by the part I need to replace). In any case. It works okay, definitely works good in emergency stop situations. As a matter of fact, has anyone with a brake buddy ever made the mistake of plugging it in and not hitting the purge button? I did that on two occasion. I have mine set relatively low so the brake buddy comes on only with a pretty good slowdown. Well, if you don't purge after powering up then the toad goes from no brakes on to 4 tires locked with smoke pouring off the tires. Remember to purge!!!!

[beenthere]

now in the mountains towing my 6000# avalanche my first stop to check things my tow wheels were very warm. so i had lower my brake buddy setting. when my jake kicks in down hill it sets the brake buddy. i now have the remote on off lite in cab to know when brake buddy is on. i know he has a v-10 but setting the unit correctly for hills or flat road is different, at least in my experience.

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by Martind4

We towed a Grand Cherokee behind our Itasca Horizon using a Brake Buddy supplemental.

I reduced the sensitivity on the BB so it seldom activated on the theory I really only needed it in a panic stop situation. “Normal” stops didn't require the BB to stop.

Our coach had plenty of brake material on the shoes when we finally traded it at 170K miles and 100K towing the GC. I slowed up before stopping and used the exhaust brake extensively to save on the service brakes.

This is exactly that I am doing. The CRV brakes are not applied unless I’m braking rather hard. Other than that the coach does all the work