Community Forums

FIRE UP · 10-17-2015, 11:49 AM

Well,
As has been stated, we all have a choice. I ran the Ready Brake for a number of years in a few different toads. It worked, and worked well. But, the older I got, the lazier I get, in certain terms. So, I started investigating and, what I came up with was the M & G Braking system.

After consulting a few on here, talking with the tech at M & G, I ordered one up. The installation was a cake walk. And that goes for both the toad and the coach. Now, I will say, I'm speaking in this manner due to the fact that, we have a diesel pusher.

The install in the toad, an '11 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4 Extended Cab, took me about an hour or so. On the coach side, about 45 minutes, plus or minus. But, there's two really good aspects of the M & G system.

1. There's absolutely nothing on the inside of the cab of the toad, not on the floor, hooked to the brake pedal, nothing.
2. Based on the area/position the unit is installed in the toad, there are NO ACTIVATION of the brake lights on the toad.

Number two can be important, depending on just how your toad is wired for toad lights.

But, all that's needed when prepping for towing is, one curly cue air line that takes a whopping 3-5 seconds to hook up between the toad and coach. DONE!
Scott

jondrew55 · 10-17-2015, 02:05 PM

In principal I like the looks of the M&G. Looking at my brake system under the hood of the CRV it aapears to be a more complicated installation than yours. The booster/master cylinder looks difficult to get to and the fluid reservoir is attached such that extending the master cylander would require some additional plumbing. I'll give them a call to see what's involved. Thier comparability matrix says it will work with a CRV, but it requires a "bracket", whatever that means.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Well,
As has been stated, we all have a choice. I ran the Ready Brake for a number of years in a few different toads. It worked, and worked well. But, the older I got, the lazier I get, in certain terms. So, I started investigating and, what I came up with was the M & G Braking system.

After consulting a few on here, talking with the tech at M & G, I ordered one up. The installation was a cake walk. And that goes for both the toad and the coach. Now, I will say, I'm speaking in this manner due to the fact that, we have a diesel pusher.

The install in the toad, an '11 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4 Extended Cab, took me about an hour or so. On the coach side, about 45 minutes, plus or minus. But, there's two really good aspects of the M & G system.

1. There's absolutely nothing on the inside of the cab of the toad, not on the floor, hooked to the brake pedal, nothing.
2. Based on the area/position the unit is installed in the toad, there are NO ACTIVATION of the brake lights on the toad.

Number two can be important, depending on just how your toad is wired for toad lights.

But, all that's needed when prepping for towing is, one curly cue air line that takes a whopping 3-5 seconds to hook up between the toad and coach. DONE!
Scott

wa8yxm · 10-17-2015, 03:50 PM

Box in the driver's seat systems (Brake buddy classic and the like) Are nice if you have a stable of towed's but you have to install them EVERY TIME YOU TOW (No installation required says the flyer) and this is a chance to screw up and damage your towed (Anything from a complete brake job including rotors to a fire).

M&G Air/hydraulic system. IF it fits and works for you (no guarantee does not fit all vehicles) this is about the most foolproof system Basically it extends the motor home air brake system to the towed.

Surge brakes like Readdy Brake, or blue ox Auto Stop.. These are very nice and likely my next systrem but if you live in the great salted north and your parking brake cable is sized...... This uses the same kind of cable and has the same kind of issue.

Many other installed systems.. IF they are properly installed are good.. Some eat battery power

US-Gear Unified Brake Decelerator.. Gives Motor home driver full independent or syced of the towed brakes (Synced means work with motor home brakes) you can adjust gain set the towed brakes or disable them from MH driver's seat.

Eats battery power... FROM THE RV so towed battery remains charged.

This was my FIRST brake system.

CampDaven · 10-17-2015, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Box in the driver's seat systems (Brake buddy classic and the like) Are nice if you have a stable of towed's but you have to install them EVERY TIME YOU TOW (No installation required says the flyer) and this is a chance to screw up and damage your towed (Anything from a complete brake job including rotors to a .. This uses the same kind of cable and has the same kind of issue.

Well, no.
We are fulltime. The BrakeBuddy is 15 years old. Those that do not read the "destructions" can fail.
I have the extra 15 seconds every week or two.

Bigd9 · 10-17-2015, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jondrew

In principal I like the looks of the M&G. Looking at my brake system under the hood of the CRV it aapears to be a more complicated installation than yours. The booster/master cylinder looks difficult to get to and the fluid reservoir is attached such that extending the master cylander would require some additional plumbing. I'll give them a call to see what's involved. Thier comparability matrix says it will work with a CRV, but it requires a "bracket", whatever that means.

Well instillation of the M&G Engineering system in a 09 Honda CRV was not a cake walk, but doable for a old shade tree mechanic like me. I would recommend talking with the help line people though. On mine, the reservoir never gets disconnected from the master cylinder at all, just tilted a bit, and no brake lines are loosened, but it simply moved back about 4 inches and sits perfectly in a cut out in the sound insulation for the hood. It looked like the cutout was put there just for the M&G system! I also installed their brake away system.

Different from Scott, I got the straight airline and not the curled one. I wrap the airline around the power cord for a nice and neat looking hookup.

On my setup I did install a charge line because it was so simple to do so. The Freightliner chassis I have has a 12 volt power supply already in the trailer plug. I simply used a wire in the electrical connector and took the wire to the Honda battery with a fuse there.