[VAC] Re: Brake Control _ Newbie Question

["Weimers" <mweimer@xxxxxxxx>]

I purchased a 19 foot Globe Trotter and brought it home with no brakes. The
trailer weighed about 3000 and the tow car weighs 5300. I had no problem,
but I did not go over 40MPH and I was out on country roads. There are some
nasty hills on the route.

I'm not sure I'd want to do that with a heavier trailer and a lighter tow
rig. It would overpower the brakes on the tow car. You have to be
exceptionally careful of loose gravel or the wheels on the tow car will lock
up and you'll go out of control. That happens to me when I tow a ton of coal
home in my utility trailer. On a long downhill, if you use the brakes all
the way down, your brakes will fade to nothing. I've had that happen too.

A brake controller only costs about $70. The installation would be more, but
I found it was easy to do myself. The hardest part was stringing the wire
from the front of the car to the back without getting close to a moving part
or a hot exhaust pipe. The instructions that came with the brake controller
were good.

You can't really tow a trailer without a brake controller. Why don't you
just go out and get one before you tow it home. That way you'll be safe and
not sorry. The only reason I did it (towed without brakes) was because the
trailer was junk and the brakes didn't work.

If you insist on towing home without the brakes connected, go slow,
downshift the transmission to slow down, use back roads, and drive the rig
as though it will take you about four times as long to stop as usual. You'll
probably make it OK. When you do get your brakes working, however, you'll be
amazed at how well the rig stops ...sometimes with less pedal effort that
the car does on it's own!

MARC WEIMER
Punxsutawney, PA  -  Home of the Groundhog
#15767
1963 Globe Trotter
1971 Globe Trotter
http://users.penn.com/~mweimer/weimer.html