electric brakes on caravan

HI Melvin,
Are you sure you released the handbrake before taking off?
I accidently left mine on once and wondered why the turbo diesel could hardly pull it up the first hill.
When I realised what it was the wheel hubs were quite hot by then,
Just a possibility,
Cheers,
GPM

Hi Melvin,
Provided you have not left your hand brake on as the previous post has suggested then from your description it sounds as though you may have the setting a little high. What sort of brake controller is it and do you have the instructions for it.
I gather from your enquirie that you may have the instructions but I was just curious to find out for sure.

The reason I ask about the instructions is that I have a Tekonsha Prodijy fitted to my Cruiser and the instruction are kept in the car. I can email you a copy if you need them.
Regards,
Bruce.

Hi Melvin
In my experience warm is OK but hot would indicate a problem unless you have been doing some recent or extended braking! A couple of things you could check:- 1. Wheels spin reasonably free when no brake applied. 2. Bearing retaining nut backed off ~ 1 castellation. 3. Is most heat from centre of drum or wheel, or near the brake drum outer. (Touch with a damp rag or use a few drops of water to gauge the heat by evaporation rate.) 4. Ideally the brake controller should be applying the van brakes in parallel to yours in the car. It does sound as though they are coming on a little early but I would have expected you would also feel like the van is doing more braking effort than the tug.
Hope this offers some help!
Cheers Roy

Easy to check if it's the brakes.
Disconnect them and take a run along a flat section of road for a half hour, then check if the hubs are hot.

Perhaps there is too much grease in the repacked bearings, or they have been nipped up a bit tight?

Bill.

In regard to the handbrake -

Many people adjust them too tight. As your suspension drops it pulls on the cable, this shortens the pulling distance and can apply the brakes. At rest, adjust the handbrake cable to allow for suspension movement. 4 or 5 'clicks' should be about right.

Hi Melvin. Interesting topic!, i have a 18ft Windsor but its tandem axle!, the electric brakes are touchy to set up but when set up is correct, there isvery little heat at all ,So the extra braking capacity for the same weight makes this a interesting discussion.


Cheers Axle.

Melvin

When I had the brake controller first put on the Navara, I was the best at leaving black skid marks, all over the place.

Primarily caused by watching that DVD from Techonsha

As I have found out, I really only want to feel the trailer brakes ever so slightly, not hard.
They are only an aid to take pressure off your vehicles brakes, and to help keep everything straight when braking.
I am wondering weather you are trying to slow down your tow vehicle, with your caravan ?

I could be wrong, but I believe that if you have adjusted your trailer brakes properly, you should hardly feel them come on, while driving.

I use the manual slide on my controller to test the brakes, as I leave the house,, the old "tug test". ( ever so slightly )

My trailer weight would 1200 kgs.

This works for me !

Cheers
Bucky
ps hope this makes sence

To all of you that have offered opinions and advice, thankyou so much, I'm sorry I took a few days to answer, but apart from checking my emails quickly i haven't had chance to log back on to the site again.
as soon as i can I'm going to become a member of your great organisation, to help a pledge like myself as you all have, was a great thing to do.

My thanks to you all and to Explore Oz again

Regards

Melvin