shall we try again?

[dieseldummy]

This weekend i will be going to Ogallala, NE which is about an hour and a half from where i live. I will be taking my pickup with a 24' tandem axled trailer with duals. It has good brakes on both axles and is rated for 20,000lbs. I will have about 8500lbs of a JD 60 on it and misc. junk in my pickup. I have gone through the brakes on my pickup within the last 3 months and have also setup and check out the trailer brakes. Other than this what can, or should I do to be positive that I will be ok hauling this load, other than beef up the frame and adding a different hitch. I have built a very tough gooseneck hitch, and someday if time permits may look into adding frame support. Until then I am just looking for little things. Also, I only tend to run about 65 mph with my 4:10 geared rig so the speed doesn't eat my motor alive. Thanks for all the advise.

[CareyWeber]

Not a requirement, but good advice is to run all your running lights off a relay rather than the stock GM headlight switch.

Carey

[CleviteKid]

Hi DD,

Thanx for trying again! I don't think you ever mentioned which transmission you have. If it is the automatic, consider adding another cooler. Keeping the glycol, engine oil, tranny lube, and axle lube cool is good for everything. Consider switching to synthetic lube in the transmission and rear axle.

Note that some members have reported problems with synthetic axle lube, but most of the sophisticated big rigs running over the road use synthetic axle lubes with great success. If you have a limited slip, add the GM supplement, part no. 1052358.

Thermostats go bad, so putting in a new one as a precaution is a good idea, too.

If you are not doing so already, think about running the rear tires on the truck at the maximum recommeded air pressure.

Good Luck on your trip, and at your destination.

Dr. Lee :cool:

[dieseldummy]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have done some of these things, but will look into getting some of the others done before the weekend. Thanks again.
Justin

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

A little known fact: If your tires have

[dieseldummy]

I was not aware that you could increase pressure in tires like that. Mine are LT245/75R16's and are rated for 80psi, I will try that if my rims will handle it. I have often wondered how much better a tire could handle its rated load with more pressure. This might be the neatest thing i have learned all week. One added question though, can this be applied to truck tires with load ratings in the G range?

[CleviteKid]

Brian is correct about the truck tires accepting an extra 10 psi for a greater factor of safety. He is also correct that the wheels have to be rated for the pressure, also. A 235/85R16 tire at 90 psi is putting 49,000 pounds of force on each of the wheel flanges trying to blow them off the rim.

Dr. Lee :cool:

[dieseldummy]

That is a lot of pressure. Would that be similar to my tires, being as they are 245/75R16's?

[CleviteKid]

Yes.

This is a genuine problem with multi-piece rims on big-rig tires. Before OSHA mandated that all such tires be inflated inside a steel cage, two or three mechanics per year lost their heads (literally) when an improperly installed side ring came off at 90 psi or so. If it missed your neck, the side ring would go through the roof of a typical garage.

Dr. Lee :eek:

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

Can I print this & show my kids? They're pretty sure I don't know anything.

Blessings!

Brian Johnson, #5044

[Turbine Doc]

DD,
Also know that the wheels themselves have a carry a load rating in addition to the tires, as do the tire stems, my factory rims were only rated for 1680 lbs, I uprated to 3300lb rims,

Also after about 50 psi and heavy load the stems can become unseated according to the tire shop that sold me my tires, higher than 50 psi they strongly recommend stems with the threaded keepers and brass shafts to lock them to the rim . I don't know if that was to get more $ from me or a real issue, I paid the extra for the Hp stems just in case.

Something else I added that works real well is www.activesuspension.com (http://www.activesuspension.com) inexpensive bolt on that works. I on occasion pull my JD 2020 tractor and full accessories last pull was 12K loaded tandem axle 18,700 GVW truck and load, mostly flat some hills @ 70-75 200 mile pull.

[dieseldummy]

This evening i was checking brakes on the trailer and have encountered a problem. At the wheels I only have 10 volts, at the plug on my pickup i have 12 volts. How could I be losing 2 volts somewhere along the line? Any suggestions?

[DogDiesel]

Because the brakes use voltage to pull the shoes, thus a loss. Mine is usually more than that, more than one axle with brakes.
One wire of brakes is ground-one input hot. There is energy used when voltage hits those brakes.

Wayne
N
Baghdad

[GBurton]

Hi dieseldummy

DogDiesel kind of had the right idea however it is the current through the magnet coil in the trailer brakes that does the work. Each wheel magnet should draw about 3-amp. My trailer has two axels with brakes on both of them. The full braking action current out of my brake controller is 12-amps. This provides maximum braking action. In normal use will be much lower, depending on the amount of braking action required. FYI, I only know of one brake controller that has a real current display rather than voltage or some number from 1 to 10. Check out Jordan Engineering for brake controllers.

If you measured the voltage at the battery it will be around 14 volts with the engine running. The voltage that you measured at the plug a the rear of the pickup will be lower because of the combined voltage drop of the brake controller plus the voltage drop in wire that runs between the battery to the brake controller, from the brake controller back to the plug on the pickup where you measured 12 volts. From there you will have additional voltage drop in the wire that goes from the trailer power connector back to the trailer brakes. The voltage drop will vary depending on the gauge or size of the wire used by the folks who built your trailer. I think 10 volts is a reasonable voltage at the wheels.

If you suspect a brake problem you need to make sure each brake is working. While a voltage check is helpful the only right way to check your brakes is by measuring the current drawn by each brake magnet. A good number is about 3 amps per brake. To measure the current into each brake magnet you need to put an ammeter in series with the hot wire that feeds each wheel magnet and apply maximum braking from your brake controller. If all of the magnets are drawing about the same amount of current, about 3 amps the problem is probably not in the electrical brake system. Remember the current could be less than 3-amp on a smaller trailer or on an axel with a smaller GVW rating. You need to look at the condition of the magnets along with the other wear items in the brake assembly. FYI, in most cases it is cheaper to purchase a complete replacement electric brake assembly than to buy a set of magnets and other worn out brake items.

George

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

dieseldummy: You said, "At the wheels I only have 10 volts, at the plug on my pickup I have 12 volts. How could I be losing 2 volts somewhere along the line?" I will assume that, with your electric brakes manually fully activated, you are measuring 12V to chassis ground at the connector on your truck, & 10V at the magnet at each wheel of your trailer. If this is so, you are losing 2V between the truck connector & the magnet. This is called IR loss, because V = IR, where V = voltage, I = current (in amps), & R = resistance in ohms (Ω). If, as others have said, each brake magnet draws ≈ 3 amps when fully activated, then there is ≈ 0.167Ω of resistance between your truck connector & your brake magnets - way too much (since V = IR, then R = V/I; R = 2V/12amps). This can probably be compensated by adjusting your brake controller, but you may want to look into where this extra resistance is coming from. My brake controller says to go about 20 mph & manually activate the trailer brakes fully, then adjust for just shy of trailer brake lock-up. If your brakes will do this, it's probably not worth chasing this 2V.

If you intend to pursue this, you need to be aware that, unless your DVM is a lot better than mine, you can't read these low resistances. You can, however, use the volt scale to see the EFFECT of these additional low resistances. (All of the following assumes your trailer is connected to your truck as though you were towing.)

I'd start by checking how good your ground is. I'd get a long piece of wire (household Romex is handy & cheap) & connect one end to the trailer chassis by the brakes. The other end will be up by your truck

[dieseldummy]

I have got the passenger side working properly and will lock up if i want them to, but the driver side will not. I noticed that whenever this trailer was built, they were very into those 3-way crimp together conecters. Could this be why i am having such trouble. These connecters just peirce the insulation of both wire with a piece of alluminum and then the alluminum is supposed to transfer current. It seems to me that this type of connection would create the same effect of having too small of wire.

[ropinfool]

If the connectors you are refering to are the ones I'm thinking of, they are called scotch-locs. I have spent numerous hours pulling my hair out only to find that one of these connectors has oxidized enough to "open" the circuit. Replace them now and you'll be happy later. The best way to replace them is solder and shrink tube. By the way some great advice given above. Good luck. John

[Rockin]

Originally posted by tbogemirep:
DD,
Something else I added that works real well is www.activesuspension.com (http://www.activesuspension.com) inexpensive bolt on that works. I on occasion pull my JD 2020 tractor and full accessories last pull was 12K loaded tandem axle 18,700 GVW truck and load, mostly flat some hills @ 70-75 200 mile pull. I looked at the activesuspension.com site and if their marketing claims are correct, this could be a good product.

I will soon be pulling a good sized gooseneck horse trailer that will be around my pin weight maximum. I was planning on adding air bags but if something like this actually works it could be a better option. Do other people have experience that can say this is a working quality product or just marketing BS?

Just reading through their marketing, it makes sense it could help with axle wrap. I can't put together a reasonable explanation of how it could help maintain load handling without stiffening etc.

[Turbine Doc]

Rock,
I'm not a company paid spokesman all I can say it worked for me, I saw it 1st on TNN Truckin TV, they held it in high regard during their review of it, you may be able to pull up the show archives that is what I did at TNNTV.com or some such address.

What led me to need it was crosswind acting on my Bronco II that I tow to the woods to abuse, keeping "my good truck" from getting tore up.

Around here we have multiple trucks our good ones, and work trucks, I go further to owning a woods truck sort of runs, but if I stick it in a mud hole and it sinks to the bottom not worth spending too much time on.

Anyway I took a gamble for $259 at the time found it met all claims of the advertisers, I have the 3/4T an 1T setup in mine, most of the time I don't know it's installed it really only comes into play with weight in the bed. But believe it or not cornering under power empty rear sway is lessened.

On my last big haul pulling my GN trlr at 18,700 GVWR total I had a rear axle wt of 4480, my empty bed rear axle runs 2760, truck bed was dead even with ground no sag, this thing is adjustable for more stiffness I'm at min setting, at install they say start with lightest tensioning and adjust to more stiffness if needed.

[Rockin]

Tim
Thank you, that is the kind of feedback I am looking for. I'm not saying you are making it up. If there are other people that have used it, It would be nice to hear from them too.

[dieseldummy]

Well everyone, I made it there and back with no problems whatsoever. I got the brakes working, and only weighed in at 20,000lbs. I tended to run around 70-75mph, just enough to keep from piling up traffic. I had no cooling problems and the only transmission problems i had were the electronic sensor on the IP. Thanks for the advice i got here on the page.