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Very Hot Trailer Brakes


thethrillofspeed

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Generally I have a buddy drive my truck so I can drive my boat around the launching area. After watching him hike all the way up to the parking lot (600 steps...I was bored so I counted) I decided to have some mercy and share the hiking experience. So Sunday we get up early for some glass, drive down to the parking area, get the boat ready and everyone in the boat, drive down to the water and as I'm backing the boat into the water and I see a little cloud of steam off of the brake rotors. They work fine, I guess that long downhill drive down to the water gets them very hot. I was shocked to see they got that hot. My buddy said they do it all the time when we have the long downhill drives to the lake. Anyone else noticed this?

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Generally I have a buddy drive my truck so I can drive my boat around the launching area. After watching him hike all the way up to the parking lot (600 steps...I was bored so I counted) I decided to have some mercy and share the hiking experience. So Sunday we get up early for some glass, drive down to the parking area, get the boat ready and everyone in the boat, drive down to the water and as I'm backing the boat into the water and I see a little cloud of steam off of the brake rotors. They work fine, I guess that long downhill drive down to the water gets them very hot. I was shocked to see they got that hot. My buddy said they do it all the time when we have the long downhill drives to the lake. Anyone else noticed this?

What hill are you driving down?? The back side of Northstar??

The only time my wheels were that hot, I burned up a set of bearings.

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I wouldn't suspect they are getting hot from just backing down a ramp. How long does it take to drive to the ramp pulling the boat? Does it requiring braking a lot??

Sometimes we go thru the mountains to get to Lake Roosevelt (1.5 hours from Phoenix) and it has 6% grades coming out of the mountains. I have learned to put it in 3rd gear to lessen the load of working my trailer brakes the entire time. Yes, it may take some more gas because it's allowing the gears to be lowered and takes more gas. It's better than heating up those breaks for an hour thru the mountains tho.

Tandem axle, dual breaks?? Single axle??

Edited by hawaiianstyln
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Tandem axle trailer, single axle brakes. The road down to the lake is probably a mile and is pretty steep. I have the truck in first gear, so the surge brakes on the trailer are probably on the entire way.

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Tandem axle trailer, single axle brakes. The road down to the lake is probably a mile and is pretty steep. I have the truck in first gear, so the surge brakes on the trailer are probably on the entire way.

From I-5 down to Lakeview Marina at Shasta is a mile or two, switchbacks totally downhill; and my brakes were very hot.

Surge brakes on entire time for sure.

Downshifting the tow vehicle to save those brakes does nothing to help boat trailer brakes.

Scary, really, and no solution except stop a few times to cool off (or drive real fast!).

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Tandem axle trailer, single axle brakes. The road down to the lake is probably a mile and is pretty steep. I have the truck in first gear, so the surge brakes on the trailer are probably on the entire way.

From I-5 down to Lakeview Marina at Shasta is a mile or two, switchbacks totally downhill; and my brakes were very hot.

Surge brakes on entire time for sure.

Downshifting the tow vehicle to save those brakes does nothing to help boat trailer brakes.

Scary, really, and no solution except stop a few times to cool off (or drive real fast!).

If you have electrically actuated reverse lockout you can wire a hot wire to activate the surge lockout so your brakes aren't on 100% of the time going down steep hills. I have seen a post where someone has done this. Of course that brings up other issues 1) all the braking is on the vehicle (until you flip the switch and re-actuate) 2) better set up the switch so you don't accidentially engage it and lose your trailer brakes when you think you have them. 3) If you rear end someone while towing your boat you better keep your mouth shut, whether the brakes werelockeed out or not.

The first 1-1/2 miles from my house are down hill, so I usually go pretty slow, speed up just a bit to take the surge brakes off and coast until I am going too fast, slow down again, and repeat so the brakes are not on the whole way down the hill. On a steeper road that plan would get out of hand very quickly though. At any rate, best bet is to let your brakes cool before you dip them (but who wants to do that?) one set of 4 warped rotors and you probably would want to.

Edited by TheBlackPearl
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