Truck Campers- A Word About Brakes
Another factor to consider is that ¾ ton and more trucks were built to tow. If you look at the owner's manual, there is usually a statement to the gist of "supplemental trailer brakes are required for trailers that weight over XXX lbs". That weight takes a loaded truck into consideration and is usually going to be much greater than any camper you put on the truck ends up being greater than the cargo capacity. The understanding I get from this is that the brakes have been designed to stop the loaded truck plus the figure the manufacturer has stated. Granted, a trailer load is different on the truck and perhaps the engineers have taken the resistance of the trailer's tires into consideration, but if a camper adds 4000 lbs on your truck and the manual says you don't need supplemental trailer brakes for trailers under 2000 lbs, then the worry is less (not erased) because the cargo capacity of the truck was 2600 lbs, plus 2000 lbs capacity of the no-brakes on a trailer = 4600 lbs of stopping power. This is not a license to overload. Just an observation of again why the 80% overloaded do it for so many miles.
Regardless of what your situation is, your camper will cause you to have to drive much more carefully. Braking will require more skill and braking at curves will instantly be radically different. Take it slow at first and develop a feel for your rig, and never become over-confident.
I’ve talked about the basics, now’s the chance for specifics. Reply to this topic with your specific truck camper situation and if your new, ask questions.
* This post was
edited 09/28/04 11:24am by wellsdesigned *
My truck was built with 4 wheel disc brakes...
they work well with the camper onboard.
YET I still installed brakes on my 3500 lb single axle trailer,
and bought my 7000 lb tandem axle trailer with 2 axle brakes.
Better safety factor to have functioning brakes on ALL axles you have down on the ground. I figure since the DOT requires brakes on all axles of tractor trailer rigs, it's a good idea on our RV rigs.
Lemme make sure I've got this in my head correctly, Surge brakes are the variety that are controlled via a mechanism on the tongue of the trailer, activating when the truck decelerates, causing a compression of the mechanism and forcing brake fluid down the lines to the brakes.
Electric brakes are the variety on your average travel trailer/fifth wheel/toy hauler that use an electric system controlled by a braking module tied into the master cylinder's pressure lines to detect braking action and electrically apply the drum brakes on the trailer (Well, my parent's 10,000gvwr tandem axle toy hauler uses drum brakes, not sure if all electric brake systems do) through a system of powerful magnets.
Am I anywhere near the ball on this?
Follow me as I full-time the Redneck Way at The Journey of the Redneck Express CBChannel 17Redneck Express '1992Dodge W-250 "Dually" Power Wagon - Club Cab Long Bed 4x4 V8 5.9L gashog w/4.10 Geared axles '1974KIT Kamper 1106 - 11' Slide-in
Brakes on both trailer axles for me! And using the BrakeSmart controller.
Don and Sarah
"08 F 450 King Ranch 4X4
2003 A990S Arctic Fox
Stablelift, superhitch to tow toys.
Jeeps (1957 CJ6, 1983 CJ8, 2006 LJ Rubicon (wifes) or the other 2006 LJ Rubicon (mine)) on a trailer.
My 2000 Dodge Ram 2500 has a brake adjuster on the rear. This tells the truck to apply more rear brake to stop the truck. I can say my truck stops BETTER when i'm loaded up with my TC.
Just a note that when you use air bags they prohibit the brake adjuster from activating thus you get the same braking power as if your truck was empty.
2000 Dodge 2500 QC 4X4 Cummins Long bed 2003: 40' Dutch Park Model park home. 2001: S&S 9.5SC Ponderosa Truck Camper CampingNut
Quote: Hi Joe,
Most surge brakes are electrically activated.
Surge works fine on light trailers (under 3500#s) but are heck to pay when backing up if you forget to disconnect or use the back up switch.
On icy roads surge brakes can send your trailer tail around chasing your front bumper.
All the surge brake trailers I've seen are hydrolicly activated not electrically. The backing and icy road problems are two more reasons I don't like surge brakes.
The only thing I can say is good about them is that they don't require any special equipment (brake controller) in the tow vehicle. Of course that means you can't tell your friends "sorry, you don't have a brake controller" when they want to borrow your trailer.
Happy Trails,
- Warren
Wife, 8 year old boy, 6 year old girl
01 Lance 961 (9'6 with slide out). TorkLift Frame Moutned tie downs, FastGuns, SuperHitch
05 Chevy DRW,LB,CC,4x4,8.1L gas, Alison
78 Toyota FJ40 w/'97 350 Chevy & auto. trans.
87 Honda TRX250R
Quote: Lemme make sure I've got this in my head correctly, Surge brakes are the variety that are controlled via a mechanism on the tongue of the trailer, activating when the truck decelerates, causing a compression of the mechanism and forcing brake fluid down the lines to the brakes.
Electric brakes are the variety on your average travel trailer/fifth wheel/toy hauler that use an electric system controlled by a braking module tied into the master cylinder's pressure lines to detect braking action and electrically apply the drum brakes on the trailer (Well, my parent's 10,000gvwr tandem axle toy hauler uses drum brakes, not sure if all electric brake systems do) through a system of powerful magnets.
Am I anywhere near the ball on this?
Very close except that the brake controller (at least the ones I've seen) are activated by the brake light switch rather than the master cylinder pressure sensor. Another advantage is that the controller will have a lever so the driver can manually apply the trailer brakes if the trailer starts to sway.
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