Well we got back from our two week jaunt from Texas through NM, AZ, UT and CO. Had a blast but did have one fairly large scare.
We were heading out fairly early in the morning from Page AZ up 89 towards Kanab UT and were about 3 miles before Big Water crusing along at 65 when I noticed a trunk in the on-comming lane pulling a boat. We were on a slight curve to the left. About 100 yards before the truck passed us I noticed that something was starting slide out of the truck's bed from just behind the cab.
Before I could say anything to my DW and DS a black nylon bag about 4ft x 2ft x 2 ft, and nice and firm, hit the road. I immediately planted both feet on the brake pedal and proceeded to drive it through the floor.
With no shoulder and nowhere to go and not wanting to end up in a worse situation I plowed over the bag.
The contents of the bag made the truck and trailer jump a bit as we hit it. I did not even look into the mirrors unitl after I came to a stop in the travel lane and then moved gently off of the road.
Turns out the bag had a marine toilet, a nice camp stove and a buch of metal slats. The debris field was about 100 feet long and the toilet was toast. The campstove must have taken a direct hit as it was now about 3 inches tall. I think that the front receiver took the first hit followed by the rear wheel of the truck then the tongue of the trailer.
The P3 did it's job. I can now tell you that there is no question that you can lock up all 4 wheels on the TT. We left skid marks about 80 feet long. The antilocks on the truck kept everything in control.
It sure was nice that the driver that lost the load did not bother to come back. I'm not sure I would have been able to verbalize what I was feeling.
We were lucky. No damage to the TV or TT except for a small scrape on the TV tongue. A few things in the TT found new homes, more forward than they started out. ANd my DW and DS are fine. We stopped at the Big Water BLM center and took a break until I was OK to continue.
I am thankful that we insist in good equipment. I know the Equalizer and my Titan hitch really took some load that day and the P3 did exactly what it needed to.
I'll be keeping an eye on on coming traffic looking for loose loads.
Drippin writes "The P3 did it's job. I can now tell you that there is no question that you can lock up all 4 wheels on the TT. We left skid marks about 80 feet long. The antilocks on the truck kept everything in control."
Actually, your P3 didn't do it's job correctly.
By locking up the wheels on the trailer you lose traction and control of said trailer (skidding tires actually have less resistance or traction than non skidding).
I almost had similar indecent with a deer, but in my case my controller did not lock the trailer brakes but yet applied enough braking to maintain a straight line stop.
I am not thankful that the trailer brakes locked up but rather that the P3 applied max braking force quickly and all of our towing equipment was stout and in good repair and performed well in a panic stop. Even with the TT wheels locked it tracked true behind the TV.
It's key to have voltage adjusted to impending lock up. That would be optimum braking. Once you go into brake lock, you're going the wrong way. The P3's claim to fame is it's ability to match the braking force to the required inertia input so well, and it does that almost perfectly in my experience, as long as you have it set right. I'm very happy with my P3 as well. Glad no one was hurt. It's also the reason I don't usually run at 65+ mph or tailgate. Even set correctly, stopping distances are football fields longer.
"It`s not important that you know all the answers, it`s only important to know where to get all the answers" Arone Kleamyck
"...An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Sunset Creek 298 BH
mosseater wrote: It's key to have voltage adjusted to impending lock up. That would be optimum braking. Once you go into brake lock, you're going the wrong way. The P3's claim to fame is it's ability to match the braking force to the required inertia input so well, and it does that almost perfectly in my experience, as long as you have it set right. I'm very happy with my P3 as well. Glad no one was hurt. It's also the reason I don't usually run at 65+ mph or tailgate. Even set correctly, stopping distances are football fields longer.
Yes that is ideal. But the problem with trailer brakes is that they are not very accurate, and change according to heat and other factors. If you adjust them so they never lock up then they may be too weak under some other conditions. We must compromise.
Fortunately, mine seem to brake harder when cold, and tend to lock easily at low speed when first starting up. I never see a lockup when testing at highway speed with full manual application. I suspect it's not even close to lockup at those conditions, but there is still a fair bit of braking. I fear that if I increased the voltage I would then get lockups in cold temps and low speeds too frequently.
Glad it worked out okay, and that you didn't panic and try to steer around the debris. I was following a jeep once that tried to dodge what turned out to be an empty box. They lost control, rolled several times and the passenger got life flighted out with quite serious injuries. As for the breaks locking up, brake controllers aren't to the point yet where they can be adjusted right for all road conditions. Myself, I've never found it difficult to keep everything back behind me where it belongs even if the trailer locks up. On the other hand if it's too little braking your stopping distance tends to go up in a hurry. Even with their shortcomings though, trailer brakes are great. I find my stopping distance with the trailer back there is pretty comperable to the truck alone stopping distance. Of course you're really limited with evasive action with the trailer brakes, which limits your options in an emergency situation.
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