Straight From TX DOT

I drove a hotshot 3 car setup for six months
I had several inspection at weigh stations
I ask a Mississippi dot officer that was giving me a inspection why they seem to inspect hotshots more than 18 wheeleres
He told me it's a good way to fill quota and only have to do half the work

 

I've been told the same reason by a TN and NC DOT officer. Thanks, PK

 

This is so very true, what's sad is these types of setup are mom and pop operation just a guy with a pickup trying to make a living. 2 or 3 OOS due to brakes or anything else and he will lose insurance and out of business.

Both DOT and immigration laws are federal laws, the local law enforcement vigorously enforce one law while flat out refuse or ignore the other. What does this fact tell us?

 

You are right the EoH disc brakes setup is the best but most trailers don't come with it except the high end trailers with 12k axles. The electric brakes (magnet) does not work well and have problems all the time with magnet wires breaking or wiring shorting out. This is one area where the government can help by mandating ALL trailers with 10,000 GVWR or more MUST be equipped with hydraulic brakes, even hydraulic drum brakes will be a major improvement over the electric magnet brakes. It does not cost much more to equip new trailers with hydraulic brakes, perhaps $1000 at the most.

A bit of good news for those who want to upgrade to hydraulic drum brakes from electric drum brakes, most 7k, 8k, 9k or 10k axles the brake drums are the same for electric (magnet) or hydraulic so to upgrade all that needs to be done is swapping out the electric brake assemblies with hydraulic brake assemblies, install the hydraulic brake plumbing hoses and a hydraulic brake actuator. The cost would probably be around $2000 for the upgrade, upgrading to EoH disc brakes will be much more expensive since the drums will have to be replaced with discs along with associated hardware.

Another thing will get most pickup truck OOS is the parking brake, make sure it holds the truck stationary when put in drive. The parking brake on these trucks are barely adequate, if there is evident of oil around the rear axle brake backing plate the oil seal is leaking and it has gotten the parking brake shoes soaked in oil. In this case replace the oil seal, parking brake shoes, machine or replace the brake disc if the 'hat' area the shoes ride on is too smooth (it needs to be a little rough like a newly machined surface to stop the truck). On the Ford F-series pickups if the parking brake pedal goes close to the floor replace the parking shoes levers and the middle parking brake cable.

 

I made a video about an unrelated subject but a subscriber noticed at the 2:10 or so time stamp there was a 1 ton truck with a 6 car trailer in the background of the video that the subscriber said didn't have enough stopping power. Thoughts and discussion.

 

Too me, it's scary looking. I'm personally not a fan of seeing even those 5car mini's, let alone a 6car behind anything smaller than a 4500 or f450 C&C. The F450 pickup does have a massive Dana rear axle, but it's de-rated to something like 9100lbs..

It appears to be an f450 pickup though in the video. Looks like it has the front fender flares to cover the wide track front axle.. They should still have slightly larger brakes than the 1ton.

The subscriber has no way of knowing just from looking from afar, if that trailer is equipped with straight electric or EoH drum/disc. Now, just because I don't like the way it looks does that mean it's under braked..? No.. If none of the axles are overloaded than theoretically it should be ok..

1st-- I think the key for electric brake trailers is having adequate sized brake wiring from the tow vehicle brake controller all the way to the brake magnets. (check the wiring size yourself, lots of mfg's skimp here to cut cost & you end up with weak brakes) (your axle mfg will have the proper wire gauge by length for optimum braking performance)
2nd--Make sure to set the gain on the controller high enough to cover the weight your hauling..
3rd--Proper adjustment. Lot's are now equipped with foward self adjusting setups. That doesn't mean they all are. Get your tail under that trailer once a week & turn that star wheel.! Make sure all of them are in correct adjustment..
4th--Tailgating!! It's a big problem. I think lots of guys/gals in a small truck forget what they are doing.. You feel so comfortable because today's pickups ride so nice, & have so much power right out of the factory, they forget that there's 25-30,000lbs behind them. Leave adequit space between the car in front of you.!!

 

The only part of this post I don't agree with is having the gov't mandate anything else. They are already in our lives meddling way too much. I say keep them out.. If the trailer mfg's would just wire the brakes according to the axle mfg's wiring specs, there'd be a lot less problems..

 

The wire size is a non-issue as the electric brake magnets take little power (amp), the problem is the magnet wires move each time brakes are applied and break inside the drum and either shorting out (causing trailer to lose all brakes) or lose braking ability on that wheel. As time goes on each wheel will lose its brake as the magnet wires fail one by one and magnet wires can break in as little as few thousand miles. The magnets also do not have precise control, the electric brakes either lock up the wheel or have only a 'luke warm' respond when brakes are applied. I'm not a fan of the government but there are things that only government can do and other things they should not be meddling with, this is public safety they should get involved let's just hope logic and reason rule the day.

 

I don't agree with that statement either. Wire gauge is definitely an issue. It needs to be the proper thickness for the length of wire run. Why else would the manufacturers specify this? The braking system needs to have as close to 0 amperage drop as possible.

Set the controller to say 5 on the gain. Grab a multimeter. Then test at the controller, tow vehicle plug, & each magnet. They should all be very close to the same, maybe 4.8 at the magnet. If it's less than this, your wiring is too thin somewhere in the system..

Right, the magnets don't have control, hence the brake controller. This is why you set the gain for the load your carrying, & use a quality proportional brake controller that works with the momentum of your truck to sense your brake input. It ups & down the amperage so the trailer isn't locking up unless your in a panic stop. The rest of the time you'll just get good normal friction like any other properly adjusted drum brake..

Sure, magnet wires can break. Hydraulic hose, & fittings can leak fluid. Air lines & fittings can leak air too. If you're doing inspections frequently you should catch it like any other thing. At least if you lose one brake with electric, you've still got 3-5 more working depending on your axle configuration. When one of my inner duals let go, it wiped out a brake hose with it. Guess what, with EoH you've no brakes, just an oily mess. That was the first, & only time I missed my old 12.25"x4" 10k hd dexter drum braked axles..

 

Mostly true for a long time. It’s mostly centered around the state laws. It’s a fine line with that equipment.