ntar827
Bay Village, Ohio, USA
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I am pulling a Chevy Tracker 4WD with a small Class C.
My hookup is with a ReadyBrute.
Will be going out west and driving mountain roads.
With this type braking system there will be no braking on downhill grades unless I hit my brakes. There will be the weight of the toad trying to increase my speed.
Is there any advice on using this setup?
Can I down shift to my lowest gear in the motorhome?
Thanks
Nick
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bigB42
montana
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nick,i have had a ready brute for about 5 yrs almost all in the west.have light on dash to tell when brakes are on,only a couple of times brakes have came on when on downgrade. they only come on when i really apply hard braking.i have a 30ft flair and tow a pt cruiser ken
ken
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jauguston
Bellingham, WA
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It will work just the same as it does on flat ground. There is a strong spring in the brake mechanism that prevents unwanted brake application going down hills. Don't worry about it it will be fine. I have over 30,000 miles on mine towing a Samurai and it works perfectly.
Jim
2005 Coachman Sportscoach Elite 402 40'
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Big Katuna
Deland, FL
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ntar827 wrote:With this type braking system there will be no braking on downhill grades unless I hit my brakes. There will be the weight of the toad trying to increase my speed
Same thing with any braking system. They don't acuate until you apply the coach brakes. BTW an apple and a bb fall at the same rate of speed.
My Kharma ran over my Dogma.
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lanerd
Ridgecrest, CA
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Quote:Posted By: bigB42 on 08/13/11 03:22pm
nick,i have had a ready brute for about 5 yrs almost all in the west.have light on dash to tell when brakes are on,only a couple of times brakes have came on when on downgrade. they only come on when i really apply hard braking.i have a 30ft flair and tow a pt cruiser ken
I think you missed the OP's point and questions.
Big Katuna wrote:ntar827 wrote:With this type braking system there will be no braking on downhill grades unless I hit my brakes. There will be the weight of the toad trying to increase my speed
Same thing with any braking system. They don't acuate until you apply the coach brakes. BTW an apple and a bb fall at the same rate of speed.
No, not quite true. With my Unified system (and a lot of others out there), I can activate my toad's braking system without activating my MH's brakes. Just a simple push on the little lever and I can keep the toad from pushing on me. Of course, I really don't want to do this, as my toad's brake life would be shortened drastically. My mh's engine brake typically keeps me from gaining any speed. If I do, I apply the mh's service brakes and get it back down to the speed I want. My engine brake acts much like shifting to a lower gear. However, I can activate my toad's brakes separately if I want to.
ntar827... yes, you can down shift...even to the lowest gear if necessary. Just be careful of your engine's rpm when you do. Don't want to over rev that engine. If downshifting will cause the rpms to go too high, just use your service brakes to get it back down to a safe rpm.
Ron
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bob_nestor
murphy
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I just returned from a 2000 mile round-trip from Dallas to Colorado. Towed a new Jeep Wrangler with my Roadtrek (Class B) using a ReadyBrute tow setup. My Roadtrek is based on a Chevy 3500 chassis with 6.0 liter engine, 6 speed Allison automatic, 4.10 rear-end. The transmission has a Tow/Haul switch and a manual over-ride for downshifing or locking into lower gears. Didn't have a bit of problems with the ReadyBrute, it worked like a charm. Even pulled Monarch Pass without the Tow/Haul mode enabled (operator error). Going down long grades I put the transmission into manual mode and locked it into 3rd or 4th gear. Rarely even touched the brakes on the Roadtrek, but when I did the Jeep do so too - could see the front end dip a bit under braking. The ReadyBrute is just plain simple and does a fantastic job. Also used a Cool-Tech wiring setup on the Jeep and it basically was just an expensive trailer behind the Roadtrek.
-bob
ntar827 wrote:I am pulling a Chevy Tracker 4WD with a small Class C.
My hookup is with a ReadyBrute.
Will be going out west and driving mountain roads.
With this type braking system there will be no braking on downhill grades unless I hit my brakes. There will be the weight of the toad trying to increase my speed.
Is there any advice on using this setup?
Can I down shift to my lowest gear in the motorhome?
Thanks
Nick
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docj
Fulltime--Home is where we park it
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For those of who have engine brakes, the ReadyBrute engages the toad's brakes when the engine brake is operating. As far as I know it is the only such system that will do this automatically since the others all rely on the application of the MH's brakes.
Sandie & Joel
2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2009 Chevy Malibu LTZ with ReadyBrute tow bar/braking system
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lanerd
Ridgecrest, CA
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docj wrote:For those of who have engine brakes, the ReadyBrute engages the toad's brakes when the engine brake is operating. As far as I know it is the only such system that will do this automatically since the others all rely on the application of the MH's brakes.
I would think that applying the toad's brake with the mh's engine brake is NOT a good thing. The reason I say that is because on a long downgrade, my engine brake will be on for a very long distance when it is just enough to keep my coach and toad at a decent speed. Keeping the toad's brakes on for that long of a time/distance will cause abnormal wear on the brake pads/discs.
I don't think I would want that feature.
Ron
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Big Katuna
Deland, FL
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docj wrote:For those of who have engine brakes, the ReadyBrute engages the toad's brakes when the engine brake is operating. As far as I know it is the only such system that will do this automatically since the others all rely on the application of the MH's brakes.
Mine doesn't. I don't want my toad brakes on during long down hills so I loosened the cable 1/4" or so and it doesn't do it anymore.
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Just Lee
California
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Joined: 02/02/2004
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I am wanting the ReadyBrute for my 2011 Colorado Crew Cab 4x4. So I am concerned about the brakes being applied while using the engine brake.
On my HHR I had the SMI and when I used the engine brake the brake lights would come on and with inertia the brakes on my HHR would apply. At times it worried me.
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