hot trailer brakes

[Paublo]

I've experienced the same problem too. I found that on long steep down grades the brakes would apply and heat up. This was especially a problem with my tow rig- a 3/4T Chev with the Duramax and Allison transmission. The grade-braking feature is very nice to control downhill speed, but is harder on the trailer brakes. I have found that I can control the problem pretty good if I watch my driving carefully.

But I have also thought that an easy solution would be to wire 12V power to the backup trailer wiring harness connection. This would be controlled by a switch in the cab. That way I could over-ride the trailer brakes whenever I was going down a long grade, but turn them on when needed. That would be the easiest way to control the situation without losong brakes in an emergency.

[thunder550]

But I have also thought that an easy solution would be to wire 12V power to the backup trailer wiring harness connection. This would be controlled by a switch in the cab. That way I could over-ride the trailer brakes whenever I was going down a long grade, but turn them on when needed. That would be the easiest way to control the situation without losong brakes in an emergency.

I like this idea. If you are extremely cautious you could always run a momentary switch that you have to hold down to keep the brakes turned off, so if you have to put both hands on the wheel quickly for whatever reason, you don't have to worry about flipping the switch back to let the brakes work again.

[Paublo]

Perfect, that is even better!

[TeamAllen]

Something like this?

[thunder550]

Bingo, that's pretty much exactly what I had in mind (except for the Corvette part, lol).