Trailer Brakes

[BHarrison]

Well, finally ordered a trailer (6x12 tandem w/heavy gate) to haul my orange baby on. I quickly realized you can spend more on "add-ons" than the base cost of the trailer.
What I did spend the extra $ on was electric brakes, a bulldog coupler, and a wrapped tounge. It will take them a few weeks to build it, so I'm researching which electric brake controller I should go with. Tekonsha makes a pretty pricey one called a Prodigy. Does anyone have any experience with it? Is it worth the extra money? ..or do all brake units give the same result? Are there some units out there that I should avoid? Has anyone had any experience with a Redline TA900? Thanks ahead for all input. When safety matters, I hate making uninformed decisions.

 

[Bird]

Ben, what's a <font color=blue>wrapped tounge</font color=blue>? And my knowledge and use of brake controllers is dated, but the best of the 3 brands I've used was a Tekonsha; just don't remember a model name or number. I do know it was well worth whatever it cost.

 

[BHarrison]

A wrapped tounge is when the angle for the tounge actually continues under the trailer,as opposed to stopping at the front of the trailer. (I'm not good at explaining) Instead of just welding the tounge to the front of the trailer, the tounge steel goes under the trailer, all the way to the axles. It is done for strength, and stability. ...does that makes since?

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://yp.bellsouth.com/sites/centralhitch/page3.html>http://yp.bellsouth.com/sites/centralhitch/page3.html</A>
The second trailer from the top has a wrapped tounge.

 

[HalseyGreen]

I have the Tekonsha Sentinel in my Ford f350 4x4 crew cab - when I purchased the truck in 1989 I tried one of the early design electric brake controller, wouldn' t stop our Airstream worth a [censored]. Found one that tapped into the hydraulics of the truck brakes (tee off of the front brakes since anti-lock are on the rear). Worked great until I just wore it out, about a year ago. Couldn't find a replacement, so I asked around, and everyone towing around me was happy with the Sentinel. I got one and am quite pleased with it, with the exception that the truck when pulling our gooseneck does not pitch forward much when braking, so the trailer lags the truck a litte more than I'm use to, but once it catches up, it stops the trailer guite well. I do have to adjust it as the load changes. The Prodgy's specs and installation freedom sounds interesting with the shape of today's dashes.

 

[rdln]

Bought sentinel last night from Quality stores, 40 per cent off of
$70, wont be using it till April maybe. Last one was a tekonsha hydraulic type and when researching here and other forum, Tekonsha received strong support.

 

[gordon]

Hay Halsey, have I ever worked on your Airstream? Ever had it worked on in Delaware?

Gordon

 

[Bird]

OK, Ben, I understand; just hadn't heard that term before (and of course it may be quite common).

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Found one that tapped into the hydraulics of the truck brakes (tee off of the front brakes since anti-lock are on the rear). </font color=blue>

I said my experience was dated./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I had the hydraulic type (Kelsey-Hayes) on a couple of vehicles, but thought they even discontinued making them after anti-lock brakes came into vogue.

The Tekonsha I had was the pendulum type and, properly adjusted, the truck doesn't need to pitch forward for it to activate; just start to slow quickly. If there was any lag there (and there would have to be some, I suppose), it sure wasn't enough to be noticeable. Of course, once adjusted, I didn't have to re-adjust it 'cause we were living full time in the 5th wheel so the load was about the same all the time./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I had the prodigy for about two months, it never worked to my satisifaction with the 24' gooseneck. I just installed the jordon altima, made a big difference. http://www.jordanbrake.com/id20.htm

 

[cp1969]

I've got a Prodigy. They're $99 from Agri Supply.

It's not purely inertia activated; it wires into the brake light circuit so the instant the brake lights come on, the trailer brakes are applied by a 'boost' amount that you can control, then inertia comes into play.

It seems like a good enough controller for the money. Lots of people like the Jordan, I've never used one.