North Point Braking Issue

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by norty1

If your new trailer was towed from the factory the brakes should be already burnished and broken in.

It took longer than that for mine. I towed mine from Middlebury to my house in AZ... lots of highway miles, but not much stopping. It took a few local camping trips and a trip or two through stop and go traffic to a local dealer (for fit and finish warranty repairs) for the brakes to stop as they should.

[jasum]

Originally Posted by klassic

Hey JetTech. I could have (and I have) written word for word of your post about my brakes. I still have poor brakes.
The other day my neighbor took my NorthPoint out for a tug with his 2015 Chevy. He pulls his 2014 Pinnacle at 4 on his built in controller. 5-6 is too much and anything over he locks.
He pulled mine at 10 and very little, just like me.

I can set my controller at 10 and pull my rig out of my driveway with the trigger pulled with ease, and it will coast a little when I let off the gas.

Dealer says the brakes are good.
I'm going back with my neighbors findings AND your thread. Thanks for posting.

Klassic that sounds like the dealer I bought mine from!!!
They told me they CANNOT adjust my brakes or do ANY suspension work.
Same dealer as Rock........

[schiguy]

At the beginning of the year I had a big problem with this as well. I find that the FW is stopping a lot better now than it has before. I do not expect it to stop on a dime considering how much weight is behind me, but there is still certain level of expectation. I think that after I made it through the "break in period", the trailer brakes work much better.

[JetTech]

Towed mine today about 40 miles away. Every time I stopped, I could smell hot brakes. Not sure if the campers or the trucks! Let's hope the campers, and that they're just burning in as mentioned!

[seansbass1]

Same thing happened to me! I literally pulled my old rig 200 miles with no problems, checked the trailer brakes before departure, worked fine. When I hooked up to my 377RLBH for the first time and we checked the trailer brakes and get NOTHING. Technician crawled under the trailer and found a brake wire too short that was disconnected and had to extend it.

Try it again thinking for sure we we're good... nothing. After troubleshooting the crud out of the trailer, they checked my Trucks trailer brake and found that my brake controller had stopped working! Every connection worked except brake output. I was 3 hours from home at 8pm so I just had to take it easy.

As we pulled out of the dealership I roll to the first set of lights and test the manual trailer brake for the hundredth time and it WORKED! Couldn't believe it. After I get home, the next day I drove my truck and I got a "Service Trailer Brake" on the dash. Since I'm not the only one this happened to I'm thinking something must short out the controller with THEIR wiring... Or maybe just that brake connection the technician had to lengthen before the second attempt. I didn't think it was worth mentioning until I saw this thread! Only cost me $200 to fix luckily.

[Tommie]

I just purchased a 28.5 RSTS HT and the brakes are very week to say the least. I'm glad I'm towing with a 3/4 ton diesel truck that has some stopping power. How do you go about adjusting the brakes on this FW? I'm upgrading to 16" wheels and tires very soon and it would be a great time to adjust them.

Originally Posted by sobuck1

I have a 28.5 RSTS HT my brakes were the same. tried to do the hard stop thing for the self adjuster which may work once they are adjusted. took about an hour to adjust,, Just took a 1500 mile trip some good grades and traffic brakes worked great

[bankedtime]

Just wondering did Jayco go for the low bid and put Lippert axles on the
2016/17 trailers instead of Dexter?

[klassic]

Originally Posted by bankedtime

Just wondering did Jayco go for the low bid and put Lippert axles on the
2016/17 trailers instead of Dexter?

That's what I'm starting to wonder now.
My neighbor has a 2014 Pinnacle with Dexters and has no trouble locking them. He has his Chev built in controller at 4.
He says he has brake dust on the rims after every trip.
I've never seen brake dust on my rims. I don't even ever clean them when I wash the trailer.

[jasum]

Originally Posted by norty1

If your new trailer was towed from the factory the brakes should be already burnished and broken in.

I agree with you Norty 00%
Wouldn't you think them towing from Indiana to Florida would have been enough??

[jasum]

Originally Posted by klassic

That's what I'm starting to wonder now.
My neighbor has a 2014 Pinnacle with Dexters and has no trouble locking them. He has his Chev built in controller at 4.
He says he has brake dust on the rims after every trip.
I've never seen brake dust on my rims. I don't even ever clean them when I wash the trailer.

I bet you have lots of brake dust on your truck though don't you??

[Hoppy220]

Will say that I was highly disappointed to look under mine and see that only the front axle has brakes. Would think that a 44' 16,000 lb trailer would have brakes on both axles.

[klassic]

Originally Posted by Hoppy220

Will say that I was highly disappointed to look under mine and see that only the front axle has brakes. Would think that a 44' 16,000 lb trailer would have brakes on both axles.

What???
You're joking.

[JetTech]

Originally Posted by klassic

What???
You're joking.

X2 on that! I'm going to have to check that on mine as soon as I get it back from the dealer! There's going to be a serious discussion on safety litigation if that's the case!

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by JetTech

X2 on that! I'm going to have to check that on mine as soon as I get it back from the dealer! There's going to be a serious discussion on safety litigation if that's the case!

Yeah. Double-check that!

Even my dinky 5K# has brakes on all 4 wheels.

[Hoppy220]

Dumba$$ attack on my part. Both axles do have brakes. Sorry

[PlayersZ28]

The drum brakes should be self-adjusting (mine are). When I check my hitch lock I put brakes on full and try pulling the trailer (engine @ idle) and it'll hold the truck back.

[Dskyward]

Just to chime in, our 2017 North Point, delivered on May 27 to us in Middlebury IN, at the dealer, had no brake grab whatsoever ever with SmartBrake controller set to 10 in two categories. The truck still pulled away with no throttle at idle or 700rpm. We already had a disc brake kit on board to get installed while there. First 100 miles were scary. Now controller is backed down to 30% and trailer brakes still lockup. Everyone, take out a loan, get disc brakes. Should only cost below $3000 installed. I sold the 4 factory drum brakes for $125. Caution buying the parts up front, cost us an extra $700 in labor as etrailers partlist had short wiring and missing actuator bracket. Then we later found the installer overtightened 3 castle nuts and caused excess heat on grease seals to send grease leakage all over wheels and rotors and bearings had burn marks. That all was another $700 expense when down in TX. Funny thing was, I took it back to the installers and showed the condition before future TX repair and they said was all normal- with signs of grease streaks down the outside of all 4 wheels. Now after 1000 miles since 3 new bearings, re packed grease and new seals, no grease signs anywhere inside and outside of wheels. Finally happy again.

[sodbuster]

Do yourself a favor and install a electric over hydraulic disc brake kit and you'll see just how good trailer brakes can be. Don't think about the price it's cheaper than shortening the hood on your tow vehicle!

[BuddyRay]

Originally Posted by norty1

If your new trailer was towed from the factory the brakes should be already burnished and broken in.

Norty1,
My trailer came to Atlanta on the back of an auto transport trailer - I know because I saw them unload it.
Also - even if they had towed it - they most likely would have done almost all of those miles on expressway. I'll bet you could drive from Ind. to GA in 12 hours and not apply the brakes more than a dozen times.

My brakes didn't 'adjust' properly for over a year because I was driving to/from state parks for weekend camping and most of that distance was on expressways.

It's not number of miles its driven, it's number of times you hit the brakes - and it takes a LOT of times if the brakes are starting out well out of adjustment. That and the "break in" of the magnets and shoes to the drums and it can take a while - and nobody warns new owners about this.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by BuddyRay

snip...
Also - even if they had towed it - they most likely would have done almost all of those miles on expressway. I'll bet you could drive from Ind. to GA in 12 hours and not apply the brakes more than a dozen times.

My brakes didn't 'adjust' properly for over a year because I was driving to/from state parks for weekend camping and most of that distance was on expressways.

It's not number of miles its driven, it's number of times you hit the brakes - and it takes a LOT of times if the brakes are starting out well out of adjustment. That and the "break in" of the magnets and shoes to the drums and it can take a while - and nobody warns new owners about this.

You nailed, BuddyRay!

I was a 'transporter' years ago and I picked up my new trailer in Middlebury and towed it to AZ. I've had lots of practice driving for HOURS every day with minimal braking. (BTW, my truck's OEM brake pads were replaced at ~270,000mi and had about 25% thickness remaining.)

My TT brakes needed a year or so of camping of in AZ before they were broken in and braking well; the ~1,800mi to AZ from IN didn't do it.

I seem to recall that something in the packet of papers I received with my trailer mentioning that the TT brakes needed a break in that required many stops. IMO, this info (warning?) should be on a separate sheet of paper for new owners.