Trailer brakes...

Will · Oct 22, 2007

So I'm tired, it's dusk, I feel nasty and tired after a weekend of camping, the 2 year old is right next to me and has been screaming for about the whole 5 hours and I want to get home. I've got my skid loader, my back hoe and two quads on the trailer and a whole 8' bed filled with tools, gear and camping equipment. My family of 6 is in the truck and the cab is packed too. I don't know what all this weighs but it's got to be around 14,000#. So we're blasting down the road about 77mph (just left Louisville where it's 55 for a long stretch and really packed)--traffic is running 75 and I am slowly passing everyone. I'm about to go past a semi and a car behind it decides to pass at the last second. I was watching so I ease off a little, but I'm a little pissed he waited so long so I'm a little too close. Then suddenly someone up ahead slams on their brakes and the car in front of my is on them hard too and I had to slam on mine--I was 100% sure I was going to wipe at least that guy out. I can't say enough about that Prodigy controller and a functioning set of trailer brakes. I smoked them fawkers (not the tires--it didn't skid) and I haven't smoked a set of trailer brakes since I was pulling howitzers. If I had a shitty $40 time-delay controller, or a lesser truck, I would have went through about 20 little cars like a bowling ball through pins.

So I'm glad I don't half-ass things. When you're having moments of stupidy your prior proper planning gives you a chance to prevent a catastrophically bad day.

Sparkz · Oct 22, 2007

Man Will!

A Higher power was watching out for you and yours
thats why you bought the part

Fokes I saw that trailer and hes not jokeing

Thank god!!

I am Glad to see you got back to da shack
with (little event) LOL
A real toe curler tho

God bless and thankz again

Sparkz

Jspafford · Oct 22, 2007

Yep, I have a prodigy in my F-250. Works awesome, I like the boost feature the most.

Will · Oct 22, 2007

Thanks Sparkz.

Those time delay things should be illegal. You slam on the brakes and it just calmly and gradually applies the brakes. It has the panic bar but when you have a 50' vehicle with a bend in the middle, who's got the third arm available to hold that bar in? I was busy steering.

Jspafford · Oct 22, 2007

The worst part is it will only apply as much voltage as you have it set for. Unless you, like states, grow a third arm and hit the manual slider.

The prodigy has a big brother now, its called the P3. It's pretty neat also. I get first dibs on all this stuff working for an RV dealer.

PARKINGLOT · Oct 22, 2007

my dad has one of those in his 1500 Sierra. Worked real good when we were pulling our 5th camper with in and some idiot decided to pull out of a parking lot in front of us. Trailer brakes locked up, and left a nice pair of stripes on the road. Guy probably crapped his pants too.....

AllanD · Oct 24, 2007

I don't know, I like my Tekonsha Voyager-II

If the level and gain are adjusted right I get brakes RIGHT FREAKIN NOW
when I jump on the stop pedal

What actually gives me a lot mot comfidence is the fact that when rebuilding my truck from the frame up I replaced ALL the hard lines, with stainless steel line...

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Will · Oct 25, 2007

That's an inertia unit. n9emz had one of those and I liked it. The Prodigy is just more idiot proof.

THIS is the crappy thing I hate. You are always reaching under the dash to turn the delay up and down as you adjust to traffic. And most importantly, it receives no input so it doesn't know if you want to stop right frickin now or if you are a half mile from a traffic light and coasting it in.

Jspafford · Oct 25, 2007

The problem is most people don't know the difference between Time and Inertia based controllers and after spending a whole lot of money on the trailer, want to skimp on the important stuff.

The controllers look the same, but there is no comparison between the two.

As most will find out when they actually use one.

AllanD · Oct 25, 2007

What I had before was the CHEAP drawtite controller, and that thing sucked.

But o the VoyagerII I only spend a couple minutes dialing it in to the load I'm towing
and then I don't really need to mess with it...

I'd be interested in seeing how a "better" controller behaved, but
I'd still want it to be adjustable.

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Jspafford · Oct 25, 2007

Allan, On my Prodigy as I am pulling out to the street with my load I can tell right away if I need to adjust up or down. Usually I don't, seldom does it need adjusted, bt if it does I slowly roll the dial and when it starts hitting hard, I stop. Thats it. From then on out, it does it all on it's own.

Believe it or not our company truck has 102k of towing miles on it (2005 K2500HD) and they put in one of those reese digital jobbies. It's been replaced twice.

Will · Oct 26, 2007

Mainly, the Prodigy doesn't need to be leveled and it doesn't change its characteristics if you are on a grade. There's no way to mess the installation and set-up part up.

Setting the brake power is the exact same procedure.

Also, the Prodigy has three different settings you can quickly punch between to change the aggressiveness of the braking curve. The settings don't change the power, they change how aggressively the power comes on. It helps to have the brakes on the trailer come on a little harder than the brakes on the truck at times. Basically instead of starting at 0 volts at first touch of the pedal, it starts at 2 volts at the second setting and maybe 4 at the higher setting. It's not a big deal, but it can be handy. With a heavier trailer you get action on the trailer brakes much more quickly at the higher setting.

But if you panic stop, you still get it all right now.

Roadkill · Nov 12, 2007

I added a Prodigy in my F-350 SD for towing our 32' travel trailer. That bugger comes in at between 4 and 5 tons when she's loaded. She's great to tow and when we took a week to head up North I had no problems with the idiots coming up from the city.

Super simple install, hardest part was getting at the factory brake controller harness under the dash. Not much room there to get to it on my tow rig.

Snowplow · Nov 17, 2007

Prodigy is by far the best unit I have ever used. I only have brakes on the front axle of my trailer, but with the prodigy, and powerslot rotors with hawk pads on the truck, I have no worries.

AllanD · Nov 17, 2007

Anyone ever use a tekonsha commander?

I just found one in a junkyard fullsize bronco today.

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Trailer brakes...

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