Engaging the Trailer Brake

[Wayne Collins]

Sounds like you need a better site to park the trailer.
Hire a tow truck to haul it off that hill.

[Gerry]

Huck, was the site that bad or is your trailer not level when hooked up, as it should be.? To me if the wheels were blocked up 6 inches then the tongue also must have been high to keep it level when camping?
Am I missing something?
Chain it then raise it to needed height is the right way to go..Set emergancy break on TV.

[robertsd8]

If I remember correctly, electric trailer brakes don"t work in a rearward direction!!!

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by robertsd8

If I remember correctly, electric trailer brakes don"t work in a rearward direction!!!

I think you are thinking of 'surge' brakes, not electric. I believe 'surge' brakes need to be disconnected to back up the trailer.

[herons]

Doesn't the campground have a tractor? Have them haul it up to the road.

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I think you are thinking of 'surge' brakes, not electric. I believe 'surge' brakes need to be disconnected to back up the trailer.

Not disconnected Glenn, most have a hole or such to slide a pin into to keep the coupler from moving.

[David B.]

Originally Posted by robertsd8

If I remember correctly, electric trailer brakes don"t work in a rearward direction!!!

You are right Robert. Glenn, surge brakes do work in reverse, that is why you would block them out from working. On surge DRUM brakes, drum brakes are not designed to work as well in reverse, but surge DISC brakes (as I have) work just as well forward as well as reverse, so one can manually block them out prior to backing up if for some reason the blocking solenoid switch that draws it's power from the back-up lights, quits working.
Dave & Paula

[Huck]

Originally Posted by Gerry

Huck, was the site that bad or is your trailer not level when hooked up, as it should be.? To me if the wheels were blocked up 6 inches then the tongue also must have been high to keep it level when camping?
Am I missing something?
Chain it then raise it to needed height is the right way to go..Set emergancy break on TV.

The trailer was parked on an incline. Think of a right triangle. I had to either raise the back, lower the front, or in this case, both. The more I was able to lower the front, the less I needed to raise the wheels. One wheel only needed to be raised about 2" and the other about 6".

Once I had the chains on, I knew I could get the trailer out.

I think there's an important lesson for anyone forced to park on a steep incline. When hooking up, get the chains on 1st, even if that means uncrossing them to get a couple extra inches in length. My tow was about 4" from the ball and I was able to get the chains on. Once I had the chains on, my spotter helped me back up those last 4 inches. Once you get the hitch properly on the ball, you can put the chains on correctly.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by robertsd8

If I remember correctly, electric trailer brakes don"t work in a rearward direction!!!

Actually they do, at about the same rate for the same speed.
The lever arm moves both ways about the same amount.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Huck

One wheel only needed to be raised about 2" and the other about 6".

I don't understand why you would need to raise both wheels. Couldn't you have just raised one side 4" ?

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I don't understand why you would need to raise both wheels. Couldn't you have just raised one side 4" ?

Not if the site is severely sloped from front to back as well. I believe that was the situation that originally prompted this discussion.

It gets worse the longer the trailer is. I saw a 28-30' twin axle sticky parked at Lake Pleasant last spring. It was a beautiful site, but had a pretty good slope going down toward the lake. The owners had apparently used up all the blocks they had raising both sides. With the tongue all the way down, it was still sitting nose up as well as canted from side to side.

Wouldn't have wanted that one to get away, either- it was a straight downhill run into the lake!

[Huck]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I don't understand why you would need to raise both wheels. Couldn't you have just raised one side 4" ?

It worked out with 3 2x6's under 1 wheel, I needed to raise the opposite wheel. I said 6" because it was 3 x 2" (for the 2x6's), but actually that works out to 4 1/2" as a 2x6 is only 1 1/2". It worked out that using a plastic square on the opposite wheel was just the right size.

[Jon in AZ]

Huck, have you considered using a BAL leveler? It has a lift range of 4.5" IIRC and allows you to fine tune the lift height. More important in your recent situation, it also functions as a chock.