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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290
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Topic: R-Pod Brakes Broke Posted: 12 Mar 2021 at 5:54pm |
I got this one on the ‘zon. I’m sure you can find them lots of other online places. Handy little item for many things.
https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B08H2QKLX4?ref_=Oct_mh_s9_apbd_obs_bAq7OAl&pf_rd_r=GGAJ53C4KW288FB8ZYFV&pf_rd_p=66b73e9f-37ec-5504-b302-0a769e8ca575&pf_rd_s=mobile-hybrid-11&pf_rd_t=BROWSE_ANYWHERE&pf_rd_i=9931459011#
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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jato
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2012
Location: Kewadin, MI
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Posts: 3252
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Posted: 12 Mar 2021 at 4:04pm |
Always an educational experience on this forum . . . at least for me.
OG - where did you purchase your IR thermometer, sounds like a worthwhile investment to me.
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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290
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Posted: 12 Mar 2021 at 10:44am |
Originally posted by podwerkz
Hey, my heat-sensing knuckles are calibrated to plus or minus 2 degrees....
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Draggin’ them knucles again hey?
In my case, I’m old and stiff enough after driving awhile that I can’t reach my brake drums without a grunt or groan or two. The IR laser pointer keeps me upright.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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podwerkz
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 966
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Posted: 12 Mar 2021 at 10:00am |
Hey, my heat-sensing knuckles are calibrated to plus or minus 2 degrees....
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posts: 5290
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Posted: 12 Mar 2021 at 7:15am |
+1 to podwerks comment, except for the part about the IR thermometer. If you’re not an old school truck driver it’s a great tool for the job. After making a couple of stops from 20-30 mph using just your trailer brakes (manual control lever) aim the thermometer laser dot at the drums. They should be roughly the same temperature, say within 50-100 degrees. Don’t expect them to be identical.
Another thing you can use your IR thermometer for is to balance the tow vehicle vs trailer brake action (the B or boost setting on Tekonsha controllers). Next time you’re going down a long grade brake as you normally would (hopefully you’re using mostly engine braking). Then stop at the bottom and check the temps of all 6 brakes on the rig. What I found on my Highlander is that I needed to set the boost more aggressively in order to keep the rear brakes of the Highlander cooler. What was happening is that the additional rear axle weight from the trailer was tricking the no so smart braking system (which monitors wheel loading and provides more braking action to heavily loaded wheels to minimize lockup) into thinking that it needed to push more brake fluid to the rear brakes. So you end up with the weakest brakes on the rig (rear TV brakes) doing the most work. By setting the boost higher the trailer brakes do more work and the rear TV brakes run cooler.
mcarter pointed out another benefit of having an IR thermometer which is checking for tire overheating. I just go around the rig and check all 6 tires and brakes at each fuel stop. Takes no time at all.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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podwerkz
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 966
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Posted: 11 Mar 2021 at 8:48pm |
Originally posted by SC for Huskers
Right now, I dont know how to check if one side is greater than the other. I have a variac, and a bridge rectifier, but what will that tell me?
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Nope, don't do that.
In order to be sure about how well the brakes are 'balanced', you need to take the trailer out for a short drive and apply the brakes at a moderate level, enough to get them warm, but not hot.
Accelerate to about 20-30 mph then bring it to a more or less normal stop on a quiet rural road. Set your tow vehicle parking brake and hop out and using the back of your knuckles reach around behind the tire and quickly brush your knuckles against the brake drum on each side, using your right hand on the left side, and your left hand on the right side. They should both feel warm to hot, depending on how hard you applied the brakes.
(Note: Some high tech guys use an IR gun, but I'm old-school and don't trust those for this job...it's up to you)
They should feel (or measure) about the same, but keep in mind that these also have 'nevr-adjust' brakes which actually means, they NEVER adjust....but just in case one actually DID....you might find one side warm and the other side HOT. It might be that the 'auto-slack' (as we call them in the trucking industry) has allowed one brake to have too much slack. They can be adjusted manually, but they need to both be functioning electrically before you make any manual adjustments.
Another test you can do is to take the rig to a deserted dirt or gravel road and while driving at about 5 mph, apply FULL braking to the trailer brakes ONLY, using the brake controller. You should be able to lock up and skid BOTH trailer tires. You can get out and look for scratch marks in the dirt, or you can aim your mirrors down to see the tires. If you can lock them both up this way, they are probably balanced close enough for safety.
And, if the brakes have less than a few hundred miles on them they are probably not 'bedded in', so you need to get a lot more miles on the rig and then check the brakes again.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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SC for Huskers
Senior Member
Joined: 22 Feb 2017
Location: Goose Creek, SC
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 144
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Posted: 11 Mar 2021 at 6:19pm |
Podwerkz, Thanks for the heads up on the brakes. Mine is coming out of storage this weekend so I will reconnect, and solder. Me, I think one brake is better than none.
Right now, I dont know how to check if one side is greater than the other. I have a variac, and a bridge rectifier, but what will that tell me?
As for YT, I have AdBlock, and it seems to work fine. I cant remember seeing a 3rd party ad other than what the YT poster has to say about his sponsor, and yes, if comments are off, dont finish watching. OH< if you see kids hands,,, bail out!
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Happy Traveling,
Tom
2017 172pod
2011 F150 STX
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podwerkz
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 966
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Posted: 11 Mar 2021 at 4:35pm |
I said it will 'HELP' with the ads....I did not say you can eliminate all of them.
That said, if the ads are third-party content inserted by youtube then most of the time the ad-block will remove it.
A sponsor who is mentioned in the video by the person on camera...well I just keep tapping the right arrow button.
Works for me.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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GlueGuy
Senior Member
Joined: 15 May 2017
Location: N. California
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Posts: 2652
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Posted: 11 Mar 2021 at 2:58pm |
Originally posted by podwerkz
Ad Block or Brave browser will help with the ads.... |
Not when they embed the ads within the video. Youtube goes into "ad mode' (not a term, just what I call it), where they disable FF/RW, etc. except for play/pause. yada yada yada.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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podwerkz
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 966
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Posted: 10 Mar 2021 at 10:47pm |
Ad Block or Brave browser will help with the ads....
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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