Thread: Rear Brakes

Just be mindful that the rear pads will wear faster than the front.

Prior to my last trip away towing a 1.5t boat and having the D2a fully loaded as well I had a set of DBA heavy duty rotors and pads fitted to the front and rear of the truck.
I had absolutely NO issues with these brakes whatsoever even under heavy braking unlike the stock rotors and pads I had fitted originally.

On most 4WD's the stock pads and rotors are designed to stop the truck Not the truck AND trailer/caravan/boat So upgrading the brakes is pretty much a "Given" if you want effective and reliable brakes when towing.
The downside is that it can be an expensive mod ( it cost me about $1200 for my D2a) But the upside is you will have effective and reliable brakes when towing and when not towing the brakes are sooooo much better than the stock brakes
It's Not much help having great brakes if your tyres are crap, So make sure you have a good set on the truck with an adequate load rating when towing as well.

I would have thought the same pressure would be applied to front and rear regardless of tow ball weight or the car pitching forward.

Other than that I don’t have any more input as i have towed for extended/continuous periods......apparently you need brakes when towing over 750kg

be interesting what full time nomads have experienced.

I have a standard inertia braking system on my boat trailer which works OK but isn't ideal and the Caravan has electric brakes that are operated from the cab of the 79 series via a brake controller which works Soooo much better.
The electric brakes make the van pull itself up with virtually no impact on the 79 series brakes performance, The inertia system I have on my boat trailer is No where near as efficient and the D2a pretty much does all the braking.
The electric brakes in conjunction with a brake controller that you can adjust to suit varying conditions is by far the best option

My override brakes on my just under 2000kg boat and trailer - dual axle brakes on leading axle - were ok when adjusted. However I get less push from 700kg unbraked from my small boat. The initial push of just under 2 tonns before the override works properly is the issue especially in the wet. My van leccy brakes are a good thing. For boats the ultimate for anything over a tonn or so is electric over hydraulic with stainless rotors and calipers but its hugely expensive. Cheers

Well don't ask the bloke who towed his boat with an Invalid Scooter. This problem appeared to not matter to him.

Clearly the OP's brake expert meets a lot of people who have no idea how to safely tow a caravan...

No problem with the Defender towing our camper trailer with electric brakes connected to a Tekonsha brake controller. In fact it was the front brakes which needed doing before the rears.