For those of you who never tow anything, I will enlighten you on what a brake controller is: it is a device that controls the brakes on whatever you are towing.  When you press the brakes on the truck it sends a signal to the trailer to activate its brakes too.  The truck and the trailer then brake together.  It is mounted under the dash in the truck.

There were two reasons why I believed that I had a brake controller problem: (1) the poor performance of the brakes when coming down the hill after getting hit with the coolant hose leak and (2) the fact that the controller display was always red.  I had this vague memory that the display should be green when the trailer was attached. But I wasn’t 100% certain about either.  It was a steep hill and I was already rattled from the engine problem  Perhaps I was going too fast or my new rear brakes on the truck weren’t set quite right.  And the green display?  I am old and forget things.  Maybe I forgot that the screen was always red. I never had documentation for the device, so I couldn’t easily check what the correct color should be.

But I couldn’t take the chance.  At the very least I had to convince myself, beyond a reasonable doubt, that there was no real problem. Besides, Jett said that there was NO WAY that she would be riding in the truck if there was any possibility that the 8-ton trailer behind us had no brakes.  She said that she would fly to Virginia if I insisted on driving the rig down there without firmly fixing the problem.  I went so far as to actually book a ticket from Binghamton to DC.

So my first step, after retrieving the truck on Friday morning, was to find a local dealer of hitches and brake controllers.  I found one, drove to his small shop and discussed the problem.  He said it was most likely a corroded contact problem and sold me a spray can of brake cleaner (best for cleaning electrical contacts, he said) for about $7.  I also booked an appointment with him for a more thorough inspection and diagnosis first thing Monday, which was the earliest he could fit me in.  I dearly hoped it wouldn’t come to that as I thought I would end up slitting my wrists if I had to spend another weekend at Chenango Shores.

I did one more thing: I got his permission to hitch my truck to one of the trailers on his lot that had electrical brakes like my RV.  Hitched up. Same behavior.  That experiment convinced me that the problem – if there was one – was on the truck side of the connector; the RV was not implicated.  That was good to know as it narrowed the problem and meant that I could deal with it by looking only at the truck.

My next stop was at a Love’s travel stop where I asked if anyone was available to look at the problem.  No, but they suggested that I talk to the various muffler and brake places nearby.

Third stop: Midas Muffler.  The manager there seemed fairly knowledgeable about brake controllers and showed me the connector panel mounted near the rear axle.  He said that the panel had a tiny microprocessor and suggested that replacing the panel and the socket on the bumper would almost certainly fix the problem.  I scheduled a Saturday “first thing” appointment.

Fourth stop: Munro Brakes.  The offered to do an electrical check of the controller and wiring for about $60.  I took the offer and had lunch while they worked.  Conclusion: no breaks in the wiring and no abnormal voltages.

That was all done Friday afternoon.  I went back to the RV with the depressing knowledge that we would not be leaving that day.  I paid for another day.

Saturday morning I took the truck back to Midas for its 8:15 am appointment.  They finished the work in about 90 minutes.  Cost: $370.  I drove back to the RV, hooked up the umbilical.  Red display.  Crushed, I went in to discuss the problem with Jett.  We agreed that the next step (and, indeed, the only thing left to try) was to replace the controller itself.

But first, I said to Jett, there is one more thing I needed to check.  I wanted to verify that the setup was correct.  There were really only two things to set: the brake type (it was correctly set to “electric” and not “hydraulic”) and the display settings.  There was a choice of display color.  It was set to “red” and the other choices were “white” and… wait for it… “green.”  Was it possible that I just had the wrong display setting?  I tried to set it to “green” and… poof!… the display went blank.

That put a lot of weight down on the side of “faulty.”

I got the number for Jim’s RV Center, drove the 6 miles to where I could get cell service, called them and confirmed that they had, in stock, a brake controller from the same manufacturer as mine.  Praying that the controllers would be plug-compatible, I drove the 30 miles to their location, extracted my controller, took it in and confirmed that the plugs were identical.  I then asked if there was any way to test my controller and they said that they had a tester in back.  They took my controller into the back room and returned about 10 minutes later with the declaration “Yup, it’s bad.”  Grateful to finally have a firm handle on the problem, I bought the new one ($120), drove 30 miles back to Chenango Shores, plugged the RV and pressed the test lever on the controller… it went from green to red!  That was enough to convince me with 99.9% certainty that the problem was finally solved.

Lesson: check the least likely component first.  I really went into this believing that the controller was ok.  Only by eliminating all other possible problems did I settle on the controller as the culprit.

I informed the campground owner that we would be leaving on Sunday morning.  Perfect timing because Sunday was the last day of his season.

I also cancelled Jett’s airplane ticket.

Sunday had its own stresses, which I will leave for the next post, but the bottom line was that the new brake controller did, in fact, control the brakes.  Confirmation that the problem was finally solved. Total cost: $557.

Yesterday, October 6, 2018, was, without question, the worst day we have had in over 6 years of travel. It was a cascading series of events that has left us with both a truck and an RV in need of repair before we can continue to Florida.

It all began on NY 206, about 4 miles west of Greene as we were heading to Watkins Glen. NY 206 is a nasty road with steep ups and downs. The truck labored to make the hills, though no more so than on similar roads that it has experienced before. But as we crested a hill I noticed, in my rear view mirror, what I first thought was smoke spewing from under the truck. I pulled over on the shoulder to investigate and, as I brought the RV to a halt, clouds of smoke or steam rose from the hood and the “low coolant level” warning appeared on the dash. I shut off the engine, opened the hood and saw a hose that was spitting hot water all over the engine. I assumed that a coolant hose had sprung a leak.

I decided to let the engine cool and refill the coolant reservoir in the hope that I could get the RV to a campground. Jett got on the phone and found just one open campground (most closed Oct 1). Yes, they could accommodate us. So the question was: could the truck haul the RV the 10 miles to the campground?  Had to try.

The GPS directed us to proceed down the hill – a temporary relief soon to be dashed – but as we neared the bottom it told us to take a left. I was surprised – and not in a good way – to discover that my braking was very limited. I couldn’t stop in time to take the left, so pulled over to let the GPS reroute.

Problem #2: either the RV brakes or the braking controller electronics seemed to not be working. Another concern, but nothing that would prevent me from getting to the campground.

The GPS told us to take the next left, a VERY narrow road. Still, the GPS would not route us down a road that we couldn’t traverse, so I waited for a break in the light traffic and made the left turn. And didn’t watch carefully enough where the RV tires would track. I looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see the left tires of the RV drop into a deep ditch. The RV heaved violently to the left and for a moment I feared that it would capsize. It didn’t. It also didn’t get stuck in the ditch. But it did bottom out, hitting, most obviously, the sewer drain pipes. I got to the next stop sign and got out to inspect for damage. Much to my relief, I saw none on initial inspection, which was a huge surprise given the violence of the impact.

But my relief as short-lived. The GPS directed us to go back up the steep hill that we had just descended. We made it to the top and down the other side, to CR 2, where we were directed to take a right. At that point the engine was, once again, steaming. Fortunately there was an empty pull-out area at that intersection. We stopped and I once again let the engine cool.

I used the engine cooling period to conduct a more thorough inspection for damage and was disappointed to find some. First, it was clear that not only had the RV bottomed in front of the tires, in the vicinity of the sewer pipes, but had also bottomed out behind the tires. The foot of the hydraulic jack was tilted (probably not a huge problem) and the flange holding the spare tire was bent. The severity of the flange damage was unclear. The tire was in place, but I couldn’t be certain that it would remain there. This was damage that would need to be repaired before we got to Florida.

Worst of all, water was dripping from the area of the gray water tank for the kitchen and half bath. Again, the severity was uncertain but was something that would have to be repaired before Florida if we were to use the kitchen sink.

If there was any good news in all of this it was that there appeared to be no damage to the half bath black water tank or either the gray or black water tanks for the full bath. We still had working plumbing.

So, to enumerate the problems:

1. Truck engine problems of undetermined severity.
2. A severe braking problem.
3. Serious sewer problems (on top of the problems we already had).
4. A serious problem with the flange holding the spare tire.

I can’t be certain that no additional problems will yet surface.  The bottom line is that both the truck and the RV require repairs that must be done before we go much further.

Back to our situation.  We were at the side of some relatively minor roads, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone service.  As a matter of desperation, we decided that we needed to unhitch the RV and limp the truck to a location where we could phone for aid.  We unhitched but as we were waiting for the engine to cool, a gentleman pulled up alongside and offered to help in any way he could.  He invited us to his house, just a few hundred yards away, to use his land line.  We gratefully accepted his offer, used his phone to call a tow truck (thanks, Good Sam!) and had a lovely chat with this lovely couple while we waited.  We were eventually informed that the truck would be an hour to arrive, so we took our leave, went back to the RV.  Jett and Rusty napped on the bed while I napped in the truck.  The tow truck did appear, as promised, about an hour later.

I was able to drive the truck, with only minor steaming, the 9 miles to the campground, the tow truck following my lead.  The owner of the campground met us at the entrance.  I took one look – a narrow road over railroad tracks with a sharp drop, then a sharp right over a rutted and very narrow lane – and knew that the tow truck, which was a huge semi-trailer cab, would never make it.  I told the truck driver to drop the RV at the side of the road (NY 12) and I would take it from there.  He was more than happy to do that.

I hitched up and was able to navigate the entrance without doing additional damage to the RV.  But the RV site required pulling up onto very soft grass and backing in.  I was unable to do it on three attempt and was chewing up the grass badly each time.  I finally told the owner that I should just pull in and run the electric and water lines under the RV.  He agreed and we got the RV settled for the night.  I will have to back up to exit, but that is a problem for another day.

The campground is a mess and I initially thought that we were totally “off the grid” – no TV, no internet and no phone service.  That turned out to be untrue as I found that my main router was able to provide an internet connection, which I am using to post this.

So we were able to have a relatively normal evening in the RV, watching DVDs and playing cards.  We agreed that we would not talk about the disastrous day.

But I was up early Sunday morning, thinking about how to proceed and estimating how much this is all going to cost me.  It won’t be cheap, that much is certain.

It also means that our TS4 plans are out the window.  One of the first things to do is to cancel all of our reservations.  When – and if – we get a working rig again we will plan a new route to Fort Myers.