Advice on Braking System

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drisley

drisley

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Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Posts
301
After a bunch of consideration about dolly towing vs a 4-down, I decided to trade in my Prius and pick up a 2012 CR-V. Great vehicle. But, now, time to begin prepping it to tow. :)

The towbar seems pretty self-explanatory. Even see a few out on Craigslist I could get. And it seems the Blue Ox baseplates are pretty common and don't stand out when you're not towing. So, was leaning that direction. And I see the wiring harness kit for setting the lights up to be trailer lights.

So, in terms of the braking system... what's the best option?

Are the portable systems a pain in the butt? Or should I go with an integrated system such as InvisiBrake?

Any recommendations from experience? I know there are a ton of CR-V towers in here. :)
 
This is almost like asking for advice on which truck makes the best tow vehicle!

There is an article in the Library        http://www.rvforum.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=194:auxiliary-toad-braking-systems&catid=26&Itemid=132      which is a little dated, but should help.

Yes, you need one!!!
 
We've been very pleased with our ReadyBrute Elite combination tow bar and auxiliary brake system. The brake setup is purely mechanical, with very few moving parts and no electronics involved. NSA, the manufacturer, will ship the tow bar with arm ends to match any of the popular base plates on request. Once installed, hooking up the brake system for towing is as simple as clipping a cable on an eyelet at the front of the toad.
 
NY_Dutch said:
We've been very pleased with our ReadyBrute Elite combination tow bar and auxiliary brake system. The brake setup is purely mechanical, with very few moving parts and no electronics involved. NSA, the manufacturer, will ship the tow bar with arm ends to match any of the popular base plates on request. Once installed, hooking up the brake system for towing is as simple as clipping a cable on an eyelet at the front of the toad.
Click to expand...
I assume that system is proportional braking? And where did you get the brake cable installed (or did you do it yourself)?

I'm wondering if there is any failure potential on the Invisibrake given that there are electronics involved. I even see a used one here in my area for $300. Says it has everything with it. Came off a Jeep.
 
The Ready Brake is driven by inertia of the towed vehicle, so is proportional to the rate at which the rig is slowing down. That's not necessarily the same at proportional to the coach brake pedal application, but generally close enough for practical purposes. An example of where the two may differ would be braking on an uphill grade. The coach slows fast with little or no coach braking because of the grade, but the toad brake applies more strongly than the coach  brake because it reacts to the total slowing effect and not just the coach brake pedal.
 
drisley said:
I assume that system is proportional braking? And where did you get the brake cable installed (or did you do it yourself)?

I'm wondering if there is any failure potential on the Invisibrake given that there are electronics involved. I even see a used one here in my area for $300. Says it has everything with it. Came off a Jeep.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did my own ReadyBrute/ReadyBrake installation on the two Toyota RAV4's we've towed. Both installations took about an hour each. As Gary said, the "surge" braking is proportional, and is typically adjusted to unload the majority of the toad weight from the coach when braking. A pre-load spring prevents the brakes from activating under very light coach braking when it's not needed, and also minimizes unintended braking on downhills when the coach is not being actively braked.

Basically, the more parts in a device, whether mechanical or electronic, the more potential points of failure.
 
What are your thoughts on the SMI Duo system?

Talked to a company in St Petersburg and they're quoting me about 3700 for the whole enchilada. Includes the Blue Ox towbar, the lighting wiring, the base plate installs, the fuse bypass switch, and the SMI brake system - all installed. Thoughts?

EDIT: Wait... would the lighting wiring be necessary if I was using the SMI? Seems that uses the CR-V brakes, so it'd use the brake lights already, right?
 
You still need turn signals, emergency flasher, and some braking systems need the brake light signal to actuate.

We installed an extra wiring harness all the way to the rear lights, completely separate from the Hondas system.  No diodes required but a couple of extra bulbs were installed in the brake light housing.

SMI EvenBrake.

I installed my own baseplate and lights but we paid about $500 to have the EvenBrake installed.  (I wish I had done it myself because the mechanic did things contrary to the instructions.)
 
We use the RVi Brake 2, a relatively small portable system that operates on inertia, very much like the Ready Brake that Gary described. I paid a shop to do the initial installation, but taking the device in and out of the vehicle is very easy - takes less than a minute. We went with a portable system, because we plan to tow more than one vehicle, and a portable system allows me to move it from vehicle to vehicle.

Kev 
 
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