New owner of a 2001 Towlite

If it was mine I would close it up and run it. I have ran cracked lining many times over the years and never had a problem. These are bonded lining and both pieces are bonded fast, unless one looks like it is lifting and not bonded well. You do what you are comfortable with doing.

Hi, we just bought a 17 ft 2001 hi lo and my husband installed the prodigy
2 electronic brake control to our Tundra truck. He tried the anti sway stabilizer which came with our purchase and it was so hard for him to turn, so he took it out. We are in Los Angeles and still on the testing phase, but definitely the electronic brake really worked. We took our hi lo to Pismo Beach, very soft sand dunes and we also took our winch to pull us out when we got stuck on the soft sand. We had so much fun with our hi lo trailer.

PopRichie77 said:

If it was mine I would close it up and run it. I have ran cracked lining many times over the years and never had a problem. These are bonded lining and both pieces are bonded fast, unless one looks like it is lifting and not bonded well. You do what you are comfortable with doing.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Rich. I decided to do exactly what you said. I checked to make sure there were no chips or chunks missing from the lining, inspected the drum, and put it all back together. Then I pulled the last wheel and inspected all the parts. Everything is A-OK, in fact, surprisingly good. The brake shoes look virtually new, other than the aforementioned crack on the right rear primary.

However, as I was crawling around on the ground, I looked over things in general, and see that the previous owner had duct taped the gray-water pipe up (for unknown reasons), and the tape is failing. I'm going to have to get up under there one more time and probably put a pipe hanger on the pipe. While I am at it, I might as well lube the guide rod and cables. Then on to the refrigerator "Sushidog Mod." Maybe one of these days we'll actually even go camping.

Did I mention that the ground has gotten harder and my joints less flexible. I'm not sure when all of that happened.

Ron

Onebel said:

Hi, we just bought a 17 ft 2001 hi lo and my husband installed the prodigy
2 electronic brake control to our Tundra truck. He tried the anti sway stabilizer which came with our purchase and it was so hard for him to turn, so he took it out. We are in Los Angeles and still on the testing phase, but definitely the electronic brake really worked. We took our hi lo to Pismo Beach, very soft sand dunes and we also took our winch to pull us out when we got stuck on the soft sand. We had so much fun with our hi lo trailer.

Click to expand...

Hi Onebel. I put a Prodigy controller (P3) in my truck on the recommendation of RichR. The installation was simple and the function has been faultless, up and down mountain roads and in heavy stop-and-go traffic. Couldn't ask for more.

I don't know where you intend to go with your trailer, but if you expect to do much extended driving, you might want to reconsider not using some sort of sway control. I have read too many tales of woe of people who lost control of their trailers. Considering that the primary lift system for the trailer is underneath, I would also be nervous about taking the trailer into soft sand. Yikes!

Proper towing set up.

Sway control is a must. Do some net research and figure out a system that works for you. Doesn't have to be the most expensive.