caravan electric brakes how effective should electric brakes be

My brother is a auto spray painter and he was advised by a auto sparky

Thanks disco.

thanks barry I will be talking to the sparky mid week now I know what they should do

reilly

Thanks Ozboc will be sorting it out this week, I might just go for the overall of the brakes.

I will give it a go .

Reilly

It seems common for electric brakes to take a bit of warming up.Mine take a good 5km of suburban driving, or about 2km of pumping the brakes for them to become effective.
I usually have the controller adjusted up for the first few km.s then adjust them down after I feel the van brakes pulling on the car. I have a prodigy controller so, while having to adjust them if I want them to be effective straight away is a bit of a pain, it is a simple job with the prodigy.

KenD
\bris

I have adjusted the brakes till i feel the shoes rub
I'm going to replace the shoes they are past 3/4 of there use then will see how it goes the sparky suggested this before making any changes or follow up will be doing that in a couple of weeks.


Thanks for everyone's input, I have learned alot

Terry hows your discovery go towing my brother got a 97 diesel would like some info about the v8 fuel economy etc
He loves his was considering changing when the petrol Rodeo dies which is approaching 400 thou K's

Hi Reilly,


I wrote a lengthy follow up which has somehow vanished. Brief summary follows.

The Disco 2 is a great tow vehicle. It is also the most comfortable long distance touring vehicle I have ever owned, and I have had some very nice cars during my working life. Mine has a 4.6 litre engine versus the standard 4.0 litre V8. Same engine essentially, but with a longer stroke crankshaft. It uses no more fuel than the 4.0.

On the highway I get around 13 LHK at 100-110, but that goes up with the van on the back to around 24 LHK travelling at around 85-90 locked in third. The V8 power and torque curves mean that to travel at that speed you need to be in third. To stay in top you need to be at least 100kph, and I find that too fast on country roads.

With the standard tank you need to plan in stages of around 300 km, which gives very little flexibility in where you buy fuel. I fitted Long Ranger tanks to mine, which ups fuel capacity to 163 litres, which is great.

The Disco 2 is rated to tow up to 3.5 tonnes with up to 250 kg on the tow bar. Our van is a 20 foot Sterling Outback, which weighs a bit over 2.5 tonnes loaded and sits pretty high.

The Discos suspension and brakes are outstanding with a heavy van. I fitted Poly Air springs to my rear coils, so I doin't need to use a WDH, but I do because it smoothes out any pitching on undulating roads.

I love my V8, but if I was buying now for caravan use I would almost certainly go for a diesel, as they are clearly better for towing. Hope this helps.