RV 101® How to Prevent Brake Fade on your Motorhome or Tow Vehicle

The brakes on your motorhome or tow vehicle were designed to effectively stop a specific amount of weight. When you add more weight to the equation it not only affects your stopping distance, but the heat generated by stopping the additional weight can lead to brake fade. When I was in the military, in charge of some large fleet maintenance operations, one of my goals was to teach vehicle operators how to properly use their vehicle’s braking system. Brake fade is a reduction in the vehicle’s stopping power usually related to overusing the brakes when hauling a heavy load and/or when descending steep grades.

Lots of vehicles are equipped with some type of auxiliary braking system that helps slow the vehicle down without overuse of the foot brake. These auxiliary braking systems are usually some type of exhaust brake or transmission retarder.

Note: If your vehicle is equipped with a transmission retarder watch the transmission temperature gauge when using the retarder. The transmission fluid temperature can quickly start to rise resulting in other problems. If your vehicle is not equipped with an auxiliary braking system you can slow the vehicle down by shifting the transmission into a lower gear or using the tow/haul mode if equipped.

A couple years ago we took a cross-country RV trip with our truck and truck camper. The loaded camper weight was within 400 pounds of my vehicle’s Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, so I was cautious of my stopping distance, and using my vehicle brakes to slow the truck and camper down when descending steep downgrades. My truck at the time had a tow/haul mode that helped limit my speed when descending grades, and on particularly steep and long downgrades I would put the transmission in a lower gear.

As I have seen many times before, when we were descending a downgrade somewhere in West Virginia,  a truck’s brakes caught on fire because of heat generated from overusing the vehicle’s brakes. Brake fade is a serious problem that can happen quickly on any vehicle equipped with a friction braking system.

When you add more weight, as is the case with a motorhome towing a vehicle or a truck towing a trailer, brake fade is more apt to occur even with a supplemental braking system or trailer brakes.

The good news is if you are educated on what brake fade is and how to avoid it you can prevent it from happening to you.

Happy RV Learning,

Mark Polk

www.rveducation101.com

Check out our RV training courses available at RV Online Training

One thought on “RV 101® How to Prevent Brake Fade on your Motorhome or Tow Vehicle

  1. Thanks a good article. I had to learn over 12 years of trial and error, and listen I g to others. I have no major problems but I have friends who did. You did not mention to effect of heat on trailer bearing grease and the loss of bearings.

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