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Can’t tow our toad at night!
I recently discovered during our safety check before departure that the brake system on our toad was being activated when the left turn indicator was activated.
This only occurs if you have the headlights or running lights on which I was told would trickle charge the toad batteries while we were driving.
Luckely I have the breaking pressure turned way down on the toad or we would have square tires by now.
Checked the harness to the toad and everything seems to be wired correctly with no stray strands of wire shorting anything.
I’ve noticed that even with everything disconnected, when I turn on the left turn indicator the audible clicking noise is present but if I turn on the headlights the left turn indicator will give me the visual indicator on the dash that it’s functioning but I don’t get the audible clicking noise from the dash.
Any suggestions where to start looking for this problem?
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11 Replies
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The action on the lights on the toad might be a red herring.
The starting point is to verify the bus lights operate as they are supposed to. Begin there with the toad disconnected.
If all is well assuming no obvious problems are found on the toad, is to determine if the toad is wired correctly. In the olden days when Tom was not driving a G.O.A.T. cars were simpler. Now with cars with multiplex wiring and a lot of control modules cars may need special harnesses with diodes to prevent feedback that can make things fail to work as intended.
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Hey, I resent that goat remark, ehehehehe. I found with my Marathons as long as I wired the toad with dedicated lights, 4 wire to the lights and dedicated bulbs, everything worked well. Seems some of the light kits and crazy wiring of diodes and wire splices, things get screwed up. There is a box in your passenger side engine bay that controls the toad lights, I had a problem one time with one of the relays in that box. All of this assumes you have no coach light problems.
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Bad or non-existent grounds can cause really really weird things to happen to DC wiring. Find the grounds snd make sure they are “good grounds”.
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I use the M&G Air Brakes simple and works great
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M&G is awesome but fits less and less cars every year. I could not use it when I moved from my 2012 Liberty to a 2020 Cherokee.
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I put it on our Honda CRV it was a pretty easy install and I like the way it works
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How would M&G system solve Lardogs problem?
Mike Harper
2004 Marathon XLII -
The brake would not engage no matter any wiring issues. It’s a simple proportional braking system tied to the coaches air brakes. Put on the brakes and the towed brakes are applied. Nothing else interacts with the brakes.
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“How would M&G system solve Lardogs problem?”
Hey Larry, you took the words right out of my mouth brother. Oh BTW, it was nice meeting you up at Marathon. Sorry we didn’t have more hang time to get to know each other better.After trying to figure out what Jon and Tom were goading each other about and checking the internet to see if I just wasn’t hip enough to get the G.O.A.T., reference I finally gave up and just figured ehh…it’s and inside thing.
Would I have preferred an air actuated braking system like the Air Force or M&G since from what I’ve read they seem to be the best options? Absolutely! But I needed to outfit the car with a tow package and braking system 2000 miles away from where I was picking up the coach. Since the previous owner said the coach didn’t have an air chuck in the rear for the toad braking I opted for the InvisiBrake system from Roadmaster and had the entire tow package installed by Camping World before we set off to get the coach. I wanted to make sure I had SOMETHING in the toad in case I got stopped in a state that requires it.
At this point I’m leaning towards Toms suggestion to crack open that box in the engine bay where all the tow wiring seems to terminate. I spoke to Marathon and they said It’s possible some moisture may have infiltrated that box so I really want to peek inside there and see what’s what. All three screws were rusted so a little Blaster penetrating lube help me get two of the screws out but it looks like some neanderthal cross threaded the third and it won’t budge, so I have to wait till I have the time to cut the head off that other screw to open Pandoras box.I’ll report back with some pics once I have a look see inside and give you guys an update if I figure out the problem I’m having.As always, thanks for all the input. You never know when you’re going to read the post that says BINGO!!!…that’s it!!…problem solved! -
At the Prevost show the two buttheads from TN, one in Knoxville and the other in Vonore, told me I couldn’t park between 2 Prevosts. Of course I brought the golf cart they wanted to use so they sucked up and made room for me. Then in the dark of night they pulled this. The shame…..
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He has more shit than a Christmas goose. First of all I don’ t need hs golf cart as I come fully prepared with my own.
And he is a little touchy about driving a truck instead of a Prevost, so we wanted to boost his spirits by posting the G.O.A.T. sign which means “greatest of all time. No good deed goes unpunished.
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