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| Ready to tow |
The 2015 winter in the Washington, D.C. area has been brutally cold. I
am concerned about The Bus sitting in the driveway even though it is plugged in
and I have winterized it. We continue to pack and prepare for our life on
the road and one final step was required to prepare The Bus to tow our 2010
Jeep Wrangler. We needed a brake system that would activate the Jeep's
brakes with The Bus' brakes. After researching various options, we
decided on the M&G Engineering brake system. It is not the cheapest solution
nor is it available for all model TOADS; but it is well respected and easy to
use. Our closest distributor/installer is B&G Auto & Marine
Repair in Stevensville, MD so we ordered the system through them and arranged
for installation.
It is about an hour drive to Stevensville and I figured I could tow the
Jeep there with Pattie following in her car since both The Bus and the Jeep
need to me modified. This was our first
time towing so I was a bit nervous. It
didn’t help that when I started The bus several electrical systems did not
function and the parking brake warning light and chime were on
continuously. I figured it was a bad
solenoid since The Bus moved freely and drove ok. We hooked up and had an uneventful drive to
Stevensville where we dropped the rig off with Gary at M&G. Gary is a nice guy that will talk you through
the process and I like that since I am a mechanical kind of guy myself. His prices are a bit high, but he is very
detail oriented and makes sure everything is professionally done.
The M&G system taps the motorhome’s air brake system and applies air
pressure directly to the Jeep’s brake system via an actuator installed between
the master cylinder and power booster. A pressurized tank is provided to
provide pressure in the event of a break away.
I chose this system because of its operational simplicity, easy
connect/disconnect and direct positive proportional braking with The Bus.
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| Pneumatic actuator |
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| Break away air tank driver side fender/firewall |
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| Air connection covered with spark plug boot and hose |
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| Lights, air, break away connections |
Once the installation was complete, Gary helped me properly diagnose The
Bus' electrical problem. It turned out that the solenoid was not
bad. It was not getting what I would
call a trigger signal from the ignition switch to activate. We found a fuse bank hidden under the drawer
in the center dash console and located a blown 10 amp fuse. Once replaced all the electrical systems
began operating normally. I had actually
read that this might be the problem on the TiffinNetwork forum, but had not
been able to locate the fuse bank. Once
we had that sorted, we hooked up the Jeep and made the trip home safely.
Next up, tires. The Bus’ tires
look fine, but they were manufactured in March 2006 and must be replaced.
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