Brody Castle

My plan was/is to remove the stock cooler and put the Derale in its' place. My dilemma is whether to bypass the radiator loop. Because I live in the south, and never plan to drive in freezing temps, I see no reason to heat the trans fluid through the radiator. For those of you up north, I realize this is important for certain times of the year.

I've always kept my speeds below 70 when towing, just for the reasons cjm mentioned above. There's no question that our mighty LS motors can pull the weight, (and trans temps didn't seem to climb when faster - the higher temps typically occur in stop and go driving off the highway!) but I'm more concerned with stopping the weight! Even with electric brakes in the back, 13K is a lot of inertia to deal with. I also make sure to look WAY far down the road for potential problems. I'm a much better driver when I'm towing than when I'm not, sadly - a point my wife makes often!

I also had a very scary fishtailing incident a few months ago, towing a Dodge van on a Uhaul car trailer. It was nothing like towing my camper - anything above 50 was pucker-inducing. I only towed it less than 200 miles, but couldn't wait to get rid of that load! In comparison, by camping rig with the Equalizer hitch setup is fantastic. When I do hit 75 on a downhill, I might feel the slightest wiggle in the rear, which reminds me that it's too fast.

I'm not even sure what speed my trailer tires are rated for - I'll have to look (Maxxis M8008). I just imagine how much faster a 14" tire is spinning vs the 16s on the van, and so arriving a bit later is just fine by me.

cjm1973

Here's the last remaining 2019 van east of the Mississippi with a sliding door and all the options I wanted. Actually had to fly to St Louis to get it, so just west of the ole Miss. Dealers are taking orders on 2020's and prices have jumped a little, enough to warrant the drive back to Detroit.

Spent a good chunk of the afternoon getting the new shocks put on, wiring in the P3 brake controller, upgrading the single note horn, installing the larger class V Curt hitch, and wiring up the trailer TPMS unit and dash cam. We're leaving this morning for our camping trip up north. I'm hopeful that the new van will pull just as good as the RAM 2500. Fingers crossed.

Brody Castle

Good looking van! Looking forward to hearing how the trip goes. If you think of it, take a pic of your rig all hooked up! Here's mine:

Artie1

I am looking at this closely, and it seems there is no way to manually and gradually operate trailer brakes, like a spring-loaded slider on a traditional brake controller. The manual just says "press on the center button" to lightly apply trailer brakes at a level preset before. It's a critical feature, when going downhill I need to be able to choose how much trailer braking to apply.

GatorHawk24

Artie1,

There are 2 modes on the Redarc brake controller (proportional and manual). The small **** is really a dial with a semi-arbitrary scale from 1-10. A higher number demands more braking force from the trailer (I usually keep mine around 4 for my travel trailer). Most brake controllers have a lever/button/slider to activate the trailer brakes without input from the vehicle's brake system to help during a sway situation. Since the driver only has the small dial to interact with, Redarc's implementation for this feature is to press the dial to cause the same effect. Additionally, there is a manual mode (press the brake and double tap the dial) for non-proportional trailer braking (I've never used the manual mode).

I really like the Redarc because it is set-it-and-forget-it simple. Every once in a while I will increase or decrease the brake force based on driving conditions, but I've been really happy with it overall (especially because I don't have an additional controller for my legs/knees to catch when I get in or out of my van or have in my way on long drives (I'm tall and need all the leg room I can get).

I think these video links will help explain the Redarc's features.

Artie1

There is still no slider. That round button is a binary on/off switch. With a traditional BC, there's a voltage display and by varying the slider I can adjust voltage (0-12) going to the trailer. Can Redarc do this?

GatorHawk24

I apologize if I am not understanding your concern, but I'll do my best to explain...

When a trailer is connected, the Redarc BC operates in whichever mode the user has placed it (proportional or user controlled). Proportional is exactly that, it applies a proportional amount of breaking force to the trailer brakes based on the amount of braking force the driver applies in the tow vehicle (adjusted by the intensity setting, 1-10 on the dial... essentially the voltage adjustment). If it is in user controlled mode, it applies 100% of the intensity the user has selected on the dial whenever brakes are applied. The intensity can be adjusted on-the-fly in either mode with the dial to adjust the desired breaking force.

The dial is not an "on/off" switch. The system is always active when a trailer is connected, if the driver desires no braking force to be applied to the trailer, he/she will turn the intensity to zero on the dial (in effect turning it off). Pressing the dial (and holding, as needed) activates the Manual Override feature (similar to a traditional BC's manual lever/button/slider) to apply brakes to the trailer ONLY without activating the tow vehicle's brakes (i.e. to assist in a sway condition). While pressing the button (manual override) you can increase or decrease trailer brake intensity by turning the dial in either mode.

Here's an excerpt from the user manual.

Artie1

I see now. The way they demonstrate is that you only push the button. It was not clear to me before that I can push the button AND rotate the **** simultaneously to increase/decrease braking.
I like the compact, clean OEM looking **** design but I still have a problem with the implementation though.
I tow a 10,000 lbs trailer and my Tekonsha brake controller is usually set pretty high, so the trailer gets full 12V when I need to slow down quickly. But what I like to do in a downhill situation, is manually use the slider to send 1-2V to the trailer - this makes the trailer pull back just a bit, creates tension between the two vehicles and helps prevent sway. It is a heavy trailer and it tends to accelerate faster than the truck (you can feel it pushing on the truck), so slightly braking it helps significantly. But if at the end of that hill is a traffic light, I need to press on the brake pedal, and the trailer still gets full 12V power. With Redarc, it appears that I will have to dial down the intensity to 1-2 to create tension going downhill, but when I brake with the pedal, it will be braking low, unless I dial back up.

GatorHawk24

The Redarc BC is a pretty nice system, and I think it will work for most people. Your situation is a little unique, and based on the scenario you gave, I understand why you like the manual override separated from the BC's general function.

I tow a 7500+ travel trailer and I've never had an issue with the function or interface. I keep my Redarc BC around 4 on the dial in proportional mode, and it works great for everything I've experienced since I installed it (summer 2018). If I'm in big hills or heavy freeway traffic with the potential to stop fast, I might bump it up a click or 2 on the dial. In low speed stop-and-go traffic, I might bump it down a click or 2 so the trailer doesn't bite as hard. In big down-hills the trailer weight will result in slight acceleration, but not quite the "push" that I've experienced when there's a significant weight disparity between tow vehicle and trailer (perhaps the wind drag on the travel trailer helps buffer that effect a bit). I have never (yet) felt unsafe to apply the brakes and let the system do its job.

greenfire

You will have no problems towing that weight with said van. The long wheelbase is very stable and the rear does not sag. Use tow/haul and manually select gears when necessary. The "grade braking" works very well and that will kick on automatically.