ReadyBrake install

[Bumbee]

looking up between cross member & radiator


just in front of front driver's side tire, looking straight up at the frame

the brakeaway box (ReadyStop) is angled to keep the line fairly direct. box is held in place with 3 sheet metal screws.

[kannonvaggon]

I must be missing sumthin yet again....

The pedal on the Smart is not hung from above but rather it has downward leverage toward the floor of the car with an external bellcrank to the mastercylinder, etc... If you pull forward on a cable, like through the firewall, you would get very little brake pedal force ?

Do you have your cable coming up through the bottom of the floor and if so how do you connect to the pedal stalk?

This old saw seems a reasonable way to do a "surge" brake for sumthin like a little car, but in fact doesn't one get a lot of pulsing through the receiver from the rocking of the tow with variance in acceleration and such?

There are several supplemental brake systems that are indeed custom made for a given model of towed vehicle. The M&G folks make a very nice one that mounts behind the mastercylinder and provides proportional braking off the MH air or air/hydro system. An accumulator cylinder and lanyard provides for break-away brake activation. I like this system a bunch but have not seen one made for the Smart yet. I haven't checked with M&G as to applicability to Smart, and have only looked at them on mostly Jeep products where they perform very nicely.

I'm not all that concerned with normal proportional braking whilst towing a Smart due to it's light weight which is not equal to a pimple on my coach's butt, though a break-away system is ALWAYS a nice thing to have on anything yer towing. Stuff happens. I'm gonna have to take a look at the Nightshift break-away system and try to figure out how it is gonna work with our pedal design...
Real world experience is for sure a good thing to tap. Thanks for the info!

[fortow]

I use the BrakeBuddy system which seems a lot simpler. It has proportional adjustable braking and a break away setup as well that is a simple switch activated by pulling a separator out when/if the car breaks away from the motorhome. When the switch is connected the BrakeBuddy brakes the car and holds the brake on.

BrakeBuddy Vantage Select | BrakeBuddy - Braking systems for motorhomes towing a vehicle

[Bumbee]

Originally Posted by kannonvaggon

Do you have your cable coming up through the bottom of the floor and if so how do you connect to the pedal stalk?

the cable comes in angled below the pedal & sandwiches between two pieces of metal bolted to the stalk. i'll try to get you a pic when i can. right now i'm having problems getting the lights to work, so no real-life towing has been done yet. i'm finding the entire concept (towing) to be one big PITA thus far.

[Bumbee]

Originally Posted by fortow

I use the BrakeBuddy system which seems a lot simpler.

true, but it's also $1000+ more than the readybrake & readystop combined. and since so many folks say they don't feel the need for a braking system, i just wanted the "insurance" of having one without as much of a "premium" for it.

[raysrvs]

Originally Posted by Bumbee

well, it was not fun, everything is so tight under the smart, but the ReadyBrake is now fully installed. i haven't yet installed the brakeaway because i can't access any area to mount the 2"x3" box. any ideas? bueller? bueller?

I would like to know if there is a hitch available to tow my smart car behind the motorhome. THANKS RAY 772-519-2638

[bcope01]

Originally Posted by raysrvs

I would like to know if there is a hitch available to tow my smart car behind the motorhome. THANKS RAY 772-519-2638

Everything you wanted to know about towing a Smart here:
Smart Car Towing - Smart Car of America Forums

Read the posts on Flat Towing--YES!

[kleverd1]

I installed my Ready Brtake System almost a year ago. I want to run a monitor light up to my motorhome dash so I can tell when the brakes are activated.

I am glad to hear your suggestion on the breakaway mounting as I haven't mounted mine yet.

Does anyone get oscillation of the Smart steering when towing? I didn't get it much at first but lately it happens more often. I beleive it happens when I am in a turn and then turn the opposite direction in the motorhome before straightening out first. It seems the Smart is trying to reverse turn direction but goes too far and then it just oscillates back and forth. I usually come to a dead stop and pull away very slowly and the Smart usually stops the oscillation although not always. Also it is not always convenient to come to a dead stop when turning to fix this.

Any ideas anyone?

[Alan_Hepburn]

Originally Posted by kleverd1

-steering oscillation-

Any ideas anyone?

this has come up several times here - the solution is to put some bungee cords from the driver's seat rails to the steering wheel.

[wnovinger]

Bumbee....did you ever get the pictures of the brake pedal installation taken? It would be nice to see how your installation was done, as I am having trouble visualizing how I will do mine.

Many thanks,
Walt