But, would you say also... You don't need scissor jacks if all you need is stabilization in campgrounds. If on the other hand you want to suspend your T@B for things like greasing bearings, etc., jacks are the cats meow?
Your brakes might be fine or they might be glazed and damaged. A mile of super high heat also could have puddled the bearing grease and wrecked the drums. It would probably be prudent to pull the wheels and do an inspection. The good news is your TV is up to the job.
Just for reference - When I had the bearings greased, they put jacks under the frame in back where the spare is (mine isn't but you know where I'm talking), jacked it up, took the tires off and did their thing. They left it attached to my TV.
When you have them grease your bearings, also have them check the seals on the back side of the hub (probably the brake seal) - I had a leaky one on the passenger side that needed replacing when I got mine packed at the 6K mark.
Look for a utility trailer business. Their hourly rate is lower than an RV dealer and they repack and grease the bearings frequently on the trailers they sell. It costs me around $100 once a year to have mine done at a good and reputable trailer sales business in Indiana. It's good insurance.
The T@b and Adventure Crew spent the weekend at home. I took advantage of the time, and shot some grease into the wheel bearings. I used the only jack I have, the bottle jack from my tow vehicle, and placed it under the T@b frame to get the tire off the ground. The hub caps were on quite firmly, and required care to…
There is only a single controller output going to both trailer brakes. Typical failures are wiring to the brake on one side (left hand in your case), or bearing grease got into the drum severely reducing the braking power. In any case it sounds like it's time to remove the drums on both sides and see what's going on.
The brakes are engaged when the lever is up - as in your photo. The lever is "up" way too far indicating worn, out of adjustment brakes. If you have towed in this position and the trailer rolls around - your brakes are shot. You need to replace all the internal brake components in each hub and adjust the linkages and…
I’ve camped in Smokey Mountain NP before and had no issues. It boils down to common sense and eliminating food sources, being smart about disposing of your food remnants, trash, eliminating scent and doing the best you can. It sounds like you have a good knowledge base and have read up on bear safety. Bears can smell scent…
The utility trailer company who greases and repacks my wheel bearings every year (PV 2014 T@B) checks my surge brakes when I take it in. I "had" to check the effectiveness of the surge brakes twice this year due to the lack of good judgement of two other drivers. The surge brakes work very well ;)