Troubleshooting trailer ground (weak brakes)

[Highbeam]

I still say if you have voltage its undersized wiring not allowing sufficient current if the grounds are good and tight.

Chris

Thing is, the trailer brkaes worked great before and now almost nothing. Wiring is fine, he just wants the original performance. I recommend the OP try the trailer on the original truck which had the original preformance to rule out the trailer's wiring.

My PJ trailer has always had weak brakes. I can lock up tires with an empty deck but when loaded I leave the prodigy on full power, boost level three. No real excuse for this, above average wiring quality and 4 giant 5200 lb axle assemblies with big brakes.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I recommend the OP try the trailer on the original truck which had the original preformance to rule out the trailer's wiring.

Sadly, that truck has been sold. Happily, it was traded up for a bigger truck!

Several people have mentioned the brake controller in the truck. It's a factory Dodge controller, and yeah, I do have the gain on max.

More testing tonight after work... Thanks again for all the input. TBN is awesome. Can't imagine what I did before I found you all.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Sadly, that truck has been sold. Happily, it was traded up for a bigger truck!

Several people have mentioned the brake controller in the truck. It's a factory Dodge controller, and yeah, I do have the gain on max.

More testing tonight after work... Thanks again for all the input. TBN is awesome. Can't imagine what I did before I found you all.

Right here is your problem, its a Dodge. No really, they have had issues with the factory controllers. Its been discussed here on TBN before. The issues is the controllers from the factory on Dodges have a "WEAK" program installed from the factory. Not sure why they think this is necessary. Any idiot can turn down the gain. If you take it back to the dealer they can reprogram it for a "STRONG" program. I have a Ford with a factory controller and quite a few friends with them and a few with GM trucks with factory controllers and no issues. Dodge is the only one I have heard with this issue.

Really, its a truck issue, not a trailer or wiring issue more than likely.

I wish I would have know earlier on that is was a Dodge with a Factory Controller. I should have asked more questions.

Do a google search and I bet you are not the only one with a Dodge with controller issues. "issues dodge brake controller" I see tons of issues and complaints. Seems the kinks are not worked out of this one yet.

Chris

 

[joshuabardwell]

Right here is your problem, its a Dodge. No really, they have had issues with the factory controllers.

If that's the case, could I confirm it by hooking the trailer up to a 12-volt battery? If I understand correctly how the wiring works, I could take a 12-volt and hook the positive lead up to the brake pin and the negative lead up to the ground pin, and the brakes should actuate full-on, right?

 

[J_J]

Yes, that is correct.

While you have the battery there, measure the current draw of the brakes as a reference.

When you hook it back up to the truck, have someone apply the brakes and see if the current draw is the same.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Hmm... this is interesting. I wonder if this is true for a 2005. This is not an in-dash controller, but a factory-installed (I assume--it has no logo) under-dash.

The controller is an Inertia type. The g-forces generated by the stopping of the truck determines how much braking you get. Just sitting still and hitting the brakes will not do it. The manual lever over-rides the inertia part.

I don't think it's relevant to me, because for my troubleshooting, I was pulling the manual lever, not pushing the brake pedal. Still, interesting to know.

 

[Diamondpilot]

On the Ford and GM factory ones, the only ones I am familiar with, they are not inertia, but use a pressure switch on the master cylinder to activate the brakes. Far superior to inertia. I am not familiar with the Dodge system and how it works other then there have been issues with the program of the unit itself.

Test your brakes with a battery but at this point I think its a truck/Dodge issue, not a trailer issue.

Like I said, this issue with Dodge trucks has came up before here on TBN and a quick google search has shown others with the same issues as you.

Chris

 

[joshuabardwell]

Okay... got a little testing done. So far, here's what I have.

With a 12-volt battery, the brakes actuate fine on three of the four wheels. A compass held near the wheels confirms that the fourth brake doesn't seem to be activating at all. That is new information, as that is not the wheel that I was doing my troubleshooting on previously, so there may be more than one issue here.

With the manual activation lever on the brake controller pressed, three of the four wheels lock up strong. That is not what was happening previously, but one difference is that previously, I was using a clamp to hold the lever, while this time, my girlfriend was pushing the lever, so... I don't know... maybe the clamp wasn't holding it all the way in or something, although I think it was... but who knows?

With the brake pedal pressed, there was barely any activation, but I have recently learned about the existence of inertia-based brake controllers, and if I have one of those, then that would explain why the brakes aren't activating sitting still--in which case, I apologize for taking up y'all's time, and I sincerely appreciate the help with the troubleshoot (it's been educational!), but I may have totally mis-diagnosed the problem. My last truck's controller wasn't intertial, and it didn't matter whether you hit the brake pedal or not. In fact, it didn't even have a manual activation lever. So there you go.

But the silver lining is that I believe I've discovered that one of my four brakes isn't activating, so that's something. It's a good thing I have brakes on all four wheels, because otherwise I'd have zero braking on the left side of the trailer!

I've got a call in to the dealer to confirm that the controller is inertial, but it seems like if the controller grabs hard when you press the lever, but not when you press the brake (standing still) that's the most likely explanation.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I still say you need to get your controller configured by the dealer. This has been a issue with the Dodge Factory Controller.

As for the brake not working on one wheel it has to be one of two things. A bad magnet or a broken wire going to that particular brake.

Chris

 

[joshuabardwell]

I still say you need to get your controller configured by the dealer. This has been a issue with the Dodge Factory Controller.

As for the brake not working on one wheel it has to be one of two things. A bad magnet or a broken wire going to that particular brake.

Thanks for the advice. I will ask the dealer about it when he calls me back on my "inertial" question. As for the bad brake--yup. That's a whole different issue than if all four brakes are weak, and hopefully simpler to troubleshoot. I'd wager it's a broken wire because, like I said earlier, the dang trailer has just about 300 miles on it. It's practically brand new.