brake controller help

[Andy578]

so i had the dealer order and install the brake controller but i really have no idea how it works. i have a 18 foot car trailer with electric brakes. trailer weight is about 2600lbs with a max load of just under 5000lbs but it'll usually only have a few ATVs on it

i played around a bit and i believe i have the settings correct but i'm not entirely sure if i should be setting it to light or heavy electric. i tried the slider to apply the brakes but it really didn't seem to have any effect so i'm wondering if i missed something or maybe the gain also has to be set higher. i've read the manual but i still feel pretty clueless so any advice/tips are much appreciated

 

[Pitch1]

If you felt no effect from the trailer brakes, they are not working. Hook up and start moving to ten or 15 MPH, put into neutral and apply brakes with the slider only. Empty car hauler should lock the wheels up, loaded should bring the whole rig to a stop.
Do you have power to the trailer lights and signals? If you do look at the trailer brakes, if you have nothing get a helper and a test light and check the truck receptacle.

 

[jlb]

It takes an intelligent and humble person to admit that they need help, and also to recognize when something is too dangerous to fool around with. Just wanted to throw that out there, and say there are a lot of people here with good knowledge who are happy to share it with you. The more you learn the easy way the better!

I agree with the above, the first thing you should do every time you plug your trailer in forgoing of course correctly hooking it up is check the blinkers, running lights, and brakes. The first two will net you a ticket in a hurry, and the last will net you something far worse. By fully applying the slider your trailer should NEARLY lock up the brakes. A good way to set it is once fully loaded go slow speeds as recommended above, and bump the gain until it just locks the tires, then back it down a little. If you turn the gain up and can't feel the trailer pull at all then it is possible the connector on your truck is bad, or the brakes aren't working properly.

Note that the above process is load dependent. Each time you alter the load on your trailer by more than say 500 lbs, you should adjust the gain to compensate. Too high of gain can cause your trailer to slide sideways when braking in a corner, and too low of gain may not provide enough stopping power. Also it is good to note that low gain settings will wear out your truck brakes more quickly since you will be forced to use them harder, and more often. Slow down early, and allow for good following distances ( I know ********** just cut into them thinking "OH LOOK A BIG SPACE") because braking takes more time, downshift to slow yourself as possible. All this combined really makes a big impact on your brakes, and your trailer brakes, plus it keeps you safer!

The only question I have since you don't appear to have much experience is, have you spoken with someone about how to properly distribute load on your trailer, and how to safely tie things down?

 

[RangerGress]

The above guys have it right. I tow 7400lbs and I have the brake controller set to Light per the owner's manual. In experimenting with this, imo Light is fine for that much weight. I don't want the trailer tires to lock up, I just want to feel lots of braking back there when I move the controller lever to full brake. You want to be really cautious about setting your brake controller so aggressively that you can get tires to lock up. That will flat spot a tire and that's a problem that gets worse in a hurry. It's easy to end up with a flat trailer tire once you get your first flat spot.

Like the guys above said, towing can be dangerous business. When you hook up to your trailer, test your trailer brakes by squeezing your controller levers before you get to the end of the block.

Your truck's dash should tell you if the truck loses commo with the trailer, which is another thing to always be wary of. I think it's an amber warning.

 

[Andy578]

If you felt no effect from the trailer brakes, they are not working. Hook up and start moving to ten or 15 MPH, put into neutral and apply brakes with the slider only. Empty car hauler should lock the wheels up, loaded should bring the whole rig to a stop.
Do you have power to the trailer lights and signals? If you do look at the trailer brakes, if you have nothing get a helper and a test light and check the truck receptacle.

yep the lights work fine and the trailer is only about 6 months old and hasn't been used much so brakes should be like new. putting it into neutral and using the slider is actually exactly how i was testing it and it had zero effect. the gain was only at 2 but unloaded i'd think it wouldn't matter.

The only question I have since you don't appear to have much experience is, have you spoken with someone about how to properly distribute load on your trailer, and how to safely tie things down?

i'm actually fairly experienced with towing small trailers and have done quite a bit pulling around farm equipment with tractors but this is the first trailer i've had with brakes.

 

[sicmadek]

I always turn the gain up to 10 and let the ecu do the work for me. It will give you the amount t of brake it thinks you need based on your speed. It works off the speed sensor in the rear. The reason I set gain to 10 is because the manual slider will on go as high as the gain is. So if gain is at 5 then you will only get 5 when fully squeezed.

 

[smiley]

Mine is older style factory one I don't even think it goes to 10 but for hauling a car usually use it at about 5.5 and it works great. You might have to switch one pin the in the connector if it is the small round going up to the big 7 way. That is what I had to do on our family car trailer or it would not work correct.

 

[14hemiexpress]

I agrees with everyone the gain is dependent on load. This is how I normally set mine up. I take the truck and trailer and go down the road at 15-20 mph and set the slider to 5-6 with a light load then let off the gas and grab the slider I want to feel the trailer slowing the truck down but not locking up the tires. With a 7-8000lbs load I had it set at 10 and it stopped great! So if you are conserned with the brakes not working you have a few options. 1 drive down the road and turn it way up see if you can lock them up on a safe road. 2 you can jack up 1 side of your trailer and spin the tires and have someone in the truck grab the slider. That will let you know if they are working at all. But if you have a 3500-4000 lbs load and your not getting pushed when braking they are probably working. I had a 3500 lbs load with no trailer brakes and I stopped fine but I had to double up on how hard I had to push the brakes, it wash pushing me a little bit. Good luck and happy towing.

Ps. My flatbed car hauler is about 1800 and to feel the brakes kick in I had to have it up to 6, 2 is light for that sized trailer try more like 6-7 and I think you'll be happy

 

[Andy578]

finally had time to play around with it again. ran it empty with the gain set to 5 and i definitely had brakes. now i just need to get used to using it and learn how to properly set it with heavy loads