Trailer brake control. Oem or aftermarket

[BossHogg]

When somebody cuts across the road in front of me or decides to cut me off I want my vehicle to slow down quicker than it does. As it is you really have to punch the pedal to get the voltage up. I'd be interested in seeing some comparisons in deceleration rates.

I only have towing experience with two RAMs, my 2013 and my 2015. Neither one has demonstrated trailer braking latencies when having to brake fast. I tow four trailers, three with electric brakes (car hauler, 16 ft. dump, and 40 foot 15K pound fifth wheel). I set the ITBM up for each trailer as outlined in the owners' manual. The utility trailer is the trickiest because it needs two settings, loaded and unloaded. Same with the dump trailer albeit not as drastic as the utility trailer. The fifth wheel has one setting.

 

[bdc2]

I can lock the itbc up at heavy 7.5 on an empty trailer at 3200 lbs from a rolling idle, at 30 mph it won't At 11k trailer gvw I'm running 8.5. 2018 truck dealer installed. My 2005 truck pulling the same trailer functioned normally. Are these the gain setting you guys are seeing.?

 

[Moparfanatic21]

Aftermarket all the way. First day I for the truck I pulled the factory one out.

 

[Peydaze]

I haul a 30 foot gooseneck with my 2017 3500 every day. I haul machinery for caterpillar (a dealership rental division). At times I am close to max cgvwr (39,100 lbs). The dealership provides the trailer and they have several different trailers to choose from. I have used both a prodigy II and the ITBC over the last 2 years and through multiple trailers and every load weight imaginable . The prodigy II did fine. Worked as it always did in the other trucks I've had it in. The ITBC does just as good and is better when it comes to safely stopping my trailer. Being integrated with the truck's computer improves overall performance. After reading all the other reviews I believe the biggest variable is the individual health of the trailer being pulled. If you have the ITBC, keep it, no need to spend money on an aftermarket.

 

[John Jensen]

I've been pulling trailers for 68 years and have used almost every aftermarket controller made. The Prodigy was easily the best of the bunch. I now have an OEM controller on my Ford F350 and my Ram 1500. IMHO the OEM controller performs the best.

 

[RayL]

I've had both, an after market control for my 2004 Ram 1500 5.7 and the OEM in my 2016 Ram 5.7, both pulling my 8,000 lb RV trailer. The OEM works as smooth as silk. I seldom have to use the manual control knobs as the OEM settings work great. I much prefer and recommend the OEM controller.

 

[35wailin]

I went with the aftermarket that I pulled out of my '06 GMC Envoy. I bought that controller new when I bought the Envoy in '08. It worked fine and I saw no reason to drop C$600 installed on an OEM controller when the aftermarket was bought and paid for and still working fine. Sometimes, it may be nice to have some of the info pop up on the dash, but once I have it set for my camper, I have no need to change the settings on the controller.

 

[Mudders Beast]

Went with OEM, nice integration with dash and screen. After spending $40k, a few hundred more than aftermarket/programming feewas worth it, plus warranty. But sure either way will work. Laramie crew cab/4wd. Odd software update, did not initially display at dealer, was told the computer needed “sleep” 12 hrs to show up. Next morning, all worked fine and ever since. Go figure. 3.5 setting will do a rolling stop from 15 mph, 3000 lb. trailer.

 

[Mountaindog62]

I went with OEM installed it myself and had the dealership flash it. Very happy with the look and function and integration with computer. Install wasn't bad all the wiring is there. I have the bighorn 2017