I have a 2011 Sundance, and am having the same brake problem discussed herein.
When I dropped of my old Rockwood 5th wheel trade-in and picked up the new camper last summer I noticed that the camper braking was significantly less effective than the old camper. My tow vehicle at that time was a Dodge 3500 with an aftermarket brake controller. I jacked up the gain to maximum and went on my way, but was not happy with the braking capability.
In October we pulled the new camper to Texas behind a new Ford F350 with the built-in brake controller, and noticed that the trailer brakes were not very effective. When we got settled in Texas I checked the brake adjustment and found that it took 40 to 45 clicks to get the shoes to contact the drums! It was as if the brakes were never adjusted at the factory or on the pre-delivery inspection at the dealer. However, this adjustment did little to improve the braking, but I did notice that one of the brake drums was getting warmer than the others and backed the brake off a bit. I was also able to verify that in excess of 12v was being supplied to the brake circuit when the brake controller was manually operated at full gain. We left the camper in Oklahoma and returned to Minnesota.
When I told the dealer about the problem they suggested that it must be the brake controller. The Ford dealer checked out the brake controller (5th not attached) and his computer said there was a trailer fault.
We are now on a winter trip in Texas. Yesterday we stopped at Franklin's Big Country RV in Abilene to have the brakes checked out. They jacked up the wheels, spun the tires, pushed on the brake pedal, and declared that the problem was with the pickup brake controller because it would not stop the spinning wheel. I asked if they had applied the brake controller manually and the foreman said no. I suggested that the brake controller may have an accelerometer in the circuit, and that the pickup has to actually be decelerating before pushing on that brake pedal would provide voltage to the camper brakes. Therefore, pressing the brake pedal while the pickup is parked may not apply braking voltage to the camper. He said, Oh.
They then used the manual control to apply the brakes and they stopped the spinning wheel, and declared that the brakes were working fine. As if the amount of braking capability required to stop a spinning wheel is adequate to slow a 6 ton camper. They checked out the adjustment on the brakes and found that one we loose (the one I had loosened because it was getting hot). They adjusted that one and declared the problem was with the pickup controller. Their parking lot is gravel, and as we were leaving I tried sliding the camper tires by manually applying the controller. The trailer tires would not even slide on the gravel at maximum gain.
If you are ever having a problem with your camper in the Abilene area, don't bother to stop at Franklin's Big Country RV for service. These guys may know how to replace a piece of trim on your cabinet, but they don't know crap about braking systems.
I also mentioned to them that the wheel was getting hot, so they checked out bearing adjustment by rotating the wheel and declared that the adjustment was fine. I have a non-contact IR thermometer and it showed that the hot wheel was 50 degrees warmer than the other three (at one check, about 85 degrees F for three of them and 135 degrees for the hot one). There has to be some reason that the wheel is getting hot, so today I will remove the wheel and check out the bearings. At the same time I will make sure there is no grease or oil on the magnet or disk.
When we finally get this rig back to Minnesota, if we make it without incident, I will have the dealer I bought it from check out the system, but my guess is that they will also declare that the camper brakes are working fine, and that the problem is with the brake controller.
How do we push this issue with Heartland? This is a serious safety concern, which likely is the result of faulty OEM braking systems or installation at the factory. Maybe we should start filing complaints with the NTSB, or whoever oversees the safety of recreational vehicles.