How well should trailer brakes work?

[Mattman]

Okay. Here's the deal.
Started camping with 2012 mini lite 2306 towed with my Yukon XL. Installed an Hayes Energizer III brake controller on my Yukon. I was very pleased with the operation. I could squeeze the over ride and it would yank my Yukon to a hault at low speeds.
Fast forward. New 28BRS, towed it home with my Yukon (4 miles) and parked it. Same controller.
Realized dealer told me Yukon could pull trailer, and more investigation provided wrong. Purchased 02 excursion. Moved brake controller to excursion. Brakes on camper felt very soft. Pushing excursion to hard. Never felt good about the brakes.
Went to put new exhaust manifold studs on excursion and project went longer than planned.
Re installed brake controller on Yukon for weekend trip. Adjusted brakes on camper since concerned about stopping ability. After adjustment the over ride on the controller does not hault my Yukon like the mini did. I felt like I had brakes, but i never felt like man. These things have some awesome power.
Squeeze the brake controller and I have 12.6 volts at the plug on the truck.
Questions. Why did the stopping power of my mini lite seem better?
Trailer is bigger, that why it takes more to stop?
Do I need to have the dealer look at it?
Brake controller not jiving with my excursion as well? I had same power with over ride pressed on the excursion.
I didn't have to adjust my brakes that much. Can't believe it made that big of difference.

Is that how they are suppose to be on a bigger trailer?
Confused... Please enlighten me.

 

[avvidclif]

On dirt/gravel the over ride should lock the trailer brakes at less than abt 10 MPH. Rough idea.

 

[Rollin_Free]

It kinda sounds like you have grease in the drums, especially since you said you had 12v from TV. The best way to know is jack the trailer by the frame and remove one of the wheels including the drum. It should be dry and slightly dusty. If it has a black slippery film the seal has leaked wheel bearing grease and your brake pads need to be replaced probably on all the wheels.

After I replaced my brake pad assemblies I adjusted the brake gain to max (12v) and took the trailer down the street. I manually pressed the override control 20-30 times to burnish the pads to the drums. After that I reduced the gain until manual control would just stop the rig without locking up the wheels. That setting is about 1/2 max gain and measures 6-7 volts. Bottom line is your rig should not be pushing your TV so something is wrong.

 

[Mattman]

Brand new travel trailer. Grease in the drum??

 

[Rollin_Free]

The good thing is you still have a warranty. As long as you're sure you have 12v on the brake from the TV when you press the manual control it's gotta be in the trailer somewhere. As a double check before taking it back for the dealer to look at you can measure the voltage at one of the wheels just like you did the TV. If you have 12v again the the issue has got to be inside the drums.

 

[Mattman]

The wierd part is when I lifted the axel, and applied the brakes, the tires did stop.. When I had it on my Yukon on my gravel if I stepped on the brakes, my Yukon did slide. That was a 10mph test.

 

[Rollin_Free]

Make sure when you're testing the trailer brakes to use just the manual control so only the trailer brakes are applied. After you're able to stop the rig with only the trailer brakes decrease the gain to just over half and test stopping using the brake pedal and fine the controller gain until you don't feel the trailer pushing or pulling back on the TV.

When you measure the brake voltage be sure to measure between the two wires going to the brake magnet. If you measure from chassis ground to just one of the wires you could be getting false readings.

 

[wjp1442]

Has anyone ever seen a "service trailer brakes" warning in their tow vehicle? I have a 2015 GMC dually and when I plugged the trailer in today I received that warning and now the brakes do not work. Any suggestions?

 

[danemayer]

Has anyone ever seen a "service trailer brakes" warning in their tow vehicle? I have a 2015 GMC dually and when I plugged the trailer in today I received that warning and now the brakes do not work. Any suggestions?

Our 2014 RAM popped up a Service Trailer Brakes icon today, halfway to our destination. It also started displaying a message that there was a problem with the trailer brake connection.

My off-door-side rear wheel brake was locked up and energized. And the wheel was pretty hot - although not hot enough to trigger the TPMS. Took the wheel off and pulled the hub, at which point several parts fell out. It also looked like some parts around the magnet had melted.

I managed to get the parts back together, and then cut one of the wires to the magnet to keep it from energizing. That took care of the errors on the truck console and we still had fair braking. So we got to our destination safely. I did pay close attention to the TPMS temperature display for the rest of the trip.

Next - replace the brake assembly.

 

[mlpeloquin]

Has anyone ever seen a "service trailer brakes" warning in their tow vehicle? I have a 2015 GMC dually and when I plugged the trailer in today I received that warning and now the brakes do not work. Any suggestions?

Yes. I had the breakaway switch cable catch on something and pull it out. Stopped me with a big jerk. I first thought I hit something, but knew I wasn't near anything. Got out and plugged it back in. The message was on the dash and I didn't have trailer brakes. I shut off the engine and restarted. The message disappeared and I had breaks again.

 

[wjp1442]

Thanks, I have someone coming out tomorrow to look at it. I has been sitting for about a month so it shouldn't have been a heat issue. Hopefully its an easy fix.

 

[Kbvols]

Has anyone ever seen a "service trailer brakes" warning in their tow vehicle? I have a 2015 GMC dually and when I plugged the trailer in today I received that warning and now the brakes do not work. Any suggestions?

I have a 2014 Chevy and had that after stopping for a short period during a trip. It ended up being a fuse in the truck.

 

[wjp1442]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I have narrowed it down to a truck issue. Heading to the dealer first thing in the morning.

 

[JohnD]

Yes. I had the breakaway switch cable catch on something and pull it out. Stopped me with a big jerk. I first thought I hit something, but knew I wasn't near anything. Got out and plugged it back in. The message was on the dash and I didn't have trailer brakes. I shut off the engine and restarted. The message disappeared and I had breaks again.

Yup!

I've had that happen twice on my 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500HD . . .

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks, I have someone coming out tomorrow to look at it. I has been sitting for about a month so it shouldn't have been a heat issue. Hopefully its an easy fix.

Check your breakaway switch . . . this might be causing your issues.

 

[Rollin_Free]

Our 2014 RAM popped up a Service Trailer Brakes icon today, halfway to our destination. It also started displaying a message that there was a problem with the trailer brake connection.

My off-door-side rear wheel brake was locked up and energized. And the wheel was pretty hot - although not hot enough to trigger the TPMS. Took the wheel off and pulled the hub, at which point several parts fell out. It also looked like some parts around the magnet had melted.

I managed to get the parts back together, and then cut one of the wires to the magnet to keep it from energizing. That took care of the errors on the truck console and we still had fair braking. So we got to our destination safely. I did pay close attention to the TPMS temperature display for the rest of the trip.

Next - replace the brake assembly.

I recall another post mentioning a problem with the wire that goes through a hole in each end of the axle for the brakes on the other side. The holes had sharp edges that cut the wires and actually melted the insulation inside the axle tube where it couldn't be seen. I don't recall the exact message mentioned but it was something like service trailer brakes.

No voltage should be on the magnet wires unless the brakes are applied manually or with the break pedal so I'm thinking there's going to be more.......

 

[danemayer]

I don't think there's any wire damage on mine, but if there is, it'll show up when I install the new brake assembly.

 

[Crumgater]

We get 'trailer fault' and 'trailer disconnected' warnings on the truck ('08 F350) occasionally - we've determined it to be a bad ground connection to the trailer... the trailer hitch itself apparently completes the circuit, and we've insulated the hitch from the truck rails with spongy shelf liner material to remove the 'chucking' we were getting (worked great for that). To replace the ground, we use our jumper cables between the trailer and the truck frame, and wahlah, error code gone.

 

[Rollin_Free]

I don't think there's any wire damage on mine, but if there is, it'll show up when I install the new brake assembly.

Yep. If there is voltage between the wires and it's only on that wheel it will be easier to find where the wire is shorted to probably the 12v aux wire.

 

[Mattman]

Follow up to my problem. Calling tomorrow to get it looked at. Tonight I got my excursion all set back in tow mode. Did some test pulling and brakes still felt soft. What I noticed this time is that 8-10mph slam on the brakes loose gravel and truck tires lock up and wheel cranks over to the left. I was able to repeat this twice. I removed the trailer and stopped the truck hard and no wheel spin action. My hypothesis is half the trailer brakes are not working. Which would explain the weak stopping power. Anyone agree with me? Or am I way off.?

 

[mlpeloquin]

Run the test with the manual override and don't use the truck brakes. If one side of the trailer lockup and the other side doesn't, then you will know. But you should be able to measure the voltage at each brake using the two wires going to each magnet. That is the easy way to find out what is going on electrically.