I see in other posts advice on adjusting is to pull slowly and adjust controller so brakes lock then back off. I am wondering if there is a problem with my brakes or controller because I am unable to get any wheel to lock even on dirt, set on heavy electric and turned all the way up to 10. Seems like my trailer brakes are weak even on a small when fully applied brakes will not hold trailer and rig. Is this advice for smaller trailers or does it also apply for my 15k cyclone?
Should I be able to get my brakes to lock on cyclone 3110?
- Thread starter bobca1
- Start date
My rig isnt as heavy as yours, and I have only had them lock in my gravel driveway after they have sat for some time, and accumulated rust. After they have been used for a while, they do work, but these drum brakes arent anything like the disc set up on most cars. At least in my experience, I dont see having the tires locked is possible with these type of brakes.
justafordguy
Well-known member
I don't know about your brake controller but the built in controller on my Ford doesn't apply the brakes when the truck is stopped so it won't hold on a hill with just the trailer brakes activated manually. Once you are moving about 5 mph the brake controller starts to apply power to the trailer brakes. I think it does this to help smooth things out when you come to a complete stop.
travelin2
Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
I can manually activate the trailer brake controller in my SD and lock the trailer (OEM drum) brakes and drag the trailer wheels across the grass/gravel.
A friend of mine had issues stopping his brand new trailer used to haul his antique tractors. He asked me the same question as the OP here. Turned out his brake pads were covered with bearing grease.
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A friend of mine had issues stopping his brand new trailer used to haul his antique tractors. He asked me the same question as the OP here. Turned out his brake pads were covered with bearing grease.
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Last edited:
GOTTOYS
Well-known member
I read the Dexter brake manual. In there it says you need to burnish new brakes to make them work properly. You need to go up to about 40 mph then manually apply the brakes until until you are almost stopped. Do this 30-40 times but leave a little time in between stops to allow them to cool down. It sounded stupid but I tried it. At first my trailer wouldn't even stop, by the end of the process they worked 100% better. Well worth the time spent. At the time I had a 2010 Dodge and I along with many others found the factory brake controller to be very weak. While it worked I had to have it set on 10 and it still wasn't the greatest. My current Chevrolet works well set on 8...Don
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
By the way . . . my trailer brake controller is Chevy factory in the dash . . . and it works great!
Hi all thanks for the suggestions. My controller is the factory integrated RAM 3500 gives me a few options such as light or heavy electric I have tried both, and I have the ability to manually activate too. I will give the burnish process a try if no improvement the trailer is going to the shop end of Jan before warranty is up for couple of other issues so I will add this to the list too. I wanted to hear from others before I talked to the dealer in case they tell me that it's normal, appears that's not the case and I should be getting more braking out of them.
Until I can save up for Disc brake conversion someday
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Until I can save up for Disc brake conversion someday
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Bobca1
I believe its an inherent weakness with the Dodge integrated brake controllers. My brakes on my 2013 are the same as yours, very weak. The trailer brakes are good and check out both mechanically and electrically, and I have taken the truck to the Dealership twice about the brake controller. They changed the controller once, but it did not help. I have talked with Dodge about disconnecting the integrated controller and installing an aftermarket Prodigy. They said it should be ok and would not void my warranty, so I think thats the path I'm going to take.
I believe its an inherent weakness with the Dodge integrated brake controllers. My brakes on my 2013 are the same as yours, very weak. The trailer brakes are good and check out both mechanically and electrically, and I have taken the truck to the Dealership twice about the brake controller. They changed the controller once, but it did not help. I have talked with Dodge about disconnecting the integrated controller and installing an aftermarket Prodigy. They said it should be ok and would not void my warranty, so I think thats the path I'm going to take.
I, too, have the 2014 Ram, 3500 DRW, and pull the Big Horn 3875. The pin weight on that unit is in the mid 3K and I have no issues with brakes. The Ram controller is set in the 4.5 to 5.0 range and I have no problems stopping. One vehicles is not doing all the braking. Good luck.
To check the voltage, the brakes have to be connected to something. When I check my voltage at the jbox at the pin, brake controller set on heavy electric and 10, using manual slide I only get 8 volts. As it is a proportional controller, so far no one has been able to answer if this is normal. I've contacted Ram Customer Service and the local service manager and asked what the voltage should be in a static state. No one can answer with a definitive answer. All Ram would say is it is proportional, and the local shop does not know. All they do is hook it to test machine and it checks good but does not give any voltage readings. Its been very frustrating dealing with them.
The integrated controller has the nice display on the dash wish there was an option to show volts/amps being supplied that would sure help diagnose braking issues. From what I found on Dexter website looks like under max braking shoild be 12v and 3A per wheel. If there is no diagnostic mode on the controller to see what is being supplied then I will rig up a harness to connect my amp meter inline to see what's getting sent under real conditions. Sounds like a good excuse to get new x-mas present meter with inductive option
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I know on my chevy DRW 3500 the brakes worked fine at like a setting of 5 out of 10. ON my 2014 RAM 3500 DRW I am running like 8 out of 10, and they dont lock up, but will grab very hard. Now to test everything I have had my break away switch trigger twice and on gravel it did lock things up. On pavement it stopped the truck very quickly, dont think the tires were locked though. I just repacked the bearings this year. The brake pads looked good, and there was no grease on them at all.
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