Help With Brakes

[BUBBA-NONNIE]

I have a 2016 Ford F250 6.7 Superduty, pulling 2017 Montana 3000RE. The brakes are barely working when manually toggling the integrated brake. Any thoughts?

Mod note: Moved to a new thread.

[scottz]

Assuming the brakes have not been upgraded to disc, make sure your integrated controller is set to electric brakes. What setting is your controller at? Next step would be to pull the Montana wheels and inspect the brakes.

Before I upgraded to disc brakes, I had my controller set pretty high and would get firm but not great braking force from the trailer. Don't expect too much from the stock brakes.

[BUBBA-NONNIE]

Originally Posted by scottz

Assuming the brakes have not been upgraded to disc, make sure your integrated controller is set to electric brakes. What setting is your controller at? Next step would be to pull the Montana wheels and inspect the brakes.

Before I upgraded to disc brakes, I had my controller set pretty high and would get firm but not great braking force from the trailer. Don't expect too much from the stock brakes.

Thank you!

[BB_TX]

Even the stock drum brakes should be significantly better than “barely working”. With my 2007 3075RL I could actuate the manual control on my 2012 F350 and it would slide all 4 trailer tires on gravel. And quickly stop the truck/trailer on pavement without sliding the tires. Truck setting was 8 or 9 as I recall.

Those brakes were manual adjust and I did have to adjust them after 4-5 years. But I think newer ones are self adjusting.

I used to check my brakes by lifting a wheel(s) off the ground, pull the breakaway switch, and spin the wheel. It would lock up in less than 1/4 turn. Repeated for all 4. Never tried that using the truck manual controller. But would be worth trying both to see if there is a difference. Should be the same result both ways.

Could be brakes not properly adjusted. Could be low voltage from the truck. Could be wiring issue. Could be that not all 4 brakes are working properly. A matter of elimination of each possibility.

[twindman]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have had problems too. I used to think after sitting for several days, manually squeezing the controller and the rig would barely slow down. If id lightly held the controller and drove 100 yards it got better so I attributed it to dust on the brakes. Now After getting the rig back from dealer last week, after sitting 2 days, same thing happened. I took it to get tires put on. On the way home I tested it again and it REALLY stopped me.

After unhitching, the truck also seemed to stop much better.
Can the truck controller be sending out weak voltage or power at times? I am perplexed. Thanks.

[BUBBA-NONNIE]

Originally Posted by twindman

Not to hijack this thread, but I have had problems too. I used to think after sitting for several days, manually squeezing the controller and the rig would barely slow down. If id lightly held the controller and drove 100 yards it got better so I attributed it to dust on the brakes. Now After getting the rig back from dealer last week, after sitting 2 days, same thing happened. I took it to get tires put on. On the way home I tested it again and it REALLY stopped me.

After unhitching, the truck also seemed to stop much better.
Can the truck controller be sending out weak voltage or power at times? I am perplexed. Thanks.

Thank you for responding. God bless!!

[BB_TX]

Originally Posted by twindman

.........Now After getting the rig back from dealer last week, after sitting 2 days, same thing happened. I took it to get tires put on. On the way home I tested it again and it REALLY stopped me.

After unhitching, the truck also seemed to stop much better.
Can the truck controller be sending out weak voltage or power at times? I am perplexed. Thanks.

I would not think the brake controller would put out high voltage sometimes and low other times. But who knows with these things. But I also don't think the trailer brake output performance would be related to the truck brakes performance. Have no idea why either one would be variable like that.

[BUBBA-NONNIE]

Originally Posted by BUBBA-NONNIE

I have a 2016 Ford F250 6.7 Superduty, pulling 2017 Montana 3000RE. The brakes are barely working when manually toggling the integrated brake. Any thoughts?

Mod note: Moved to a new thread.

I took to shop and replaced the plugin and the plug. All is good now

[RMcNeal]

When I first purchased our rig, I pulled the hubs and repacked the bearings after reading horror stories about no grease in the bearings and hubs from the factory.
At that time, I found one wheel where the magnet wires were completely severed and wrapped around the axle. No brakes on that wheel and grounding out most of the time.
Replaced the whole backing plate, brakes and magnet and all was good. Dexter reimbursed me for the parts under warranty. This is why I always repack my bearings by hand myself. It gives me the opportunity to look at the brakes and see what's going on.

[BB_TX]

Originally Posted by BUBBA-NONNIE

I took to shop and replaced the plugin and the plug. All is good now

I assume you are talking about the plug and connector for the 7 pin trailer cord. I had to replace my in-bed 7 pin connector due to one pin not always making good contact. But that pin was for my running lights. Bumper connector never had the same problem, but I preferred to plug into the bed connector.

[DABOO77]

As a 40 year mechanic and shop owner for the last 30 years. We diagnose / repair trailer brakes on assorted types of trailers regularly. I can attest to the fact that factory integrated brake controllers are problematic no matter what brand name is on the grill, however Ford seems to be the worst offender.

Easy fix is to Install an aftermarket brake controller of your choice and don't look back. We usually go with a fully electronic unit as they can be mounted anyway you want and they will still function. Get a digital style, that way you can set it for a particular trailer or weight and go on down the road knowing it will work.

As a side note we have a customer who purchased a 2014 F350 diesel and a new stock trailer at the same time. He never had working trailer brakes from day 1. After several trips to the Ford dealer and trailer dealer with both truck n trailer. He was always told the same thing, they verified his complaint but couldn't find anything wrong. In conversation one day he convaid this story to me. I asked if we could take a look at it for him. He said sure, can't be any worse than it was. I told him I was so confident an aftermarket controller would fix his problem after we looked his truck n trailer over, that if it didn't work the labor was free and he could keep the controller,,,no charge. He called me 2 days later to report that his brakes almost slide him out of the driver seat because they never worked so good. Needless to say he paid his bill and was a happy camper.

PS, you will most likely get an error message on your dash about trailer not detected. Dismiss message and enjoy your drive

[ChuckS]

A quick resistance check of the brake wire at the 7 way to ground will give you a general ideal of the status of the parallel brake wiring and all four magnets

A simple clamp on amp meter hung off the backside of each magnet brake wire on backside of hub with brakes applied will tell you what each magnet is drawing for current

[firestation12]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

A quick resistance check of the brake wire at the 7 way to ground will give you a general ideal of the status of the parallel brake wiring and all four magnets

A simple clamp on amp meter hung off the backside of each magnet brake wire on backside of hub with brakes applied will tell you what each magnet is drawing for current

I’m thinking that a clamp on amp meter for alternating current is different than one for DC current. I have 2 clamp on meters, one for AC and one for DC.