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Old 07-13-2019, 11:24 PM   #1
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Breakaway box not working.. Only lite braking from controller.. Related?

I asked this in my other thread but wanted to post up my other issue. So my breakaway cable had broke, so for my test drive after adjusting the brakes I just tied it up. But when I got back the plug for the breakaway cable had fell out of the box and my brakes never locked up.

Also when hooked to my truck (2014 F250 Lariat with integrated brake controller) it seems as the brakes barely have any effect. Even with the gain set on 10..max.

Could these two issues be pointing to one certain malfunction?
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Old 07-14-2019, 02:03 PM   #2
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Old 07-14-2019, 02:10 PM   #3
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Electric brakes are fairly straightforward. You have a 12 volt DC power wire and a ground wire.



The breakaway switch is just installed in a way that applies 12 volt DC power from your RV's battery should the pin be pulled. This is in case of a breakaway situation, whereas the trailers brakes could not get power from the tow vehicle and it's proportional brake controller. The breakaway switch is connected to the power wire.


The first place to start looking for weak or non functioning brakes, is the ground...as this is the most common cause. Then you can start tracing the 12 volt DC power wires to see if there is a break/loose connection somewhere.
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Old 07-16-2019, 06:28 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitaker View Post
I asked this in my other thread but wanted to post up my other issue. So my breakaway cable had broke, so for my test drive after adjusting the brakes I just tied it up. But when I got back the plug for the breakaway cable had fell out of the box and my brakes never locked up.

Also when hooked to my truck (2014 F250 Lariat with integrated brake controller) it seems as the brakes barely have any effect. Even with the gain set on 10..max.

Could these two issues be pointing to one certain malfunction?
I agree that it sounds like a ground issue. Have you confirmed that you have a good clean ground to the frame of the trailer?

As for the breakaway switch, if the box is old and has not been exercised on a regular basis, it is quite possible that the contact points are corroded or insects have made the space their new home and their nest will not allow the contact points to touch.

Additionally, I just had a similar situation happen to me and it almost drove me nuts. (I posted a thread about my issues) By the time I figured it out, I learned more than I ever thought I would about electric brakes and I needlessly spent a lot more money than I needed to.

My recommendations would be to check grounds, check for ground fault in power lead, check amperage draw at each magnet (about 3a). If all that checks out and you have properly adjusted the brakes. The last thing I would recommend is to try burnishing your brakes.

Hope it helps,
Tom
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Old 07-16-2019, 06:45 PM   #5
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Ours did that same thing until I replaced the brake drums and shoes'
Good ol grease gun wheel bearing greasing. I had only greased them once, about 3 pumps per wheel. Plus the magnets on the left side had lost their keepers and ruined the drums.

Replaced with new backing plates complete and two new drums, now the trailer will stop the whole setup.
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:10 PM   #6
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Thanks guys. Like I said my tow vehicle is a 2014 F250 Lariat 4x4. If it were a ground /power problem would the truck not alert me with a code or error?
Initially my thoughts were to check and adjust the brakes before our road trip. When I raised the wheels I could spin them and not hear the brakes at all. I heard an irregular brushing but figured it was rust on the drums. Using a brake adjusting tool I attempted to adjust them but couldn't really reach the adjustment wheel, hence me asking if it meant that they were self adjusting. So I removed the wheels and tightened them a little but didn't want to go too tight. I went ahead and greased the bearings (they didn't need it but I did them anyway). After putting it all back together the camper barely had any breaking force even when applied by the brake controller. Now... We bought this camper new in 2015, it's a 2014 Salem 29ud3. If the brakes indeed are self adjusting.. By stopping in reverse that may explain it. It only has about 7000 miles on it and has rarely been in reverse. I haven't had a chance to get back to them since I'm a truck driver and had to run a quick trip before we leave on our road trip.

I'll report back but with the truck not giving me any codes or errors I'm thinking it may be a mechanical problem rather than electrical.

Edit : Before I left I did however install a new breakaway box and cable but haven't driven it.

We're leaving tomorrow on a short.. Ish road trip so I'll update later.
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Old 07-18-2019, 07:21 AM   #7
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I went to a large paved parking lot. I did probably 10 to 15 backups and stopped each time using only the brake controller. After this it seemed that the brakes were grabbing a little more.. "little" more. But immediately after this I got out with my laser gun and checked the temps at each wheel(being certain to position the temp gun at the same location and same distance from the drum). Three of the drums were reading in the 145 148 range but the fourth drum was reading around 230. I went ahead and hit the road but checked again a few miles down the interstate and the temps had leveled out so I knew the hot wheel wasn't dragging while traveling.
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Old 07-27-2019, 11:40 PM   #8
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Update :
So I finally got some time to get back to the camper brakes. Today I installed new hub seals on the drivers side and know without a doubt that the brakes are adjusted correctly and the brakes aren't any better than before. 2014 F250 Lariat using the integrated brake controller set on 10 - max you can feel the brakes being applied (using only the slide switch) but no more than before and it won't even bring the rig to a stop. I'm testing them on gravel and again on the max setting of 10 it still will not lock up the wheels, on gravel. I didn't seem to have this problem with my 99 F250 using a Tekonsha P2 brake controller. On the 2014 now I do have it set to electric only and not electric over hydraulic. Are there any other settings for the integrated brake controller that I'm missing?
And I did confirm that it has the self adjusting brakes on the travel trailer.
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