New travel trailer brakes

[Seand76]

I have 2019 sig ultra. My gain is at max on my f150 and they brakes work but they don’t seem to be 100%. Just foot off the brake and Manual home on controls everything still rolls at semi flat surface. I can hear atleast 1 brake engaging. Any ideas

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by Seand76

I have 2019 sig ultra. My gain is at max on my f150 and they brakes work but they don’t seem to be 100%. Just foot off the brake and Manual home on controls everything still rolls at semi flat surface. I can hear atleast 1 brake engaging. Any ideas

https://www.performancetrailerbraking.com/

[uhduh camping]

Have you checked your braking effort settings (low,medium, and high) default is low. That's probably where you are. Settings are in driver's info display.

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by uhduh camping

Have you checked your braking effort settings (low,medium, and high) default is low. That's probably where you are. Settings are in driver's info display.

I have a 2018 f150. Gain is maxed out. My last one was 29 foot and the locked up at 7.5. At 10 it barley stops. Thought maybe a ground wire looks

[mustardjim]

I beleve that when you fist install new brakes on a trailer they dont work very well until a few uses. I had mine redone and the shop told me that. They were working fine by the time I drove home.

[Retired JSO]

Originally Posted by Seand76

I have a 2018 f150. Gain is maxed out. My last one was 29 foot and the locked up at 7.5. At 10 it barley stops. Thought maybe a ground wire looks

The newer Fords have an effort setting, Low, Med, High, in addition to the gain. Should set from the steering wheel keys using the dash display.

[Tiggerdad]

I would think brakes would have worn in from delivery from factory. If you have a DC Ohm meter check to see if each brake is receiving 3 amps. If not you could have a broken wire in the hub. Pull the emergency brake cable to deliver amps to the wheel. Don't forget to reinstall the plunger when through. Energizing all 4 brakes via the disconnect will not hurt anything and you have enough time to check amps on all for brakes before reinserting the plunger. Your brakes may need adjusting. Keep us posted.

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by Retired JSO

The newer Fords have an effort setting, Low, Med, High, in addition to the gain. Should set from the steering wheel keys using the dash display.

Ok

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by Tiggerdad

I would think brakes would have worn in from delivery from factory. If you have a DC Ohm meter check to see if each brake is receiving 3 amps. If not you could have a broken wire in the hub. Pull the emergency brake cable to deliver amps to the wheel. Don't forget to reinstall the plunger when through. Energizing all 4 brakes via the disconnect will not hurt anything and you have enough time to check amps on all for brakes before reinserting the plunger. Your brakes may need adjusting. Keep us posted.

Ok. I also have a tech coming to Charlotte race track Wednesday while we are on site. Hopefully he can do most of the leg work.

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by mustardjim

I beleve that when you fist install new brakes on a trailer they dont work very well until a few uses. I had mine redone and the shop told me that. They were working fine by the time I drove home.

When I bought it I drove over 200 miles home. Would think that was far enough but who knows. Thank you

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by Seand76

Ok

Today I saw trailer wire fault. Maybe something came disconnected

[RnRushin]

I put together a button to test breaks while repacking bearings. A boat horn button a couple pieces of short wire and a couple of terminal ends. Forked screw down ends to connect to horn button and spade ends to insert in pigtail.

Jack a tire up just enough to it spins. Spin tire and have my son depress button. If brakes are working tire stops almost instantly. With longer wires you could do this yourself with no assistant, but we put this together while I was teaching him how to inspect and hand pack bearings.

I also use the button for checking lights.

Robert R

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by RnRushin

I put together a button to test breaks while repacking bearings. A boat horn button a couple pieces of short wire and a couple of terminal ends. Forked screw down ends to connect to horn button and spade ends to insert in pigtail.



Jack a tire up just enough to it spins. Spin tire and have my son depress button. If brakes are working tire stops almost instantly. With longer wires you could do this yourself with no assistant, but we put this together while I was teaching him how to inspect and hand pack bearings.



I also use the button for checking lights.



Robert R

Thank you. That should be easy test. The unit has level 4.0 so getting tires off the ground is easy. I’ll give that a try. If they don’t stop I guess the trick will be finding the issue or where the wire is loose

[Bama Rambler]

I like the idea of the test button, but just keep in mind that you're putting the full 12 volts to the magnets this way, so the brakes may appear to work, but could still have a problem.
I'd suggest that while testing,
1) note how fast and strong the stop appears and
2) try to manually turn the wheel while the button is being depressed.

If you can turn it by hand more than a tiny bit, then there's a problem.

[Wolf26]

I have a 2015 F150 and can not find any "effort settings" in any of the menus. Maybe its just on newer trucks?

[Retired JSO]

Found this. [URL] https://www.f150ecoboost.net/forum/17-f150-ecoboost-towing/19793-how-adjust-trailer-brake-effort-setting.html[URL]

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by Retired JSO

Found this. [URL] https://www.f150ecoboost.net/forum/17-f150-ecoboost-towing/19793-how-adjust-trailer-brake-effort-setting.html[URL]

The brakes went completely out on my trip today no output. And sway was bad. Actually feel like axle is off.

[MR.M]

The brakes may just need adjusting . i'm sure it's never done at the factory's and for sure dealers never touch them or test them . mine were a bit less then good before i adjusted them now my gain is between 2 and 5 . may have adjusted a bit to much but like that way they feel now . i turned out the adjusting screw till i could just hear a little scrapinng on the drum while i turned to wheel then backed off a bit .

[Seand76]

Originally Posted by MR.M

The brakes may just need adjusting . i'm sure it's never done at the factory's and for sure dealers never touch them or test them . mine were a bit less then good before i adjusted them now my gain is between 2 and 5 . may have adjusted a bit to much but like that way they feel now . i turned out the adjusting screw till i could just hear a little scrapinng on the drum while i turned to wheel then backed off a bit .

I actually got a trailer wire fault warning when they went out. Gain is at 10 and 0 on output when I manually activate. Also sway is uncontrollable. They think maybe axle is out a couple degrees. The tires open up about 12 inches from flat to using level gear when tires still on the ground. The wheel chock has to be adjusted every time more than 12 inches. Axle should move that much and tires don’t have that much flex in them. I guess the techs will check everything next week after the races

[Seand76]

Turns out the brakes and sway were linked together. The hubs and everything behind the wheel came apart on the right right side of both wheels