Electric Trailer Brakes Question

[robbecky]

Hi folks. I am picking up again in this thread about trailer brakes to ask another question about the brakes: when I am going high speed (anything above about 30mph), the brakes are very smooth. But once I get down to about 25-30mph and slower, they become very jerky. I assumed it was part of the braking in period but we just finished 16 days of RV'ing around Oregon (14 days it was raining), roughly 1300 miles, and the trailer brakes still jerk at slow speeds; at least it feels like the brakes since it doesn't do it any other time besides braking at slow speeds.

I am pretty handy at fixing things in the camper but I don't know very much about automotive things.

So can you help me to understand whether this is a normal thing or not? I was reading some articles about the drums being out of round but not knowing much about these sorts of things, I don't know to believe or what action to take or not take regarding this.

Thanks all,
Rob

[TheGerman]

That's likely an issue with the brake controller setup. Proportional controllers have typically two adjustments, one is the maximum voltage before brakes lock up, and the other is how aggressively the controller ramps up to that voltage, modulated by the inertia sensor.
What brake controller do you use ?

[robbecky]

Originally Posted by TheGerman

That's likely an issue with the brake controller setup. Proportional controllers have typically two adjustments, one is the maximum voltage before brakes lock up, and the other is how aggressively the controller ramps up to that voltage, modulated by the inertia sensor.
What brake controller do you use ?

It is the built in controller on my 2019 Ram 1500. It seems I only have gain control. I don't see any other adjustments.

[TheGerman]

Originally Posted by robbecky

It is the built in controller on my 2019 Ram 1500. It seems I only have gain control. I don't see any other adjustments.

I use an aftermarket one in my RAM but AFAIK there are some setup options where you can select 'light electric', 'heavy electric' etc.. One other thing is to not crank up the gain too much, the trailer brakes should not do more work than the truck brakes. If the same amount of pedal pressure makes the combination brake harder than the truck alone it's too much.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by robbecky

Hi folks. I am picking up again in this thread about trailer brakes to ask another question about the brakes: when I am going high speed (anything above about 30mph), the brakes are very smooth. But once I get down to about 25-30mph and slower, they become very jerky. I assumed it was part of the braking in period but we just finished 16 days of RV'ing around Oregon (14 days it was raining), roughly 1300 miles, and the trailer brakes still jerk at slow speeds; at least it feels like the brakes since it doesn't do it any other time besides braking at slow speeds.

I am pretty handy at fixing things in the camper but I don't know very much about automotive things.

So can you help me to understand whether this is a normal thing or not? I was reading some articles about the drums being out of round but not knowing much about these sorts of things, I don't know to believe or what action to take or not take regarding this.

Thanks all,
Rob

Sounds like you just need to lower the setting a notch or two.

[jeffnick]

https://72land-n-sea.blogspot.com/20...rakes.html?m=1

[robbecky]

Well I wanted to keep you all updated: I brought the trailer in to my local shop that does all tire stuff for me. They took everything apart and determine that the bearings had almost no grease AND all 4 drums had to be machined since they were all out of round. I intend to contact my dealer and ask what's up with that. I would love to recover the money I had to spend to get it all resolved.

Anyway, since doing that, the whole trailer brake system is operating so much better. It's like a completely different trailer. I think there is still some break in that has to happen but the jerking at slow speeds is almost completely gone.

Thanks for all the great advice.

Rob