Brake Controller Setting Help
I realize this has been done to death, but I've searched and either can't find what I'm looking for, or I really don't want to go through a hundred or so pages of results. I finally got a chance to...
Forum Discussion
This is a story that hits close to home. Factory Ford Tow Command.
2012 36 foot long Heartland trailer 12k pounds. Every since we bought it the brakes continued to get worse and worse. Not better.
I finally did some investigating only to find out the factory grease seals had failed and contaminated all the magnets. Much to my luck, the shoes were for all intents spared by grease contamination. Cleaned all that up thoroughly and replaced the seals with double lips and also repacked the bearings.
I also don't think the factory or dealer ever adjusted the brakes. I averaged almost 30 clicks of the star wheel adjuster amongst the four wheel to get the shoes to contact the drums.
One other thing I noticed was a huge voltage loss from the pin box to the magnets (showing 8 volts at the magnets). I ended up rewiring the axles so I had 12 gauge wires running all the way to the magnets. This gained me an additional 1.5 volts at the magnets.
All this said and done, I still have my gain set to 9.5. It will not lock the brakes up hot or cold. Haven't tried gravel. The brakes are better than ever since new but I was hoping for more. I'm going to continue burnishing them in before I give up on them.
It's uncomfortable driving in traffic and having to worry about panic brake stops.
I've towed other smaller trailers with this truck, and have locked the brakes up easily because I forgot to turn the gain back down from Heartland gain.
I would really like to install disc brakes on the trailer, but holy moly that's an expensive proposition.
2012 36 foot long Heartland trailer 12k pounds. Every since we bought it the brakes continued to get worse and worse. Not better.
I finally did some investigating only to find out the factory grease seals had failed and contaminated all the magnets. Much to my luck, the shoes were for all intents spared by grease contamination. Cleaned all that up thoroughly and replaced the seals with double lips and also repacked the bearings.
I also don't think the factory or dealer ever adjusted the brakes. I averaged almost 30 clicks of the star wheel adjuster amongst the four wheel to get the shoes to contact the drums.
One other thing I noticed was a huge voltage loss from the pin box to the magnets (showing 8 volts at the magnets). I ended up rewiring the axles so I had 12 gauge wires running all the way to the magnets. This gained me an additional 1.5 volts at the magnets.
All this said and done, I still have my gain set to 9.5. It will not lock the brakes up hot or cold. Haven't tried gravel. The brakes are better than ever since new but I was hoping for more. I'm going to continue burnishing them in before I give up on them.
It's uncomfortable driving in traffic and having to worry about panic brake stops.
I've towed other smaller trailers with this truck, and have locked the brakes up easily because I forgot to turn the gain back down from Heartland gain.
I would really like to install disc brakes on the trailer, but holy moly that's an expensive proposition.
