Forum Discussion

Explorer

May 08, 2013

Brake help

My Father in law has a 2006 Ford f250 and a 2004 cougar 5th wheel. He has had some problems with his brake controller/ brakes not working. He can take a 10 hour trip each way with no problems but then go out the next time and at some random point his red light on his controller comes on and he has no brakes on the camper. Once he was 10 miles from an RV dealer by the time he got there it was fine. The truck and camper have been checked, each one blames the other for the problem, ford vs rv dealer. This is becoming a large problem he can not trust the brakes so he does not want to go anyway. Has anyone heard of anything like this. He has hooked up the camper and jiggled the wires with no changes. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

16 Replies

TheAmRheins
Explorer
May 08, 2013
The brake wire that runs through the axle tubes is possibly frayed inside the axles.
agesilaus
Explorer III
May 08, 2013
I'd replace the plug from the RV before I'd buy a new controller.
goltzp
Explorer
May 08, 2013
Brake controller is the built in ford one, I know that he has had the plug cleaned and is very carefull to seat the plug well. He is not sure if it is a wire short or the brake controller is bad. He has looked for any problems with the wires and found nothing. He is looking into buying an aftermarket brake controller and put it on to see if it works any different.
enblethen
Nomad
May 08, 2013
What brand of brake controller?
cabanaman
Explorer
May 08, 2013
Ditto..really check the plug including the backside of it.That can come loose as well.
agesilaus
Explorer III
May 08, 2013
My first suspect would be wiring. I know that I can lose communication intermittently if that plug isn't firmly seated. I'd clean the prongs on the plug, not too much you can do on the female side tho.