tomseeley wrote:
I've got a 2013 GMC 2500HD diesel. I'm pulling a Northwood Nash 26X trailer (not a fiver). Everything works fine, as near as I can tell, but I have one question re trailer brakes.
I took the rig out for the first time this season (since last summer) and I noticed that it did not feel exactly like it used to last year when I applied the truck brakes. I did not have trouble stopping and I did not cancel the trip, but I did drop the trailer off at my local RV center for routine inspection of the brakes, etc.
While driving down the road, with the gain on the GMC integrated brake controller set at 6 where I always set it, I pinched the buttons on the dashboard, at low speed (15-20 mph). It did not feel to me that the trailer brakes grabbed as tightly as I thought they had last year. So that's why I wanted my shop to check the brakes.
That's the background. Now here's my question:
I've had trouble communicating before, with the chap at the RV center. I had trouble this time too. When I told him my concern was that my integrated GMC brake controller did not seem to make the trailer brakes work this year like I thought they had last year, his answer was something like: "integrated brake controllers don't work like third party add on brake controllers do". That seemed to be his way of saying I didn't have a problem at all with my trailer brakes. I kept repeating that my concern was not how my existing OEM integrated brake controller worked compared with some other add-on controller I've never had; my concern was that my existing OEM integrated brake controller does not seem to be working this year the way the same controller has worked in the past!
I never did get my point across to him the way I wanted to! He said, with some sarcasm in his voice, "ok, we'll check the trailer brakes..." but it was obvious he was finishing the sentence to himself by saying "but there's probably nothing wrong with them. It's just your imagination that your integrated brake controller isn't doing what you think it should".
So does he have a point or do I have a possible trailer brake problem?
What IS the best way to check trailer brakes and an integrated brake controller?
FIND ANOTHER "TECH" or better yet you learn how to maintain and repair your trailer brakes!
Built in IBCs work just as well and even BETTER than third party aftermarket controllers.
You know for a fact that the brakes WERE working well LAST YEAR, so you now know that something HAS changed with the brakes either at the trailer end or the truck side.
Wiring is typically the main culprit, then mechanical..
You need to first do some isolating..
Try pulling the breakaway pin, then pull forward. ALL the trailer brakes MUST lock up and slide with the pin out.
If brakes do not lock up then the issue most likely is bad wiring or mechanical on the TRAILER.
Honestly, there is a 99.9% chance that the mechanic will MISS the wiring all together.
Trailer manufacturers skimp on wire size AND the connectors they use. The connectors they use are not weather proof and the wires will corrode causing a lot of resistance that reduces the current flow at those connections..
I am a fan of scraping the wiring and reworking with heavier ga wire and weather proof connectors.. The result is fantastic brakes that will stand the test of time.
