No brakes on trailer

Gdetrailer wrote:
Only pulling the trailer forwards or backwards will show just how good the brakes are working. In fact that IS one of the "tests" that my State Inspection mechanic does..

I've had trailers inspected in PA since 1977, and never once seen anyone do the pull test on brakes.

JRscooby wrote:
On 1 of my posts that was deleted, I mentioned state DOT has a quick, dirty non-harmful way to decide if the electrical part of brake system is working; Hold a magnetic compass below center, next to hub, apply brakes.

How many pages ago I apparently pooped in the oatmeal when I gave my opinion about what happens when somebody assumes "this part is good". At least the OP has not stripped things down, just lots of typing.

Are we talking commercial here, I have a feeling some responses are talking commercial ,and not recreational Rv's here ,especially this skidding tire thing .

On 1 of my posts that was deleted, I mentioned state DOT has a quick, dirty non-harmful way to decide if the electrical part of brake system is working; Hold a magnetic compass below center, next to hub, apply brakes.

How many pages ago I apparently pooped in the oatmeal when I gave my opinion about what happens when somebody assumes "this part is good". At least the OP has not stripped things down, just lots of typing.

Gdetrailer wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:


Let me rephrase a little bit here , I don't care what is going on with my brakes ,I am not going to pull the breakaway ,and drag my fifth wheel or trailer one inch across anything to see if the brakes are working ,its not SMART . Come on ,think about the stress on the axles ,springs ,tires etc. There are much better ways ,a drive test for one , to see how the brakes are working . .

Your knowledge is based on a fear, not understanding or knowledge.

A fear of "damaging" the trailer, suspension, tires, truck, controller..

That is not knowledge, that is FEAR of the unknown of what you don't understand, know or are assuming.

You will definitely not harm or damage your trailer, your axles, your wheels just by pulling the breakaway pin and pulling forward one or two feet at extremely low speed (less than 1 MPH).. It isn't like you would do this like a race car driver..

If that small action harms your trailer, it was not built to proper specs with properly rated components for the max load of the trailer..

If on grass, you effectively have very little traction, tires will skid way before anything could ever possibly harmed.

If on gravel, same as grass, gravel moves and wheels don't spin free..

On pavement, take only slightly more effort but the tires WILL break traction way before you will cause harm.

Your trailer suspension takes a heck of a lot more abuse than what it will get from locking and sliding the wheels for one or two feet at a extremely slow speed.

As I mentioned, it IS something that my PA inspection mechanic MUST do in order to get a inspection sticker.. So far, out of three different trailers with brakes that procedure has not caused any damage to trailer, tires, suspension and one of the trailers is well over 30 yrs old!

You DO also realize that your trailer tires and suspension MUST "hop" when making extreme tight turns? The hole suspension pulls sideways one even two inches until the tire with least traction cannot hold the road anymore it breaks traction and the hole suspension snaps back into place.. It will do that over and over as long as you are making a tight radius turn..

Pulling forward slightly with virtually no speed will put far less "stress" on your trailer, axles, suspension, tires than under normal driving conditions..

You are more than welcome to continue doing it your way but, do realize there ARE safe "other ways" to do a check of the brakes/breakaway system that doesn't require using a jack or jacking up all of the tires one at a time.

And I will mention again, just because you can stop a wheel in the air with the breakaway activated, it is possible to do that even when the brakes are not adjusted properly and will not hold the trailer when doing this by hand.

The ONLY way to know for sure is to TEST the brakes functionality by putting them under a load like using your vehicle to pull forward or backward.

Knowledge is key, fears of unknowns is fear, not knowledge.

Really to certify trailer brakes require skidding the tires in PA, thank goodness its not required here . I have changed ,adjusted , etc trailer brakes . I have a pretty good knowledge of how they work . But rest assured I am NOT going to hook up my 16K fifth wheel, and drag it across my driveway 1 foot two foot or whatever to see how well they are working . Besides I have disc brakes on my fifth wheel , and trust me they work well . As I said about the wiring I am no expert ,but you straightened us all out . Everyone meant well trying to help .

To some it up, you are absolutely right ,that trailer should take the stress. If anyone has paid any attention when backing a trailer on pavement or asphalt ,and seen the stress on just the tires alone they would understand the abuse the trailer takes . You can have it you way, and quote all the cliches you want. its not a fear of something I don't know . I am just not going to deliberately subject my trailer to any more abuse then needed . Why not just a drive test ,see how things are doing.

cummins2014 wrote:


Let me rephrase a little bit here , I don't care what is going on with my brakes ,I am not going to pull the breakaway ,and drag my fifth wheel or trailer one inch across anything to see if the brakes are working ,its not SMART . Come on ,think about the stress on the axles ,springs ,tires etc. There are much better ways ,a drive test for one , to see how the brakes are working . .

Your knowledge is based on a fear, not understanding or knowledge.

A fear of "damaging" the trailer, suspension, tires, truck, controller..

That is not knowledge, that is FEAR of the unknown of what you don't understand, know or are assuming.

You will definitely not harm or damage your trailer, your axles, your wheels just by pulling the breakaway pin and pulling forward one or two feet at extremely low speed (less than 1 MPH).. It isn't like you would do this like a race car driver..

If that small action harms your trailer, it was not built to proper specs with properly rated components for the max load of the trailer..

If on grass, you effectively have very little traction, tires will skid way before anything could ever possibly harmed.

If on gravel, same as grass, gravel moves and wheels don't spin free..

On pavement, take only slightly more effort but the tires WILL break traction way before you will cause harm.

Your trailer suspension takes a heck of a lot more abuse than what it will get from locking and sliding the wheels for one or two feet at a extremely slow speed.

As I mentioned, it IS something that my PA inspection mechanic MUST do in order to get a inspection sticker.. So far, out of three different trailers with brakes that procedure has not caused any damage to trailer, tires, suspension and one of the trailers is well over 30 yrs old!

You DO also realize that your trailer tires and suspension MUST "hop" when making extreme tight turns? The hole suspension pulls sideways one even two inches until the tire with least traction cannot hold the road anymore it breaks traction and the hole suspension snaps back into place.. It will do that over and over as long as you are making a tight radius turn..

Pulling forward slightly with virtually no speed will put far less "stress" on your trailer, axles, suspension, tires than under normal driving conditions..

You are more than welcome to continue doing it your way but, do realize there ARE safe "other ways" to do a check of the brakes/breakaway system that doesn't require using a jack or jacking up all of the tires one at a time.

And I will mention again, just because you can stop a wheel in the air with the breakaway activated, it is possible to do that even when the brakes are not adjusted properly and will not hold the trailer when doing this by hand.

The ONLY way to know for sure is to TEST the brakes functionality by putting them under a load like using your vehicle to pull forward or backward.

Knowledge is key, fears of unknowns is fear, not knowledge.

dedmiston wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
As long as you don't mind jacking one wheel at a time, however, just because the one you picked works, doesn't necessarily mean the other three wheels are working.

Only three?

That's adorable. :B

If I was worried about if all four of mine working ,yes I would jack all four up to at least see if they locked up at least by moving by hand, there is no way a brake test is done by dragging a trailer across the driveway. First off ,what you have someone standing watching to see if all four are dragging ,or only one ,or two ,or three . No not a smart way to do a brake test .

Gdetrailer wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:


Could he just jack up one wheel, then pull the breakaway cable ,and see if locks up the tire, or do you have to establish it sliding the tires across the driveway , which doesn't sound like the best thing to do .

Yes.

As long as you don't mind jacking one wheel at a time, however, just because the one you picked works, doesn't necessarily mean the other three wheels are working.

That already HAS been mentioned in this thread.

Sliding the tires a couple of feet isn't going to hurt the tires, wheels, brakes or the trailer, but it does give you a real good indication of which brakes may or may not be in good working order all in one quick action..

Additionally, when hand turning a wheel and applying the breakaway, you only have a small amount of strength, far less than what your tow vehicle can apply.. It is possible to have the brakes strong enough to lock via hand but not be as strong as they should be, those brakes must be strong enough to stop and hold the entire trailers loaded weight.. Don't know about you, but myself, I don't think I would be able apply several thousand pounds of torque without resorting to a ten foot pole. Only pulling the trailer forwards or backwards will show just how good the brakes are working. In fact that IS one of the "tests" that my State Inspection mechanic does..

Do the divide and conquer troubleshooting correctly and you can easily bypass a lot of hard work (and guess work)in the process..

Let me rephrase a little bit here , I don't care what is going on with my brakes ,I am not going to pull the breakaway ,and drag my fifth wheel or trailer one inch across anything to see if the brakes are working ,its not SMART . Come on ,think about the stress on the axles ,springs ,tires etc. There are much better ways ,a drive test for one , to see how the brakes are working . Its been established there was no brakes for whatever reason. Now we know its a plug problem ,new plug ,fix old plug whatever ,take for a test drive see how the brakes feel ,and how they are stopping, not dragging tires across the driveway .

dedmiston wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
As long as you don't mind jacking one wheel at a time, however, just because the one you picked works, doesn't necessarily mean the other three wheels are working.

Only three?

That's adorable. :B

Well, not everyone feels insecure enough to have to "supersize" their rig to more "wheels" to make themselves feel bigger :B

Gdetrailer wrote:
As long as you don't mind jacking one wheel at a time, however, just because the one you picked works, doesn't necessarily mean the other three wheels are working.

Only three?

That's adorable. :B

crazyro wrote:
So, interesting developments tonight... Not only did I have to rescue my friend's trailer from a soft, muddy yard, his truck (2WD) got stuck as well. Do you need 4x4? Nope. Until you do... I've only had 4x4 and always will.
Hook up to his trailer, and to my dismay, all lights work, but truck won't recognize it. No brakes. At this point I had accepted my fate and was going to have the dealer look at and potentially replace brake controller. After getting both of them unstuck, I pulled the camper a couple of miles down the road. There, I kept messing with the connector, but nothing worked. Pins looked all good, we had die-electric grease on them, all seemed well. On a whim, I decided to move the 7 pin connector pins on my truck around. Pinched them towards the center, pinched center pins closer, etc. Plugged his camper back in, cranked up truck and the darn thing came to life! What the?
I didn't have time to go see if this fixed my camper braking issues, but if that was it, I'd be amazingly relieved, but also frustrated and ashamed of the fact that I didn't think of it at first, and ashamed of all the time I've made all of you waste (but am SO thankful for all the knowledge shared). I'm still not out of the woods, but I'm hopeful...

You didn't waste anyone's time if you found the problem or even one person reading this thread learns something new and understands how better to troubleshoot their brake issues.

Sounds like you have an intermittent wiring issue at your trucks 7 pin socket or harness to the socket. Now you just need to narrow that down to the exact problem with the socket and or truck wiring harness the socket is connected to..