Trailer brakes
I have a Cougar TT 31RKS that is 35' long and comes in at about 8500lbs loaded. I tow with a '11 GMC Sierra 2500HD. The trailer is 4 years old and I have never been able to get the GMC factory brake...
Forum Discussion
DutchmenSport wrote:
I had 3 different travel trailers and none of them would actually "lock up" the brakes. I had 3 different tow vehicles, 3 different brake controllers, and none of them would lock up the trailer. I just kept the setting as high as I could.
Even my last TT, my Outback with the integrated brake controller on my current truck, would not lock up. But it braked just fine, even in a panic stop.
Then I got my current 5er last October and I had my brake controller (integrated) set for the Outback I just traded. I hit the brake peddle the firs time and almost got slung through the windshield, had it not been for the seat belt. I tried the manual brake on the trailer and sure enough, the brakes locked up tight. I had to reduce the gain on the brake controller from 10 to about 3.5 in order to keep from slamming my nose into the steering wheel.
It was then, I realized it was just the nature of the travel trailers with combinations of 3 different trailers, 3 different trucks, and 3 different brake controllers, and they all acted the same, until I got the 5er.
my outback 295RE, same as dutchman also would no lock up the brakes regardless of controller setting. Neither would my 14ft cargo trailer. On the outback I replaced the trailer brake wiring with 12ga wiring star formation so each brake wire only needed to supply the current for that brake. the wiring normally daisy chains to all the brakes, and is normally 14 or 16 ga wiring. In a longer trailer the resistance is high enough compared to the electric brake magnet resistance that the brakes become current limited and often won't see the max current they are designed for and hence no ability to get enough brake force to lock the wheels.
Once I completed the job on the outback a setting of 6 or 7 on the integrated controller will lock the brakes. normally I have it set for 5.
Also, you do not want to set an integrated controller high enough to allow the trailer brakes to lock.
Now once you have a trailer with 5,000lb or up axles you also often go from a 10" to 12" brake drum and do get better braking even with the undersized wires.
