2016 3500 RAM 6.7 Cummins - Brake Controller Question

I (think) they guys having the issues are the one's with larger trailers and 12" brakes. I'm can't say mine will or will not. I've never tried to lock the brakes but it stops great with the gain at 6.

There's been a ton of threads on this, maybe someone can provide you a link.

Champ198 wrote:
I have the integrated brake controller gain set to 10. At slow speed, depressing the bar on the dash all the way to force the brakes to lock up does not lock up the brakes. The brakes grab but don't lock. I've read about issues with 2014-2015 trucks having with the OEM brake controller not sending the full 12 volts to the brakes. Anyone else seeing this on the 2016 model RAM trucks with built in controller?

Did you check to make sure it is set on heavy electric and not on light electric?

That is a heavy 5th wheel........almost 12,000# DRY with 16,500# GVWR
Not surprised full lock up doesn't occur unless you are trying it on gravel/dirt surface.

Have you measured DC Voltage going to trailer brakes at the truck 7 pin connector and then at each trailer brake assembly?

Have you done a manual brake adjustment on trailer brakes?
Even new trailers need to be manually adjusted and then it can take several 'hard braking' events to burnish brake shoes/drums in for full braking effect.

Good information about electric brakes....LINK

Burnishing procedure for new brakes.......PG. 16
Setting brake controller up...............PG. 12
Brake adjustment..........................PG. 13

Mine won't lock either, at least at slow speeds. It does slow the combination down pretty aggressively, and on balance it seems to work well set at about 7.5 or 8. If I go higher it gets jerky coming to a stop. I do have mine set on heavy electric.

I have mine set to Heavy Electric, Gain set to 10. Started at 8, didn't feel good enough, so I set it to 10.

On the first trip, when traveling about 35 mph, a traffic light changed to yellow at the last second so I had to do a quick stop. The trailer pushed the truck past where I wanted to stop.

Not safe, so yesterday I installed a Tekonsha P3 brake controller.

There is plenty of discussion on this problem. Here is a big forum thread on this problem.

Ram needs to fix this. The problem apparently is most prevalent with larger, heavier trailers whose brakes need more volts than the integrated brake controller is supplying.

The RAM brake controller is a digital system. The output is PWM (pulse width modulated) - it changes the duty cycle of the output proportional to the demand. For that reason, it's hard to read the output with a multimeter.

RAM is aware of the problem. I understand there have been complaints to the NHTSA about it. Yes, it would be nice if they fixed it.

In the meantime, try running your system in the HEAVY-ELECTRIC-OVER-HYDRAULIC mode (even though you don't have hydraulic brakes), instead of HEAVY-ELECTRIC. Not sure WHY it works (something in the software/programming), but it does. I'm able to run mine at 8.5 instead of 10. It still won't completely lock them up (even using a setting of 10), but it comes close. 8.5 for me is a good setting that allows the trailer to "stop itself".
Also, the others are correct about burnishing new brakes, but if yours have been seated, and adjusted properly, then try this setting.
If all else fails, etrailer does have a wiring adapter to convert your factory controller to an analog system like Tekonsha.

Hiking Hunter wrote:

In the meantime, try running your system in the HEAVY-ELECTRIC-OVER-HYDRAULIC mode (even though you don't have hydraulic brakes), instead of HEAVY-ELECTRIC. Not sure WHY it works (something in the software/programming), but it does. I'm able to run mine at 8.5 instead of 10. It still won't completely lock them up (even using a setting of 10), but it comes close. 8.5 for me is a good setting that allows the trailer to "stop itself".

I tried this and it does indeed bump up the braking performance significantly over Heavy Electric. I have plenty of braking performance on my trailer at 6.0-6.5. If I set it higher it's too much.

I am towing right around 20,000 and 5,000 of it is a boat behind the fifth wheel that has surge brakes not electric. I run my controller on heavy electric and set on 6.5 and have good brakes. It was the same on my 2013 also.

Set you brake control at 6.0 and then the Jake Brake? I have no problem with braking at all with my 2016 3500 using that set up. I did at one time get the "trailer not connected" and found that there was a broken wire on one of the magnets. Corrected that and no problem since. Am now on the last leg of a 3,000 mile trip and no problems,even on 6% grades in the mountains of Ky. and Tenn.