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bighatnohorse's avatar
bighatnohorse
Explorer II
Nov 11, 2017

US Gear power module failure (Unified Tow Brake system)

I did a breakaway test on my Jeep Wrangler and it failed. I could hear the auxiliary vacuum pump run, but the vehicle continued to roll.
(Test was done with the hand brake on and vehicle on a slight incline. I pulled the breakaway switch pin, got into the vehicle, released the handbrake and began to roll.)

After a little troubleshooting, found that the Power Module was defective. I purchased and installed a new Power Module and everything is back to functioning.

Curious me, I took the power module box apart (six screws) and examined it's internal circuit board. The fault was obvious - there is a fuse buss which is a wafer thin copper connection printed on the circuit board and it was blown.

I'm pretty sure that the blown copper bus fuse could be bridged with some soldering skills. I haven't tried soldering it yet. I thought I'd share this information with you Unified Tow Brake owners, FWIW.

(And it might be a good idea to do a real world roll-away breakaway test for all owners too.)
  • It is a great system but that module is the weak point. Our system is about 12 years old and am on the second module. Luckily I bought a couple of used systems so have lots of spare parts.

    Moisheh

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