troubleshooting trailer brakes

redneckjeep87

redneckjeep87

Landscaper Extroidanaire
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Location
Woodleaf, NC
Ive got a 2000 model 5ton hudson equipment trailer that i use for work, and has regularly seen 5 ton over the last couple years. The brakes started becoming less and less effective towards the end of the year (2014) so i figured they would need replacing at some point in the near future. They still had enough to supplement braking of the truck while hauling my tractor so i wasnt too terribly worried yet.

Fast forward to last week, went to haul the trailer to get some stump grindings dug out at a clients house and didnt have any brakes when i started to leave the house so i backed up and messed with it for a little bit. Tekonsha voyager showed no connection etc. All lights work on the trailer. Didnt have time to mess with it so i took off to work. Part way there the voyager showed a very slight green led, definitly not as bright as normal, then disappeared at some point.

Yesterday started doing some troubleshooting, starting with hooking my other truck up to it just in case the controller went bad. No dice, had no connection to that one either.

When testing the blue brake signal wire on both trucks it shows constant pwr even with no pedal depressed or manual override slide over. When i found that i cut the signal wire and tested both ends, the "trailer" side had nothing and the "controller" side of the cut was still hot. Which should be a faulty controller, but i dont see the controller in two trucks going bad. I was under the impression that it shouldnt have power until brakes applied.

Is this an indicator that the magnets on my trailer brakes are beyond needing replacement or what is going on? Anyone else ever fought this issue?

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to put as much info out there as i could
 
My other truck shows 10.75 at brake signal wire with trailer unhooked.

Just redid ground at trailer tongue and no change. This is the factory grounde for brakes and connector
 
Might be too late for your brakes, but the biggest problem with trl brakes is people never adjust them. They just keep cranking up the controller and basically end up stopping the rig with the magnets, once the shoes wear to the point that the linkage runs out of travel. This will wear the magnet down to the coil and cause failure.
 
What I'm reading... sounds like you have checked two or three trucks, and all have +12v (give or take) on the brake power wire with no trailer connected.

If that's the case, you're doing something wrong.

I will say that the pinout diagram on the parts store 7pin trailer plugs that I have purchased DOES NOT match the "standard" that everybody else (Dodge/Ford/GM/Haulmark/Kaufman/etc) uses. That might be part of the issue. If you're looking at the truck, the trailer brakes should be bottom right, ground should be bottom left.
 
shawn said:
What I'm reading... sounds like you have checked two or three trucks, and all have +12v (give or take) on the brake power wire with no trailer connected.

If that's the case, you're doing something wrong.

I will say that the pinout diagram on the parts store 7pin trailer plugs that I have purchased DOES NOT match the "standard" that everybody else (Dodge/Ford/GM/Haulmark/Kaufman/etc) uses. That might be part of the issue. If you're looking at the truck, the trailer brakes should be bottom right, ground should be bottom left.
Click to expand...
I have been testing directly at the controller, havnt checked at the female 7 pin on truck. And believe me i know all about the diagrams being wrong, had to redo my other truck a couple years ago.......once to redo it and once to redo it with a CORRECT diagram
oldguy said:
Might be too late for your brakes, but the biggest problem with trl brakes is people never adjust them. They just keep cranking up the controller and basically end up stopping the rig with the magnets, once the shoes wear to the point that the linkage runs out of travel. This will wear the magnet down to the coil and cause failure.
Click to expand...

Guilty of this, and im thinking that is what my problem is. Stayed insanely busy throughout the season hauling heavy nonstop last year and never took the time to adjust...just kept cranking on the controller like you said.
 
Does the Voyager tell you if you have a shorted magnet? Some of them have error codes for things like that. I know the Prodigy does.
 
No. It only has a green led when connected and it turns to red when braking. I will be getting a prodigy shortly just for those benifits. And ive heard that it has greatly superior braking "smarts", such as not sensing an extremly sloped driveway as an abrubt stop locking the brakes up going down.....a customers driveway i might add lol
 
Back
Top