NumberCruncher

My 2011 F-150 5.0 has the factory brake controller. Yesterday I bought my first trailer with trailer brakes, a cargomate 6 x 12 for hauling motorcycles. I had the dealer add brakes as I am paranoid about not having them.

So driving back yesterday in the rain I start with the gain on 1 and get no braking I can feel. I crank it up to 5 and can feel some braking. I have heard the ideal setting is where you can get the wheels to lock up and then back it down a notch. I had to go to setting 8 to get lockup and this in in the rain.

The trailer only weighs about 1,200 pound empty and I am surprised I had to go to gain setting 8 to get lockup. Now I'll admit I wasn't in full panic stop mode and maybe if I was I'd get lockup at only setting 5.

For those of you who use trailer brakes do you find you need to be at a relatively high gain setting.

NC

IronJoce

First make sure your brakes are adjusted correctly on the trailer. The pads have to barely touch the pad when not braking. If the pads are to far from the drum, you'll need more gain. So you list the trailer, look at the back of the drum, take a flat screw driver and tighten the adjustment.

I run mine at 7 with a 8000lbs trailer.

Good luck

Franny K

They might not have gave you very powerful brakes on that trailer. My deck over trailer which weighs 2500 empty gets a setting of 5.5 add 75 bales of hay, They must average at least 60 pounds each and it gets raised to 6.5. That was about 7000 pounds most of which were on the trailer wheels. It explains in the manual how to set it. Go 25 mph in safe area, squeeze device, raise number, repeat, then back down a bit. I suppose my trailer has a bit more power than most as it could be a 12000 pound trailer with 16 inch tires but is a 10000 with 15 inch so it has a bit more leverage.

MXD

Were you setting your gain using the brake pedal? Your statement above makes me think so. If so, I would say that is incorrect. Go to an empty parking lot, set your gain, get moving and use the slide on your brake controller to actuate the trailer brakes. Fully engage it at different gain settings to see where it locks up. Remember that the gain setting will change once the trailer is loaded. You'll have to do it all over again.

f6bits

My gain is set to 6 for my 5600 lb travel trailer. Coincidentally, that’s the same gain I had on my Primus IQ controller. The Primus instructions recommended a gain of 6 and then adjust up or down from there.

NumberCruncher

Thanks. I'll test again today.

NC

NumberCruncher

We finally had some dry weather today. With the gain set to 10 I could not get lockup. I'll go back to the dealer tomorrow and ask them what is up. Also, I tested gain with the finger trigger, not the brake pedal.

At 10 I can feel pretty strong braking performance but I must be missing something. The only other thing I can think of is if the pads need some break in time.

I'll try to check the pad to drum clearance but I don't know how easily I can get under the trailer.

NC

mbopp

If the trailer had drum brakes, are they adjusted correctly?

NumberCruncher

I'll run that by the dealer tomorrow. Apart from what was mentioned in one of the earlier posts, I wouldn't know what to check.

NC

flixden

Follow the truck's manual to set the correct gain.
But yes, if you fully pull the manual trigger at a gain of 10, I would expect lockup of the trailer wheels at around 30mph.
What speed did you drive when you initiated the trailer brakes, and did you pull the lever all they way, quickly?