ruff rider

I have a 26 foot inTech enclosed trailer that weights 5570 LBS empty. My dash would some times pop up trailer disconnect when the trailer was connected. That was problem one. Problem two was with the gains set at 10 and driving the truck to 25 mph and just using the gains controller the truck would not come to a quick stop. It would stop but it would take more distance then it should in my mind.

Took the trailer and truck to my dealership. The Tech hooked up a meter to the 7 pin plug on the truck. Had the gains set to ten and the meter showed the power output was 11amps which is better then expected. OK so this mean that when the brake pedal is applied the trailer is getting the power needed to stop. To test this we got the truck to 30 MPH and did an emergency stop and the truck stopped with the trailer as fast as it did without the trailer. So now I know the truck and trailer brakes are working as they should even though the gains switch set at ten only slows down the trailer when applied by itself.

Next was the trailer disconnect problem. The Tech found a Service Bulletin on this problem. He then installed the new software. Well guess what? The first time I started the truck with the trailer hooked up the display said trailer disconnected. Then I tried again and it said that everything was fine. Here is what we found. If I start the truck and don't keep my foot on the brake or adjust the gains for the first 15 seconds I never get the trailer disconnect. I wonder now if Ford even knows this is happening like this. I can make my display say trailer disconnect any time I start the truck with it hooked to my trailer. All I can say is I am very happy knowing that the TBC is working right. Oh I also was able to hook up a new F150 Platinum to my trailer and went for a drive. It worked just like mine as far as stopping and the disconnect deal. It was a fun 2 1/2 hours at the dealer.

EventHorizon

Cool story bro!!


What year is your truck??

ruff rider

Thanks. I have a 15 Platinum

JJM

It still sounds like the cheap wiring connectors on your trailer. Stepping on the brake when you start the vehicle sends higher amperage through the trailer than is normally sent when the truck is trying to sense the trailer on its own. Replace all the cheap connectors with better ones OR solder the connections together and you won't have a problem anymore.

EventHorizon

With all the horror stories I'm hearing about the 2015 and up TBC I'm wondering how Ford messed it up so bad. The hardware and software worked great for 2009-2014. If it ain't broke don't "fix" it!!!

bubbabud

I must have missed all the horror story's about the 15 TBC my 15 XLT works perfectly on all 3 of my trailers with gain set between 6 and 10 depending on trailer and load.

ruff rider

No sorry but what is happening is the module in the truck for the trailer has an approximate cycle time of 5-10 seconds to check all the connections for the truck and trailer connections and by trying to set the gains or keeping the brake pedal pushed down the module will show the trailer is not connected because it can not see that everything is set up because it has to deal with the gains being set to quickly. It has nothing to do with wiring connectors on the trailer or the truck.

The only reason I posted this was because I have seen other say the truck will show the trailer was not connected but it was. I have NEVER had this screen pop up after I started to drive the truck with the trailer.

ruff rider

Mine wasn't a horror story. I was just concerned because I was told with the gains set at 10 the trailer should lock up the brakes when the gains switch is depressed fully with the truck traveling at 20-25 mph. Mine would just slow the truck down at a rate that I though was to slow. Having the Ford tech with his equipment hooked up I got to see the trucks gain was working the way it should. It made me feel much better pulling my trailer on the road.

lyouden

I just posted in another thread but the dealer replaced my trailer control module as that was blowing my Trailer Brake Controller. I also got some weird 'trailer disconnected' messages as well. My software was updated and the TBC still failed. There is no reason a foot on the brake should have anything to do with the messages. You might want to have that module checked as well if it keeps happening. Hopefully yours is fixed!

humblerb

The TBC will not lock up at the max gain of 10 with your load. Matter-of-fact, what you have described is normal. Your trailer brakes are not designed to stop the trailer on their own. The slow pace you are describing sounds normal to me.
You said it will stop the trailer, but takes longer than you expected.
If it eventually stops the trailer, then it is working right.