Ok bare with me, this is an odd problem.

We have two 29’ boats that have a trailer weight of 11,000lbs and we have trailer brakes on both. We have two trucks that we tow them with- a 2011 F350 DRW and a 2014 F450 DRW. The 2011 350 works the brakes like a champ. Everything works fine. The 2014 450 will operate the lights like it should but it will not operate the trailer brakes unless the emergency lockup is pulled and reinstalled and then it’ll work for a few minutes and then quit. This scenario is the same on both trailers.

Heres the F150 relation. We used my chief’s 7 pin and trailer brake controller on his 2011 EB and it does the exact same thing as the 2014 450. We’ve taken the truck and trailer to the dealer and nobody can figure out the problem.

Any ideas among the best and brightest here?

 

free bump, Did you try jiggling the wires?

 

Tried jiggling the wires, adding an extra ground from the aluminum frame to the trucks hitch. Nothing helped.

I did discover that the faulty truck was set to look for EOH instead electric brakes. Not sure if that fixed it or if the good truck was set correctly. Early liberty at noon had us throw two middle fingers toward it and say “see ya Tuesday”.

 

You took it to the truck dealer or trailer dealer? Suggest the latter.

 

Electric Brakes on a boat trailer? I thought the trailer would have inertia brakes or does it have electric over hydraulic?

 

"Loose Lips Sinks Ships".
In the interest of security and safety for everyone, there is no need to post a photo of a military and/or law enforcement type vessel with the serial number being visible on an open and non-secure website.

 

Something tells me, this is your issue. Since the breakaway is working, you know the brakes are good, so that means the in cab controller isn't energizing the brakes because the truck is telling it not to. Even with that, I would think manually the brakes would set from the controller, but have never thought to try it since I don't have a trailer with surge brakes.

 

While I appreciate the concern, this boat not only goes to schools and parades, it’s also present all over the Ohio River any given time. There’s no secrecy behind it’s assigned hull number. Now, had I posted serial numbers, weapons capabilities, or interior shots of electronics suites (which non-military kids and adults frequently play all over and photograph), that would be a little different.

 

Do the controllers work the brakes properly on any other trailer? Narrow the issue down...

That is a confusing one. Once you've pulled and re-installed the emergency break-away, does the truck continue to operate the brakes? If it's only operating the brakes while the break-away is pulled, I'd bet you've got a voltage short to the brake wire. If the ITBC sees something on the line that it doesn't like, it's going to disable that line (but should also issue an error message).

Of course, I have seen trailers wired wrong, with the brake signal having to go through the break-away to get to the brakes, but if this was the case, the other truck also wouldn't be able to operate the brakes.

 

If the break away is pulled, the brakes operate for a minute or two and then stop until the break away is pulled again.

If we put this one F450 (and the control/tester 2011 F150) on the other equipment trailer, it functions just fine. It’s just this one truck on both boat trailers. The other truck (F350) is all fine and dandy.