Hi All,
Got a new F350, 2011, with the factory brake controller. My trailer uses a Titan electric over hydraulic actuator to make the trailer , disk brakes work.
Does the factory controller work with this kinda brake system any body have some experience with this?

Thanks for the help,

buba 11

 

Electric over hyraulic is an interesting anomally that has never caught on in the RV world, but if you research controllers you quickly find that there are multiple after-market controllers that state they work with the system and the integrated controller easily matched their level of sophistication.

My best guess is the integrated controller should work just fine. If I were a betting man, I would bet any controller will work with the system, but there is not enough interest on the part of controller manufacturers to verify its operation.

Why not just call Titan and ask em?

Steve

 

Page 254 of my owner's manual (and probably your manual too ):

Integrated trailer brake controller (if equipped)
Your vehicle may be equipped with a fully integrated electronic trailer
brake controller (TBC). When used properly, the TBC helps ensure
smooth and effective trailer braking by powering the trailer’s electric
brakes with a proportional output based on the towing vehicle’s brake
pressure.
The Ford TBC has been tested to be compatible with several major
brands of electric-over-hydraulic trailer brakes; contact your authorized
dealer for information on which brands can be used.

 

I didn't have the manual and really appreciate the post. Here's my thought, which RV manufacturers acknowledge behind the scenes for a great many products.

There are lots of things that would work, but being that they are less common or perhaps a bit older, they are not tested in many applications. They are not listed as applicable simply due to potential liability.

The thing I would love to see in these statements is a hypothesis as to why the given components would not work with all brands since they work in nearly identical ways.

Industries all seem to operate on two levels. The first level is what you tell consumers. The second level is the one you hear if you are ia part of the industry.

My two cents worth,

Steve

 

I agree Steve. Liability is such a huge thing in today's society that we're seeing fewer and fewer manufacturers that are willing to go out on a limb and actually say their product will work with another.

 

Merry Christmas from Ford: https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...ls/default.asp

 

Thank you. I do have the owner's manual for my truck, but the link is handy to have.

Steve

 

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the replies, After digging into some rv forums I checked into the manuals a bit more and found that you can select electric over hydraulic brake control mode using the controls on the steering wheel and the dash display. I did not try it yet but plan on doing it soon. Could not see this anywhere when I first looked at the manual online, did not think to check the dash display section for brake control modes. From what I have seen the Titan is not uncommon but needs special juice going to it to work, voltage, current whatever.

 

I have done a bit fair of searching on the Internet on the topic of electric-over-hydraulic brakes on towables. it is quite a soup to nuts mixture of information, but in general, it appears that brake controllers capable of giving a fault message will incorrectly read the resistance of the acutator for the electric-over-hydraulic system in some (but not all models) of systems and give an error message.

If you are contemplating a towable with this system towing with an older Ford, you may want to research it further. It is interesting as the error message apparently depends on the towable components in the braking system, so some combinations work, some give an error mesage. The same thing should be true using some aftermarket controllers.

I have never seen this system on any of the high volume towable models I work on, so I expect this will not be an issue with most owners, unless the use of the electric over hydraulic system becomes more wide spread. Nothing has changed in terms of the voltage or current driving the system, but it sounds like old controllers can not read the change in resistance, which makes sense as it is reading an actuator instead of the standard magnets. Anyone who has studied this topic interpret it differently?

Steve

Steve

 

Some of the newer big 5th wheel companies offer disk brakes standard or as an option.
Many RVers with larger trailers are also going to disk brakes.

 

Absolutely, but I think the cost will limit market penetration and I am not sure the majority of owners will realize much benefit given the current patterns of usage.

I think they have a place, but glitter in the RV world is simply much easier to sell.

My two cents worth,

Steve

 

I have an 08 SD and when I installed disc brakes on the trailer had to get a hydraulic controller installed in the trailer to work with the factory truck controller. I think the trailer hydraulic brake controller is designed to mimic electric brakes, that is put some resistance into the line so a truck installed controller will think there's a properly connected circuit. The new truck controllers have the option of selecting electric or hydraulic brakes. You may have to set your truck controller to electric brakes to get proper trailer brake operation. Or maybe you can bypass the trailer controller and set truck controller to hydraulic.

 

From the reading I did, I found the initial controller worked, but gave a fault message, but what you did sounds like the best way to do it!

Steve

 

In my opinion, EoH disk brakes on a trailer is just complicating the mousetrap.

Then, I'd also prefer my rear axle to still have drums, too. I just don't like using disks for stopping a load.

 

If you have an aftermarket controller or an earlier Ford integrated controller Carlisle makes a controller for the hydraulic brakes. I think the model is HBA CAM. You still need the in cab controller.

Chuck