Like the title says. Was coming down a 12 percent grade today. The message popped up. Lost the brakes on the trailer but still had all the lights. Got to the bottom of the hill unplugged the trailer harness and plugged it back in. Had lights but didn't have brakes and it said trailer disconnected. The brakes smelt pretty hot. Drove a couple hours was almost home. Messaged popped up saying trailer connected but still showing the fault in the information center. Is this something on the truck or would it be on my trailer. Any help would be great guys. Thanks.

 

I would check the trailer first. It would be the easier than the truck. Many of the trailer brakes have the wires run on the inside of the rear axle. Check there to make sure no wire is chaffed or cut. Use a meter to check for short circuit to ground or may open. Check to see how well the 7 pin plug connects to the truck 7 pin. See if any of the truck 7 pin connectors appear bent or not a tight connection. I had to take a small screwdriver to some of the truck connectors that seemed loose on mine. I was able to bend them some to tighten them up.

 

Everything that was posted above . My buddy had a wire inside the rear trailer axle that turned out to be problem. Brake magnets can go bad and do the same thing. He replaced brakes,backing plates,magnets ,and the wire back to the axles . At last resort he pulled the wires out of the axles and one wire had a bare spot in the middle of the axle. Good luck

 

Also check how much tension is on the plug. If the cord is being tugged on, it could be causing an issue. As stated above, check you trailer wiring. If it is new, or the backing plates are new or have been removed, make sure the brake wires are not pinched between the backing plate and the hub. Also, ope the box that houses the pigtail connection at the trailer and check to make sure all wires are connected tightly and there are no exposed wires or chaffed spots.

 

hi guys, i have a 2014 with 40k miles on it. I also have that message show up every so often. my dump trailer is brand new it wont do it for weeks at a time but then i will get the message. When I do get the message I manually squeeze the brake controller in the cab and I do have brakes and I do have lights. When I unplug it and plug it back in it works fine for a few weeks again. Personally I believe its a glitch in the truck and not the trailer

 

I've had exactly the same issue for years. It's very intermittent. I get the TRAILER DISCONNECTED then a few second or a minute later I'll get TRAILER CONNECTED. When it happens I test the paddles and I do have brakes, at least from the paddles. BTW, I have hydraulic brakes on the trailer. I doubt I'll ever figure out the problem.

Rob

 

Had the same message, lost the brakes but the lights worked. I inspected the wires at the hubs and saw nothing. I found a nicked wire in the junction box and repaired it, still got the message. I wanted to get rid of the galvanized box anyway so I bought a Bargman 7 pole box, a 12' coiled pigtail, a 5/8" insulated strain relief clamp, a CapSaver and a Maglite D-cell flashlight clip. I labeled everything beforehand with wire stickers and replaced everything a few weeks ago, message has gone away so I chocked it up to a bad connection from the factory in the junction box.

 

Put some dielectric grease on the plug. Cords not bein pulled. Bought the trailer brand new took it on a thousand mile trip. Didn't happen till the last couple hundred miles. It has never happened with my flat bed. Gonna start tracing wires on the trailer.

 

Yep hooked the truck up to my flatbed and the brake system worked fine. So I guess my next question should I just rewire from the plugs to the brake or how should I go about it. Electric side of things im kinda dumb when it comes to it.

 

I had the message show up once when pulling a backhoe. Lost brakes. I pulled over and checked everything and could find any issue. Brakes worked and so did lights after I restarted. I don't know what it was, but I soon changed hubs and magnets where worn pretty good. Could have been that. Also be careful using dielectric grease on trailer plug. It is an insulator.

 

My inner axle wires shorted out too. Thought it was my controller but it was not. I would check the trailer first. It is easy to trace by checking each axle end starting from the junction box. Highly doubt an intermittent glitch with the controller. Majority of electrical probs are loose, poor ground or shorted wire.

 

Experienced this same issue a couple of years ago while towing in a freezing rain and snow mix. It turned out to be the contacts between the trailer cord and the truck receptacle cord plug in. Needed to clean the surfaces of the pins and bend a few metal contacts for better contact.
No issues since, unless you count a few months ago I had brake issues, but it was due to wheel bearing grease getting past the axle seal and onto the brake shoes.

 

Took the tires off and drums. On a couple of the brakes the wires goin to the magnets were smashed against some metal. Wore down to bare wire and im thinking its grounding it out. Will I need to replace the magnets or can I just replace wire.

 

Replace the magnets. They are not overly expensive plus the wire has a high temp insulating covering.

When you get new ones, make sure they are the right ones for the axle ratings for your trailer. Check them with ohm meter to make sure they are the same resistance. I have seen the resistance vary enough to cause one side to energize more than the other side.

Had a flat bed trailer that would slide one tire with light braking action with no load. Found the magnet to be different resistance than the other side.