I am looking for technical information regarding Ford OEM brake controller. In my case, a 2021 F350 where I'm towing 2020 16K Toy Hauler. Also, note that both truck and trailer quite new, in excellent working order, and all stock.

Here's the questions I have - seeking answers to.

- Is there a way to adjust the output higher? Currently my gain is set to 10 and upon manually squeezing fully, it won't lock up the brakes. It does apply decent braking, but in my estimation it needs 50% more. To give a specific example, rolling along at 50 MPH, gain at 10, I can manually squeeze the controller to max, without applying truck brakes, and it will "gradually" slow down. At 50 MPH, it requires about 200 yards to slow from 50 to 30 MPH on level ground. With 4 braking wheels and plenty of weight, there's no reason it shouldn't be come to a complete stop.

- I've heard, and it seems to be true in testing, that brake output on the trailer is lowered at slower speeds. Specifically, once the truck is under 20MPG, the amount of braking force to the trailer is reduced. And, at less than 5MPH, zero or close to zero. What I heard was Ford designed it this way to make stopping smoother...easing off the trailer brakes once speed is lower. My problem with this, and my observation, is that on gravel roads going down steeper grades, at about 10MPH, the truck is skidding - being pushed by the trailer. If I squeeze the manual controller it seems to not change the trailer braking at all. Btw grabbing the controller while navigating steep hill and truck skidding isn't really optimal.

I'm wondering if there is a resource for the technical functionality of the brake controller. Does it reduce output at slower speeds? Is there a way to increase output? We're entering winter and I plan to take the RV to some ski resorts, where potentially we will be on snow. Yes, I have chains for truck and trailer, but I'd like to get a good understanding on the brake controller functionality before I get myself into real trouble!

Thank you for any help on this.

 

 

As an experiment, disconnect your toyhauler from the seven pin on your truck and then pull the break-away on your camper. That will give you the maximum braking ability from your camper brakes. Try to tow it. Can you? This tells you whether your issue is with the trailer or your truck.

 

Beautiful set-up. My 2 cents, if you have drum brakes on the trailer, I bet you need to manual adjust your brakes, I bet they were never adjusted correctly at the factory.

 

I’ve done this - albeit unintentionally. During recent trip the break away cable got hooked on something in the bed during a tight turn. As I straighten out accelerating onto a freeway o ramp it pulled the cable and engaged the trailer brakes. All tires screeching and drug is to a stop. So.. lol I know they work!

 

@SpencerPJ
thanks for kind words on the rig. We’ve enjoyed it! 24,500 on the truck and 21,000 of those towing so we’re using it.

I definitely will check out the brake adjustment. It does have dexter axles and drum brakes. This rig 13,500 dry and 16,000 loaded - and as you can see 2 axle. These toyhaulers do have a little heavier axle, 16” 8-lug wheel, but like all RVs built just enough to get by.

Also I e found out that indeed under 15MPH the brake controller does moot put out full voltage. Ford does this to smooth stopping, but it caused issues for us on gravel downhill.

 

Before you spend time on the brakes, there are two more things to check. You need to know the amp output at the seven pin of the truck when you are maxing out manually and then you need to know what you have on the blue lead at the junction box of the trailer when maxed out. for full braking you need to see about 3 amps per wheel or 12 total. A good looking connection which is not so good or a weak ground will give you the same results you are reporting, even with a good controller. I use my clamp meter at the J-box for that. Just my thoughts. Your accidental "test" of the brakes was a good way to know the drums and shoes are in the game.

 

the controller has three settings if I recall. low, medium and high.

within those setting you can set the gain from 1 to 10.

change it to high. See if that helps your towing.

 

This was my problem... When I set the truck up I set mine to low because the camper was small, but then later I had to turn the gain up to 10. Being that my camper is only 6000 lbs it still stopped fine, but when I switched the setting to high my number came down. I think I am at 6 or so now... I like it better.

 

Thanks guys!

I checked setting and indeed it was on medium. I’ve set to high and will test next time we are out.

Happy Thanksgiving