I'm currently shopping around for a electric brake controller. The trailer that I will be pulling is a tri-axle.

What are some good brands of brake controllers that are not too expensive?

My local trailer shop sells a tri-axle contoller for 90$ bucks. Thats kinda of a lot of money if you ask me.

____________________
90' F150 xlt 4x4 302 4-speed w/ 4.10 rear / 5th wheel
Headers/true duals 2.25" w/ 28" glasspacks coming out at 45's

 

If it is a good one thats not bad. Reese makes a good one. I personaly perfer the manual inertia base instead of the timer base. If you look around you can prob find one for around 70 I know autozone sells one for dual axle don't remember if it's Tri or not.

 

$90 isn't that unreasonable.
I had a "redline" controller - installed - in my truck for $150

 

I just bought a Tekonsha Explorer XP for $110.00 at Jiffy hitch. Was $20-30 cheaper there than anywhere else.

 

If you were to bounce over to the RV.net forum (tow vehicles & towing sections) and ask this question, you will consistently get a recommendation for three different controllers:

Tekonsha Prodigy: http://www.tekonsha.com/prodig.html
(www.rvwholesalers.com or Ebay, around $100.00) The Prodigy is plug and play on newer vehicles. Just buy the wiring harness, plug into the controller, plug into the truck, and go.

Jordan Ultima

Hensley TruControl: http://www.nosway.com/trucontrol/trucontrol2.htm

They will handle 1 to 4 axles and have excellent reviews from many, many users from what I have read.

I bought the Prodigy off of E-bay and have liked it very much. Our camper brakes very smoothly w/it. Now I cannot say how it will work compared to the others since I just bought this one first.

Hope this helps.

 

I have a Tekonsha Prodigy on my F-150 and like it very much. I bought for a $100 at truckexpressions.com

 

My vote is for the Jordan - never had a problem with it and it can tell you when you're starting to have a problem with one of your trailer brakes. But, you're not going to find it for $90. JMHO

 

Has anyone heard of a controller called Brakesmart? From what I have read it is the best controller out there. The price is around $350 but I have heard very well worth the money. I have a Reece type activator and it is very jerky with the three axles and very hard to adjust constantly. I have also heard Jordon has a very good controller. Give me some input, I will be switching soon. I dont need 21,000 lbs pushing me around.

 

I have a Draw-Tite Activator II in my Ranger. Once I had it dialed in, it worked great. $100, and I installed it myself, with help from everyone here.

 

BigRig -

How bad was the instal of your Activator II? I am getting one, and will instal it next week. Any little tips or tricks you picked up would be appreciated.


Thanks,

DTR

 

The hardest thing about installing it was running the wires. I had to drill a hole in my firewall to get the wires into my cab, and back out again. Well, that and finding the brake signal wire on my brake light switch. I can't remember which wire it was, but the instructions will tell you.

As long as you have the instructions, you'll be fine. Make sure you put a circuit breaker in there for the power supply.

 

I used a Tekonsha Sentinel for about 6 years, Its one of the smoothest controls I have used. Easy to setup and adjust