Tekonsha makes the TowCommand System for Ford.

 

Could you site where you found this info? Please

I find it hard to believe when Tekonsha doesn't have any brake pressure type controllers listed on their website.

 

http://www.booksfast.net/towcommand.htm that's one.

 

Here's another...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._n6215006/pg_2

 

Thanks, I find it odd that Tekonsha doesn't have their own, pressure type controller.

 

Probably because the money for aftermarket controllers is in the electronic brake category.

Though Tekonsha's company history is based on hydraulic controls, they built both electronic and hydraulic control systems in parallel. About a dozen or so years ago, they really moved forward on the intelligence side of their controllers with inertial controlled proportional units, which is pretty much what they make today for the aftermarket industry, since the vast majority of the controlled trailer braking market is electronic.

That's the technology they brought to Ford for TowCommand. Tekonsha arguably has the most advanced inertial-based control systems on the market, and their knowledge of controlling both hydraulic and electronic breaking systems makes them uniquely qualified for an application like TowCommand, where the intelligent controller runs both the truck's hydraulic breaking systems along with the trailer's electronic breaking systems for the best proportional load balancing possible.

So, even though you only see electronic brake controllers in Tekonsha's aftermarket product lineup, their intelligent control technology can actually be found in a wide variety of systems that require proportional load balancing based on inertial (motion-based) input.

rgds,
TX

 

I think you missunderstood a bit. Towcommand is a pressure type brake system, that take the master cylinder pressure, and determines the proper current to be applied to the trailer brakes, making a even fast stop that doesn't fade as you slow down (Read that someplace not sure where). Towcommand is not inertia based.

What I asked was since Tekonsha help Ford with a pressure type trailer brake control system, why don't they have their own. Like Brake Smart.

I bought the Hayes Lemerz Genesis Proportional inertia based controller since it's compatible with electric and hydraulic brake systems where the prodigy is for electric brakes only.

 

I think part of your answer there deals with the difference between selling to the aftermarket versus having a factory installed unit. In order to install a pressure type controller, you have to modify the vehicle's hydraulic brake system. That is illegal in some states (though I'll bet there are some gray areas that can be worked). The other side of that is liability, of course, because you are talking about modifying the tow vehicle's braking system.

I'm not 100% positive, but I think that the TowCommand system uses both hydraulic pressure and an accelerometer in its figuring the trailer brake output.

There have been people here at FTE that have managed to integrate the TowCommand system into trucks born without it. You would need to swap out the master cylinder for one that has the TowCommand pressure transducer on it to keep it legal, and from there it's a question of wiring it up.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the TowCommand can handle electric-over-hydraulic trailer brakes or if there is at least a breakout box (along the lines of the little boxes that make trailer turn signals work when you've got amber turn signals) to adapt existing controllers to handle E/H brakes?

 

Jorlee is correct. TowCommand is a 100% proportional system, using the driver's braking pressure to proportionally load both the truck's hydraulic system and the trailer's electronic system. In the absence of an input like measuring the driver's braking force, the only other way to measure deceleration force is with an accelerometer, which is how many of the aftermarket controllers, like Tekonsha's Prodigy, work.. that being intertia-based.

Also on TowCommand, Tekonsha factors in ABS braking data so in an emergency braking situation, you don't lock up the trailer brakes.

TX