Ford screwed up on this brake controller. I thought i had a problem with my trailer brakes, NOT. It seems the Idiots at Ford think that the brake handler in these new trucks should only stop your load down to 25 mph, then the brake handler cuts out?

Who the hell is in charge over there? I went to the dealer and he concurred with me. He said that i am not the first complaint about this screw up..


We put a voltage meter on the plug and sure enough it only put's out 1.8 volt's when the truck is stopped, but if you manually apply the brakes with the lever in the truck you will get 12.8 volt's to the plug WTF. I asked the tech, what if i am in a sub division and a kid runs out in front of me and i am doing 25 mph with 14,000 lbs behind me, what do i do then with no trailer brakes? at any speed below 25 mph you will have to hope that your truck will stop your load..this is the most ignorant thing ford has done since the 6.0

 

If you have surge brakes (electric/hydraulic) the controller is incompatible with it.

 

I know this, i have regular electric brakes that always worked fine with my Prodigy..

 

The '08 factory Ford brake controller works just fine with my electric/hydraulic disc brake system in my new trailer at all speeds I've tried. I'm currently using the 7.0 setting on the controller.

 

The dealer told me that it wont work with electric hydraulic..

 

Most generally it wont. Our car hauler trailer has them, and it wouldnt work. I had to go in to the instrument cluster and disable the controller function, then I could install an aftermarket controller, using the same wiring.

 

Well thats different...They told me that same thing, if i wanted to by-pass it i could. They should have told me that it was a useless piece of $&** and i would not be happy with partial stopping power.

I would have not ordered the brake controller had i know it was not going to stop my trailer below 25 mph

 

I don't know what to say, it works great with mine, above and below 25 mph. I know some controllers are incompatible with Tow Command but the one I have isn't one of them.

 

Did your dealer add it on and forget to enable it? Some times you can get a mis-build, and it is corrected at the dealer level. Possibly not done correctly? The controller module will store codes just like your pcm. Dont know why you cant find the problem.

 

I took it to the dealer after i had my trailer guy make sure it was'nt a problem with the trailer. The tech showed me on another superduty just to prove to me that i am not crazy.

There is only 1.8 volts going to the plug at low speeds, not enough to light up a test light. At speed the plug is pulling 12.8 volts? I dont get why they would design it to work like this????

 

It's well known that Ford did that on the first year TBC, but then they changed it for the '06 MY. The complaint at the time was that you could not check your pin latch on a 5th wheel. They changed it, but refused to issue a fix for the older trucks. Why they would go back to that in '08 is a complete mystery.

Bill

 

I thought the voltage varied with pedal pressure. Are you saying that the LED display will read different levels on the dash but the actual voltage never changes below 25mph. I havent tested mine for voltage levels but I know my trailer brakes dont suddenly stop working when I get below 25mph. I will admit I dont feel the trailer brakes as strongly at slower speeds but I think that is because I am not applying a lot of brake pedal pressure at lower speeds.

 

Why does mine work if they are supposed to be that way?

The DEXTER Electric / Hydraulic Disc Brake Actuator seems to be completely compatable with the '08 Tow Command.

 

From way over here in my chair, I'm not convinced that you have a problem. No offense meant, just some points to ponder. BTW, your dealer agreeing means nothing to me. Many are clueless, and combined with complaints from the '05 MY, I can see them telling you that.

The TBC is only going to put out braking voltage if 1) you have a trailer connected, and it knows if you have a brake circuit plugged in, and 2) if it senses braking inertia, and 3) if you press hard on the brake pedal. With just a VOM on the plug in the back you have not satisfied criteria 1 or 2. At most the truck might think you are sitting at a light with your foot on the brake and put out a nominal "holding" voltage to the trailer. I don't even think it's doing that. I think it is just putting out 1 or 2 volts to check continuity. Not finding a completed circuit it thinks there is no trailer.

I think the only way to check that thing is to hitch your trailer, do 20 mph in a parking lot, and apply the brakes hard. It would be great to also read the output voltage while doing that, but I don't know how you would go about it.

Do NOT expect your trailer to tug back on you like your Prodigy controller did. The Ford TBC will not do that. It will work WITH your trailer brakes and the effect is that you don't really feel the tug in your pants. My trailer brakes will never jerk me like the Prodigy did unless I hit the OS lever. But the TBC is doing the job. Well, I hope so anyway.

Bill

 

Well done Bill, I didn't think of that! You could only measure actual output with a trailer connected, otherwise the Tow Command wouldn't behave as normal since it "knows" there is nothing there.