Help! I'm pulling out what hair I have left. I have an 18 foot flatbed car hauler. Tandem 3,500 pound axles with brakes on 1 axle. I tow it with a 2007 F 250 that has the factory controller. When I check the trailer brakes at the start of a trip they lock up tight so I dial back the gain. I check them again and it feels like nothing is working. I dial back up and it feels like they are barely there. The wiring all appears to be ok (including the accidental severing I caused and soldered back together). Another thing I've noticed once or twice is that on heavy rain they seem much more responsive. I don't think it's the truck because I pulled a different trailer the other days and the brakes worked great. I'm new to this, please help! I don't know what brand the brakes are and haven't found a way to adjust them. I found a slot on the back side that a cover pops off and I can see a spring in there but no apparent way to adjust them. Ideas???? Thanks all!

 

Might have to check the trailers ground wire??

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Ground looks good. No other electrical issues with the trailer. Buddy of mine checked it out with a voltmeter. He said it looks like I'm getting 11-12 volts and it might be a mechanical issue with the brakes themselves. I can't find any way to adjust them though. Maybe have to remove the wheels to get to it?

 

The brakes should have a slot in the back where you move a 'star wheel' to tighten up the shoes to the drum.

But, pulling the drums if you've never seen how electric brakes are setup would be a good thing to do anyway.. While you are doing it, you can repack the bearings and have that task out of the way too.

When I adjust the brakes on my TT after pulling the drums, I set them so they just slightly drag a bit, but still spins a couple of times on a hard spin..

Good luck!

Mitch