Montana Brakes Not Working

[Daryles]

Hope this helps

[jsb5717]

I just went through the exercise of checking all of my trailer brake wiring. I kept getting intermittent "Check Trailer Brake" or "Brake Disconnected" messages in our RAM.

I found one broken wire inside the right rear hub and a worn wire inside the front axle. I decided to bypass the axle wiring on both axles and rewire to the exterior of the axle and strap it down with zip ties. Also repaired the broken wire.

For troubleshooting I also disconnected the brake wires in the junction box under the hitch and ran a long jumper wire back to the left front wheel where the wires first drop from the belly to the wheels in order to check the hidden wiring for any shorts.

I haven't been back on the road since I did the work but will find out in a couple weeks if errant messages have been fixed.

[scottz]

Originally Posted by BB_TX

On your trailer cord, pin 4 is +12 v and pin 2 is brakes. Put a jumper between pin 4 and pin 2 and see if the brakes engage. That will tell if trailer wiring is good or not.

That's the same as pulling the breakaway switch; he did that and said trailer brakes work.

Rocketman, I'm beginning to think your brakes might be working but just not as well as you think they should. You might have a leaking grease seal on one or more hubs that keeps the brakes from working well. Having the brakes stop the wheel while you hand spin doesn't mean it will have braking force when towing.

Before I switched to disc brakes, I had to crank my controller way up and even then the braking was not all that great; would never lock the wheels on dry pavement.

Crank the setting on your controller all the way up and see if you can feel anything.

[Rocketman123!]

thanks to everyone who posted suggestions to solve my brake problems. I'll start working though the list and post my results when I find a solution. Thanks again!

[BB_TX]

Originally Posted by scottz

That's the same as pulling the breakaway switch; he did that and said trailer brakes work.
……. .

It is the same from the point the truck brake wire connects to the breakaway switch brake wire, assuming that connection is good. But doesn’t include the wire from the truck connector to that connection point. If the wire in the cord from the truck thru the cord to the common connection point is not secure, pulling the breakaway switch would not check that. The jumper actually checks from the truck connection point to the brakes, which seems to be the problem.

[scottz]

You are correct.

[mlh]

Take one of the wheels off and the drum and have someone push the break pedal to see if you are getting current to the magnets. I was getting current to the magnets. The magnets were good but still no breaks.
Lynwood

[BB_TX]

Do you have a bumper mounted connector and also an in-bed mounted connector? I had both in my 2012 F350. The bumper connector always worked fine. But the in-bed connector often would not make contact to my right side stop light. Ended up replacing my in-bed connector and all was fine afterward. The old connector looked good but I could never determine what the problem was. It even tested good with my trailer connector tester. Could be a problem with your connector brake pin.

[Foldbak]

Originally Posted by BB_TX

Do you have a bumper mounted connector and also an in-bed mounted connector? I had both in my 2012 F350. The bumper connector always worked fine. But the in-bed connector often would not make contact to my right side stop light. Ended up replacing my in-bed connector and all was fine afterward. The old connector looked good but I could never determine what the problem was. It even tested good with my trailer connector tester. Could be a problem with your connector brake pin.

Good call! Glad you're still giving input!

[BB_TX]

With the combined years of experience and knowledge of our community here we can usually come up with most if not all of the possible sources of problems and most likely resolutions to those. But still learning.