First Trip Report

[8Muddypaws]

Had a little trouble getting out of the RV lot. No trailer brakes. Seems that the pins on the connector were bent. This may have something to do with the braking problems we had later on.

BUT everything else worked and we found nothing wrong with our new RV at all! The only thing we didn't use was the convection oven. Next trip!

We did have a strange thing happen with our brake controller. It's a Jordan 2020 and three or four times it failed with an 88.8 code on the readout. I looked the code up and it indicates a short in the trailer brakes.

BUT, if I let off the brake and re-applied it immediatly they would work. They never fail two times in a row. Obviously I need to figure out what's causing this and fix it.

Has anybody had intermittant shorts in their brakes? Is this a common problem with Jordan 2020s?

I've been using this controller for over 3 years and have never had a problem with it, pulled a couple of different trailers.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Russ

 

[encourager1]

Electricity is not my strength, but it sounds like you have an intermittent short. I would first check all the connectors in the system. Next I would check all circuits for continuity. Next or maybe first, I would get the dealer involved. Brakes on these big rigs are too important to mess around.

Real glad your weekend went well. Many happy days of RVing.

 

[sreigle]

On most TT and FW brake electrical wires are spliced together back by the axles. Sometimes they use wirenuts. Just a longshot but if one of those wirenuts came off it's possible the bare wires could intermittently touch a spring or axle or other metal.

 

[Northstar-MOC]

Thanks for sharing your first trip. Nice to hear almost everything went perfect. Keep us posted. Happyrving.....

 

[Just148]

Glad to hear of your first trip. Get those breaks fixed asap. Nothing like taking home with you. "smile"

 

[Karl-MOC]

We did have an intermittent short in our brakes also. After a "not so fun" trip from Southern Wisconisn till I found an RV service place just outside of St. Louis, we finally got it fixed.

After a number of other "troubleshooting" tries, which included rewiring almost all the way from the hitchpin to the brake drums, the service tech pulled the wheels. The first wheel pulled showed the problem. The wires going to the electromagnet were not secured in the little clip that is supposed to hold them in place. This allowed the wires to rub on the inside of the drum, finally rubbing off the insulation and creating a short when the now bare wire would touch the drum. He put in a new magnet and wires, and "voila!" the problem was fixed.

By the way, the dealer was BYERLY"S in Eureka, MO. They do not sell Montana's but do sell other Keystone products. They found a way to take us in even though we were just passing through, and got us on our way. The service tech, SEAN, was as accomodating as anyone could be. They were also able to get the cost of repair covered by the axle manufacturer. I heartily endorse Byerly's as a customer-oriented dealer and take every opportunity I can to stop there and purchase something when I pass through.

 

[encourager1]

Great outcome to a very serious problem. Glad you found the solution. Happy RVing.