Trailer brakes
 

I have a 3 axle flat bed and I can't seem to get the brakes to work. All new wiring and magnets, the shoes are still like new. Im getting 13.5v at the brakes with a good ground and even turned up to 10 on the controller it barely does anything. Any ideas? Ps the truck is a 2014 f350 and we have 3 trailers and this is the only one we have problems with

Did you adjust the brakes?

Yes sir, everything is adjusted up.

Any chance you got the right and left sides swapped? They are designed to pull with the wheel rotation to actuate the shoes. Only other thing I can think of is the magnets are to far away from the surface of the brake drum.

How rusty was the magnet surface on the drums?

You might get your 13.5v
But that means nothing if the amp draw is not right.
You can check the resistance and the math will tell you the amps.

http://www.etrailer.com/faq-testing-...-function.aspx

What Sam said with the shoes^ Also I'm not sure how the fords are, but my 14' Ram has different settings in the menu like light, medium, and heavy trailer as well as being able to set it from 1 to 10.

everything is on the correct side and theres no rust on the drums. i will test for amp draw tomorrow

What controller are you using? I have a good friend that owns a trailer shop and I could ask him. If your PM you phone # I can call you about specifics. I work there once in a while but go there often.

Make sure the trailer is grounded good. Do you ground to the frame of the trailer? Is the ground on the truck side good? I always check trailers with it completely disconnected from the truck, minus the plug. That way, you know if you have a ground issue. If it's hooked up, it could ground through the ball, and you don't want that.

Pull the drums. Put full voltage (on the blue wire) and check the magnets. If you can't stick a screw driver to them there is either a connection problem or bad magnet. Check for power with a test light.

Greg