# Trailer brakes not working



## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

When you adjust the brakes do they grab? You should be able to tell on gravel going slow. Trailer brakes will lock up before truck brakes will.
If not take it in for service.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Make sure the plug connection is clean, no corrosion.
Battery charged if you have electric brakes.
Fuse not blown in the truck or the trailer.
Look to see if your brake backing plates on the trailer are wet with oily fluid.....
That your brake controller doesn't have a loose wire from vibration and do indeed try to adjust to dragging those brakes.. EMPTY trailer of course to see if they engage at all.
As churumbeque said,_* get it in for maintenance.*_
You're right that the added strain on your truck is _not _good.
Your truck system is made to stop your trucks weight and a little more, _*not*_ a few thousand pounds of extra added!
Without those brakes you also will lose some stability in handling that trailer...do be very careful.

_jmo.._


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## MiniMom24 (Mar 13, 2013)

Does your Brake controller have a boost button? If you are going 30km (sorry, I'm Canadian) and if you hit your boost button, your trailer brakes only will come on. You will feel it, I hit this every time I hop in my truck to drive to make sure my brakes are working. You may have to turn up your settings on your box if yours allows that.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Your trailer brakes work on an electric circuit, if you do not have the light on the brake controller it means there is an open in the circuit somewhere, you need to back trace the circuit and see where the wire is broken at. 

Often times manufactures use cheap crimps and so do people in the aftermarket when connecting wires, on the road they spray calcium chloride as a deicing agent. They also use salt, both will eat through a copper wire in very short order. 

I recommend when you repair the wire use heat shrink connectors like the ones you can get at Oriley's auto parts. 

It is a very simple system you just have to find where the wire is broken, I suggest starting with the plug as that is a usual culprit. Also you need to check and see that your breakaway battery has voltage, and you need to make sure that system is in order.

Your brake controller will have a button on it to test the brakes, simply roll forward and push this button, if it does not come on your brakes are not working.


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

I doubt this is the OP's issue, but just in case, and general FYI...

I had just hooked our trailer up... no brakes.. 
Checked all, nada. Rolled fowrard, back, nada, but a tad bit of mild blinking. 
Called a very knowledgeable friend. She said it was fine, since I was getting mild blinks, that there was corrosion on my hitch, and that driving would rub it off, this was why the mild forward and back were getting blinks- it was rubbing and removing rust. 

Anyhoo, about 100 feet out the driveway, all was good.  I know how to connect it all, and evidently not much on electrical stuff, as I didn't know that the hitch is a ground which finishes the circuit- rust = no ground = no circuit I assume now.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

GracielaGata said:


> I doubt this is the OP's issue, but just in case, and general FYI...
> 
> I had just hooked our trailer up... no brakes..
> Checked all, nada. Rolled fowrard, back, nada, but a tad bit of mild blinking.
> ...


Actually that means you have a broken wire in your ground somewhere, they should ground through the plug not the hitch.


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

BigNickMontana said:


> Actually that means you have a broken wire in your ground somewhere, they should ground through the plug not the hitch.


Did I misunderstand something from my friend then? Because as soon as the rust wasn't an issue, I have had no more issues since then. And everything I googled after the fact effectively said what I am trying to say about the rust inhibiting.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

GracielaGata said:


> Did I misunderstand something from my friend then? Because as soon as the rust wasn't an issue, I have had no more issues since then. And everything I googled after the fact effectively said what I am trying to say about the rust inhibiting.


It will ground through the ball as a backup, but as your friend said once the rust rubbs off, that also means the connection can be intermittent. 

Especially in situations like where you are doing a panic stop and the hitch might "float" up on the ball and the connection will be lost and your bakes will not work.

I don't know about you but I don't want intermittent brakes!


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

BigNickMontana said:


> It will ground through the ball as a backup, but as your friend said once the rust rubbs off, that also means the connection can be intermittent.
> 
> Especially in situations like where you are doing a panic stop and the hitch might "float" up on the ball and the connection will be lost and your bakes will not work.
> 
> I don't know about you but I don't want intermittent brakes!


Agreed on not wanting intermittent brakes! 

So in my situation, since it very quickly went away and has not been any form of intermittent since (only perfectly properly functional since), is it safe to assume that it was a momentary issue and not related to an issue in the ground wire? Even that I possibly had the plug not quite right and fixed that in the same instances of rechecking everything? Now you have me worried lol


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

GracielaGata said:


> Agreed on not wanting intermittent brakes!
> 
> So in my situation, since it very quickly went away and has not been any form of intermittent since (only perfectly properly functional since), is it safe to assume that it was a momentary issue and not related to an issue in the ground wire? Even that I possibly had the plug not quite right and fixed that in the same instances of rechecking everything? Now you have me worried lol


It is really easy to test, plug your trailer into your truck, don't hook up the hitch or chains, if you don't have a bright red light on the brake controller you have a problem. 

Here is something else to consider the reason you don't want to ground through the ball is this, if you hook up your trailer properly crossing your chains with a minimal amount of slack, if your hitch jumps the ball the safety chains will catch the hitch and support it so it doesn't dig into the pavement and cause a catastrophic event. 

If you are relying on your ball for a ground in this situation when you hit the brakes your trailer is going to plow into the back of your truck really really hard. 

Where as if the brakes are working it is going to pull the chains taught as the trailer slows and it wont hit the back of your rig.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Lights on a trailer are notorious for not working. Usually corrosion or loose connection. One of those things people don't check. Also if the coupler is corroded (very common) it will need replacing. When ours corroded, the brakes came on when I pulled the headlight switch on. When the trailer had been parked we never tho't to wrap and waterproof both sides of the connectors.


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## PrivatePilot (Dec 7, 2009)

Yes, as mentioned, your trailer should never be grounding through the hitch. It makes a moderate "secondary" ground, but it should never be the primary...as it can be notoriously flaky. Make sure your trailer wiring harness is passing through a solid ground - if it is not, there's a wiring problem somewhere.


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## mred (Jan 7, 2015)

Easy fix when you find it. My was broken inside the plug. People pulling the wire to unplug it and not on the plug. Most likely somethng that you move. My truck also has a seperate fuse for the trailer.


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