Removing and Replacing Trailer Brake Shoes Review

Today we are going to show how to remove the break shoes on a typical electric break axle, this one in particular is a twelve inch drum. We are using that one because it is large and easy to see. This applies to virtually all electric brakes from this size on up and down to the smaller sizes. We will go over how it comes apart and the tools you will need to do it with.

Trailer Brake Controller Wiring Colors

Today we are going to cover a frequently asked question. It really turns up a lot. And actually it is easier than you think. Basically, if you have a pickup and you got a tow package with it and you got one of these wire harnesses that plug underneath the dash and plugs into your brake controller, you might have five or sometimes even more wires coming off of it. And you notice that your brake controller only uses four. We have got one over here, we will show you, that has just the four wires and what do you do with the extra wires? The short answer is do not worry about it, because the brake controller has all that it needs from these four wires.

Trailer Brake Controller Wire Testing

Today we are going to cover a few notes on testing an electronic brake controller. What we are going to cover here is going to apply to virtually all brake controllers. Basically, if you run into a problem where you think your brake controller is not working, well, it could be a the brake controller or it could be something in the truck itself, in the connector or c it actually could be problems in the trailer. What we are going to show you today is how to look for problems that will either rule out the brake controller or make sure that it is the brake controllers fault. Just like any electronic devices, they seem to have a limited lifespan some will work for years and some will not. But this way you can also verify that it is working good.

Trailer Brake Controller Comparison Review

Today we are going to talk about the two main kinds of brake controllers, the proportional and the time delay. The two we have here are the Journey HD and the Draw-Tite Activator II. These are what you call the time delay brake controllers. Basically what happens is that when you hit the brakes, they come on at a certain speed that you set on the brake controller. Like on this one here, we have a sync switch here that controls how fast it comes on and then this knob here controls how much power it takes to stop the trailer. Basically you hit your foot brake and it comes on at the rate you determine and at how much power you have set aside for it, and then it stays there until you completely let off the brake.

Diagnosing a Brake Controller Problem

Alright, today on this 2009 Ford F-150 we are going to diagnose a brake controller problem. Now we can use these steps on any brake controller that is on the market to verify if it is working or not. Now our brake controller is already telling us that it has an error message. It is flashing an Er on top. Usually it means an internal problem. We tested our trailer so we know it is good. So, it is not that. So first off we will make sure we have a constant 12 volt power supply. We will check the black wire first. OK, we are good there. Now we will try our red wire for our brake signal. OK, that is good there. Now we will try our blue wire and that will be our output. So we should have output on this wire whenever we hit the foot brake or the manual override. OK, we get nothing on the foot brake and nothing on the manual override. So definitely the error is internal and this brake controller does have to be replaced.

Trailer Brake Controller Installation Wiring Kit Review

Today we will show you part number ETBC7 brake controller installation kit. What this kit does is it fills in the blanks between your 4 pole connector and the brake controller. Basically on the instructions of your brake controller, it will show you a link between the foot brake and stop light switch, a battery, and then a line going out to the connector out back. This kit here fills in those missing pieces. We will cover each individual part. First we will start from the rear of the vehicle and work our way forward. This part here is 7 and 4 pole to 4 pole adapter. This will plug into your existing 4 pole that you have on your vehicle. It just plugs in like normal while this white wire gets grounded to the body of the vehicle. You will have a couple extra wires. The black wire will be ran to the battery. This blue wire here gets run to the blue wire on the brake controller.

Trailer Brake Controller Reverse Light Lead Installation

All right what we are going to do on this install is the reverse light lead to our electrical connector. For instance on a 5-pole you can use this on a boat trailer that has a reverse lock out for hydraulic brakes on it. Also you can use on a 7-pole application the trailer may have reverse lights on the back of it. Some RVs have a reverse light hook up on the back of it. I will show you the basic generic steps of how it is installed. 00:22

Trailer Brake Controller Installation - 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche

Tekonsha Brake Controller 90195 Review

Today we're going to review part number 90195. This is the Tekonsha Prodigy P3 proportional brake controller. This proportional brake controller will activate your trailer brakes in a proportion to your vehicles braking action. It'll automatically adjust your trailers braking based on the deceleration of the tow vehicle and it activates immediately so there's no pausing like with your time delay brake controllers. It does have an automatic leveling ability because there's an internal sensor on the inside which will detect deceleration even if the controller is not mounted flat. You can position this in a 360 degree range in a vertical plane.

Tekonsha Brake Controller 90885 Review

Today were going to review part #90885. This is the Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Trailer Break Controller. This is a proportional brake controller, which will activate your trailer brakes in proportion to your vehicles braking action. It will automatically adjust the trailers braking based on the deceleration of the tow vehicle, and it will activate immediately so theres no pausing like with your time-delay brake controllers. This controller does have an automatic leveling ability. Theres an internal sensor on the inside which will detect deceleration, even if the controllers not mounted flat.

Trailer Brake Controller Installation - 2010 GMC Acadia

Today on our 2010 GMC Acadia we'll be installing the Etrailer Universal Install Kit for Brake Controllers, part number ETBC7 in conjunction with the Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Brake Controller, part number 90885. In addition we'll be using the Draw Tite No Drill Mounting Bracket, part number 18136.We'll begin by installing the seven pole bracket onto our seven pole connector. We'll use the hardware provided with our install kit securing the bracket to the connector. Then we'll take the no drill mounting bracket and secure it to the seven pole bracket with the hardware that's included. Now before I install the bracket onto the vehicle I'm going to go ahead and take some black electrical tape and wrap up these wires.Note for our application we'll not be using the purple wire which is for reverse trailer lights so we'll go ahead and clip it off as it will not be necessary. We'll wrap it up all the way until our first connection point.

Curt Brake Controller C51110 Review

Today we're going to review part number C51110. This is the Curt Venturer Trailer Brake Controller. This brake controller is designed for trailers with up to three axles or six brake assemblies. It is designed to be used only with electric trailer brakes. It will not work with electrical over hydraulic. It does have a limited lifetime warranty.

Trailer Brake Controller Installation - 2002 Ford F350

Today, on our 2002 Ford F350, we're going to be installing Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Trailer Brake Controller, Part Number 90885. In conjunction with the brake controller, we'll also be using the Tekonsha Plug-in Wiring Adapter for electric brake controllers, Part Number 3035-P.To begin with, we will go ahead and lower dash panel below the steering wheel by twisting the four corners of the panel and pulling it off. With this removed, we'll go ahead and locate the plug that we will need to plug into underneath the dash.The connector is a gray connector and we will need to take the end of the plug-in wiring adapter and plug into this. You want to make sure it goes in all the way to where you hear it click and lock into place.Next, we'll go ahead and pick out a location to secure our mounting bracket. On this particular vehicle, there was already a brake controller installed before, but we'll go ahead and change out to the new bracket.We'll go ahead and make the connection to the back of the brake controller. Again, you'll notice that there is a clip on the one side and you need to make sure that it's locked into place firmly on the back of the brake controller.We'll go ahead and use the two screws and put the brake controller up into the bracket.

Curt Brake Controller C51140 Review

Today we're going to review part number C51140. This is the Curt TriFlex Trailer Brake Controller. This is a proportional brake controller that is used to activate the trailer brakes in proportion to your vehicle's braking action. This will automatically adjust the trailer's braking based on the deceleration of the tow vehicle. It does activate immediately, so there's no pausing like with some of the time-delay brake controllers. It does include an automatic leveling sensor, it's an internal sensor, which will detect deceleration even if the controller's not mounted flat.

Curt Brake Controller C51130 Review

Today we're going to review part number C51130. This is the Curt Reflex Trailer Brake Controller. This is a proportional designed brake controller which will activate your trailer brakes in proportion to your vehicle's braking action. It will automatically adjust the trailer's braking based on the deceleration of the tow vehicle. This does activate immediately so there's no pausing like with some of the time delay brake controllers. It does contain an automatic leveling ability.

Curt Brake Controller C51120 Review

Today we're going to take a look at the Curt Discovery Trailer Brake Controller number C51120. This time delayed brake controller activates trailer brakes with a preset intensity. The signal is sent to the trailer brakes when the tow vehicle's brakes are activated.It has an adjustable thumb wheel power output that allows you to determine the amount of breaking force you would set to the maximum when you travel through a more hilly terrain with a fully loaded trailer and you would back off the power output when you're towing a smaller more lightweight trailer.It also features a sink switch here on the side. It allows you to adjust the aggressiveness of the brakes. If you want it full power in this position right here. It will increase the activation speed of the brakes and you would move it back in the opposite direction to achieve a smoother braking by supplying the power more gradually.