Electric Over Hydraulic Trailer Brakes Not Working with 2013 Chevy/Dodge Factory Brake Controllers
Updated 10/05/2015 | Published 10/04/2015
Question:
I have a 2013 Chevy Silverado 3500 pickup with manufacturer trailer brake Controller. IF I tow our stock trailer with electric brakes it works fine. IF I tow my Living Quarters trailer with an Hydrolic brake system the trailer brakes dont work. Is my truck not compatible with the Hydrolic system. I took the trailer to a shop and they tested the brakes and said they locked up fine. But my truck, nor my husbands 2013 dodge seems to work with the Hydrolic system.
asked by: Jene M
Helpful Expert Reply:
If the trailer has electric over hydraulic brakes then it is possible that trucks that have integrated factory brake controllers could work but at the same time they may not work or work very well. GM has said that their factory controller does not work with electric over hydraulic systems and Chrysler states that theirs only works with newer systems.
But you can still check to see if there is an electric over hydraulic mode on the factory brake controllers and if so they will need to be in that mode to function with an electric over hydraulic braking system.
If they do not have an electric over hydraulic mode then they would not work without some type of adapter. But the adapters are designed to specifically work with the actuator on the trailer. In other words a Titan adapter would not work with a Dexter actuator.
The solution then is to either convert the trailer to regular electric brakes or replace the incompatible brake controllers with one that is compatible with electric over hydraulic braking systems such as the P2, # 90885.
Bypassing the factory controller on the 2013 Chevy will be easy. I have linked a help article that explains it. It is a little more complicated on the 2013 Ram. I have included a link to a help article for it as well.
