tow brake issue

[rbuck3451]

I own a 16 Reflection 337RLS and pull it with a 16 GMC 2500 HD DENALI....Ill try to make this as short as possible. Last spring, I made a right turn coming out of storage onto a county road to sharp and the rear end of the rv (right side) dropped into the drop off of the ditch and was damaged. I had it in 2 various rv repair shops and about six months later it was repaired. We were able to use it after my accident on short trips. On our last trip the trucks tow system would pop up and illustrate that the trailer brake was "disconnected " for a very brief time and then back to "connected".
This continued all the way back a "dinging" sound at the disconnect and then again with the connected! That alone drove us bonkers!
Fast forward to taking it in to have it repaired. The first place could not get the body parts from a dealer. I had called after a couple of weeks, then they told me that. I then took it to the GD dealer that they couldnt get the parts from anymore....50 miles away. I had to wait 2-3 weeks to get it in there and because they had issue with the parts it took 2 months to finish the deal. thats another story....I told them the trouble I was having with the tow system and that it might be because of the the damage to he right rear section. They said no problem as they would have to rewire that section anyway during the repair. Fast forward again, last fall I picked it up and was pulling it home. Everything was fine for about a mile down the interstate, and sure enough there came the same issue....ding, ding, ding the system going off and on. Of course the first thing I thought, was, to turn around and go back. But as I slowed to turn at the next exit I thought...back to them for another 2-3 months....or find an rv repair near me to figure it out. I mistaking took the latter.

So later last fall I had 2 repair men attempt to figure it out.
1. had me plug the system into the outlet above rear bumper of my truck.....still did it.
2. It would only do it while moving (Like there was a short somewhere and it would vivbrate causing it to go off and on)
3. neither of the two repair men had another 5th wheel available to see if it was the truck problem or the rv.....
4. I didnt know of anyone that had one near as we had just moved there the year before.
5. The last tech tested the rv brakes and they worked properly....
6. He notice I had thrown some wheel bearing greese and maybe it had gotten between the brake pad and the disc causing a short or a warning....
7. Anyway, 2 hours later nothing was figured out.
8. My daughter and husband had recently bought a new travel trailer and I hooked it up and drove aroung their Denver neighborhood with no DINGS or other issues...
Enter the pandemic and now thats where I'm at ....A. Do I take it back to a rv repair shop and take a hit....or have any of you fellow rvers know of such an issue?
Thanks for reading my babble....Triple Ott

[FT4NOW]

Clearly it isnt the truck. Might be worth replacing the pigtail connector, it's possible one of the contacts is worn out. First, I would check all the junctions where the pigtail connector attaches to the trailer. Could be something as simple as a loose wire. GD normally uses crimp connectors, but wire nuts for the ground wire. I would start by checking all those connections.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[rbuck3451]

We

Clearly it isnt the truck. Might be worth replacing the pigtail connector, it's possible one of the contacts is worn out. First, I would check all the junctions where the pigtail connector attaches to the trailer. Could be something as simple as a loose wire. GD normally uses crimp connectors, but wire nuts for the ground wire. I would start by checking all those connections.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

The 2 techs had replaced the plug in, wire etc and checked the king pin connections.. as well as the bow connections... I haven't checked but are most of the wires that run back to the the brakes, tail lights etc. under the chassis? Or intertwined through it?

[FT4NOW]

We

The 2 techs had replaced the plug in, wire etc and checked the king pin connections.. as well as the bow connections... I haven't checked but are most of the wires that run back to the the brakes, tail lights etc. under the chassis? Or intertwined through it?

Interesting...most are under the chassis, above the coroplast. You said you had your brakes worked on, I wonder if there is a loose connection on one of the brake wires. I also wonder if a loose connection on the brake circuit would cause the truck to think the trailer is disconnected; I dont know what the truck is looking for to determine if a trailer is connected or not.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[jkwilson]

Some GM trucks are notorious for this issue, and there has even been a TSB over it. I don’t recall the specifics of the years involved, but I believe a common solution is a particular connector that seems to work better than others. I’ll try to find the info again.

Here is one fix: https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...l=1#post159142

[rbuck3451]

Some GM trucks are notorious for this issue, and there has even been a TSB over it. I don’t recall the specifics of the years involved, but I believe a common solution is a particular connector that seems to work better than others. I’ll try to find the info again.

Here is one fix: https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...l=1#post159142

Thanks John

[Jaa267]

What you're describing sounds like a bad ground on the trailer side brake circuit to me. You should see two wires where the axle meets the back of the brake drum. I suspect a bad/loose connection there. It also could be where the grounds come together on the frame. On the big equipment trailers I haul, it's where the plug wiring meets the frame at the junction box. Pic for reference. Hope this helps!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[rbuck3451]

What you're describing sounds like a bad ground on the trailer side brake circuit to me. You should see two wires where the axle meets the back of the brake drum. I suspect a bad/loose connection there. It also could be where the grounds come together on the frame. On the big equipment trailers I haul, it's where the plug wiring meets the frame at the junction box. Pic for reference. Hope this helps!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

thankyou, I'll give it a look!