Brakes won’t lock at full gain

**Gronk1** · 06-05-2021, 01:31 PM

The brakes will adjust rolling forward. The brakes on my Solitude were junk 'cause delivery was to Northern California & delivery dudes use trailer brakes pretty much exclusively.
When I pulled mine down for a bearing repack after the first year, the brake adjuster in two fell out, lining in one was in pieces. I ordered new Dexter auto adjust for all four & now my trailer stops MUCH better. And yes, you do need to adjust initially and break them in.
If under warranty have your dealer tear them down for an inspection, or do it under a shade tree if you don't want to wait for the dealer.
If I ever buy a new trailer (hope not), a brake inspection will be part of the PDI

**DECelt** · 06-07-2021, 06:00 AM

I've never been able to get the trailer brakes to lock up on my 2017 Ford F-350 with integrated brake controller...not on my Heartland Bighorn and now not on my Solitude. My digging around on the issue indicates that it is a rather sophisticated brake controller that doesn't apply full power at low speed (or something like that).

**LV Naturist** · 06-07-2021, 12:24 PM

This may be apples to oranges, but I've never been able to lock the brakes on my Momentum on dry pavement. During a trailer brake test, they will stop the truck, so I know they are working. One point I'll throw out here is it is best practice to balance the brakes between the truck and trailer. What I mean by this is the gain should be set to the "sweet spot" where the truck is stopping the truck and the trailer is stopping the trailer. If when you apply the brakes, you feel the trailer pulling back on the truck, back off the gain slightly. Conversely, if you feel like the trailer is pushing against the truck, add a bit of gain. The reason for this is proper balance allows the truck and trailer brakes to work in unison. Too much trailer braking (stopping the truck) can lead to trailer brake fade, especially on a downgrade. This can be dangerous in that if your trailer brakes fade due to overheating, your truck's brakes are now doing all the work. Balancing the brakes helps prevent this.

John