New 2600RB delivered today, yaay. Super weak brakes, boooo.

[Ynot4me2]

UPDATE: Mobile techs came out and pulled off all drums. There was no grease splattered about the drums, which was a good thing. However, it appears the shoes were never properly burnished. The centers of the shoes were completely glazed and the edges of the shoes showed to be in like-new condition. Technician said it looked like they'd been badly overheated. I reckon @Gronk1 is correct that transport was using the trailer brakes on the descents around ABQ and PHX. Anyways, they re-surfaced the shoes and cleaned up the drums. I'm heading out tomorrow to find some country roads where I can re-burnish the shoes per the Lippert manual. I'm hoping to get a good mating of the surfaces after several heat cycles.

The other thing they noticed was that my brake controller will put out 14v when set to max boost and actuated via the lever, but only about 3-4 volts when the brake pedal is depressed with the truck parked. But I think this is by design with a proportional brake controller. If the internal gyro isn't sensing decelerating force, it won't put out full voltage, right? At least this is my understanding of how these things work (Tekonsha P3).

Also, the factory left one of the four dust caps off. I only have three dust caps. That's annoying.

Please post back.
I've adjusted my brakes but they're still not great. I'm now suspecting that my brakes have the same issue as yours did. I also remember reading on here a little over a year ago that a member replaced the brake wire that goes through the axle from the street side to the curb side to a larger gauge. And that made all the difference. I was waiting to do my bearings to do a real full investigation. Not like what the dealer did.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[uwskier]

Another UPDATE: I got out today to burnish in the resurfaced brakes and am happy to report that after several heat cycles, I have them to the point that if my gain is set above 8 and I actuate them with a full lever press, I'll lock up and smoke a tire or two. I can't lock up all 4 going down the road on asphalt, but they're head and shoulders better than they were. They're to the point I feel safe using them.

I burnished them using a combination of the two procedures in this video. My temp gun was showing slightly uneven heating with two above 500F and two around 300F. They were smokin like mad. I had other vehicles honking and flashing their lights at me to let me know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9HDloz9fq8

[Buckskin]

One quick and easy check requires two people. Jack up camper one side at a time so that wheels barely clear ground. Then connect just wiring connector from camper to truck and have someone apply brakes and check to see if brakes are working on each wheel. Not sure if camper needs to be ground to truck as when it is hitched; maybe someone in forum knows.
I adjust my brakes as you did several times a year so that they barely drag when tightening with star wheel on each hub. Also do yearly repack and inspection. Learned hard way the best time to repack wheel bearings is when it is warm outside; grease moves more freely when warm using hand grease packer and also to easier remove old grease. Therefore if you have choice repack in summer time.

[kamakazi98]

We purchased our new 2022 2600RB out of state and it was delivered to my house today. We'd done a full inspection on the lot at the dealership, but didn't tow it obviously. It made a pretty long trek to get to our house in Arizona and arrived this morning. I got right to work installing my ProPride hitch and setting up for the first tow (around the block). I have a Tekonsha P3, which I know works since I towed a rental RV with it a few weeks ago and had great braking.

On our new trailer, it doesn't matter if I set the gain to 5 or MAX, the braking force if I actuate via the controller is the same (weak). I did install a 7 pin extension to work with the ProPride, but I've verified I'm getting 14v max to the brake output on the extension so I don't think it's a supply problem. I didn't go further back with the multimeter since I couldn't see a way to get a probe into the sealed blue wire junction inside the junction box.

I jacked up each wheel and gave the star adjuster on each a few spins until I felt a bit of drag on each wheel, but that also doesn't seem to have helped. Haven't pulled off a hub yet to see if Lippert over-greased the axles (I'm reading that is a problem that was supposedly addressed back in 2017 already).

Any thoughts? Yeah, I could pull it to the nearest dealer for warranty, but I don't feel like towing it without working brakes... The transport driver said he didn't notice the brakes not working, but he was driving a 3500 Dually Duramax, so "he couldn't even tell it was back there" for realsies.

I've never worked with drum brakes before. My 2001 Malibu boat trailer has disc brakes... kinda wish my new TT did too (it's on the wish list).

We had the exact same issue with our 321BH. I contacted the dealer and they told me sometimes it takes a few hundred miles for the brakes to start really grabbing. I wanted to call BS but they wouldn’t touch them until I had a few more miles on the trailer. Low and behold they were right. After I got about 200-3”” miles the brakes grabbed like crazy. I ended up having to turn my gain down from 10 to 2 just so it wouldn’t pull the truck so hard when I brakes. Hopefully your solution is that simple too. Congrats on the new trailer too.

[mbergthold]

We've had our 2021 2500 out 3x, 2 10 mile RTs and a 140 miler, windy road. OEM brakes worked ok, but I want to convert to disc brakes. Everyone who posts a conversion story says it's like night and day. RoadArmor, X-Factor Crossmember, and disc brakes - that will raise my confidence level.

[Sharie]

Every one has given great advise on checking the brakes on the trailer. But here is something a friend experienced with his breaking issues if everything checks out. It was his truck! His system did an update and the tech had to go into settings on the radio and change if from like light breaking to heavy breaking. He pulled his FW from Florida to SC with no issues and noticed the breaks working perfectly after that!

Good luck and congrats on the new trailer!

[goducks14]

Every one has given great advise on checking the brakes on the trailer. But here is something a friend experienced with his breaking issues if everything checks out. It was his truck! His system did an update and the tech had to go into settings on the radio and change if from like light breaking to heavy breaking. He pulled his FW from Florida to SC with no issues and noticed the breaks working perfectly after that!

Good luck and congrats on the new trailer!

Thats how I change the settings on my Ram. You don't need a tech for that.
Also with a Ram TBC you can't lock up the brakes manually. Not sure how GM products work. The common way to set your TT brakes is to set the TBC to 10 then drive 20-25 mph and squeeze the manually TBC tabs. If the brakes lock then repeat at a lower setting until the brakes almost lock. On a Ram you can't do that since the software in Rams won't allow the trailer brakes to lock at low speeds manually. They will lock using the brake pedal though if you push it hard and fast like a panic stop.

[Johnrb]

We purchased our new 2022 2600RB out of state and it was delivered to my house today. We'd done a full inspection on the lot at the dealership, but didn't tow it obviously. It made a pretty long trek to get to our house in Arizona and arrived this morning. I got right to work installing my ProPride hitch and setting up for the first tow (around the block). I have a Tekonsha P3, which I know works since I towed a rental RV with it a few weeks ago and had great braking.

On our new trailer, it doesn't matter if I set the gain to 5 or MAX, the braking force if I actuate via the controller is the same (weak). I did install a 7 pin extension to work with the ProPride, but I've verified I'm getting 14v max to the brake output on the extension so I don't think it's a supply problem. I didn't go further back with the multimeter since I couldn't see a way to get a probe into the sealed blue wire junction inside the junction box.

I jacked up each wheel and gave the star adjuster on each a few spins until I felt a bit of drag on each wheel, but that also doesn't seem to have helped. Haven't pulled off a hub yet to see if Lippert over-greased the axles (I'm reading that is a problem that was supposedly addressed back in 2017 already).

Any thoughts? Yeah, I could pull it to the nearest dealer for warranty, but I don't feel like towing it without working brakes... The transport driver said he didn't notice the brakes not working, but he was driving a 3500 Dually Duramax, so "he couldn't even tell it was back there" for realsies.

I've never worked with drum brakes before. My 2001 Malibu boat trailer has disc brakes... kinda wish my new TT did too (it's on the wish list).

Congrats on the new rig. I'll tell you about my experience with drum brakes on my 303RLS. They really never worked very good and there have been many problems including shorted wiring from being run inside the axle tube and shorted magnets, grease contamination, and bad grease that turned to liquid when warm (came this way from Lippert in new hub/drums). I finally tried Lucas Red n Tacky grease which has worked very well for me. I could never lock-up the brakes even on the max setting. The last set were the self-adjusting which were just OK and upon inspection I found contamination. I think there has been some grease contamination every time I've inspected them. I have been told by trailer repair shops the self-adjusting do not work well. I've also been told that Dexter double lip seals are good ones.

Checking the open circuit voltage is OK but doesn't tell anything about performance with load. One way to test is to measure the amps. There should be 15-16 amps on max setting with two axles. Your P3 controller has diagnostics that will indicate the amps.

After years of problems I finally gave up and got the disc brakes. With the Tekonsha P3 set on Boost 3 and level at 7.5, it's literally like the trailer is not even there.

So, good luck with your brakes. Be sure to set the boost on your P3 per the instructions. With the drum brakes, I set mine on B2. It does seem that some people have drum brakes that work well.

[llr2800]

I didn't read everything so this may have been suggested already.

Hook the trailer up to the truck but not plugged in, pull the emergency breakaway connector. Try to move the trailer, if it moves freely it is a trailer issue, if it moved hard or skids it the truck or connectors and wires before it ties in with the breakaway. Don't forget to but the breakaway back in or it will drain the battery and possibly damage the brakes.

The 14v reading sounds a little high and I assume with no load. Any less then perfect connection can cause a large drop under load

[Havasutom]

Johnrb really really hit the nail on the head. The amperage draw is a better indicator of your braking power than the voltage alone. I’m new to this forum but have been pulling trailers for work and play for over 45 years. As a retired master electrician it is still amazing to me how little attention is paid to the wiring of the brakes on travel trailers. An aftermarket brake controller also needs to be within specifications for level when installed to work properly. I’m picking up my new Imagine 2970RL on the 16th and the brakes will be the first thing I inspect. Good luck with your new trailer and be safe out there.