Hello fellow Maritimer! I have a 2021 22 MLE and a 2021 Ford F-150 supercrew 3.5 L V 6 Ecoboost with 3.55 rear axel. I have my gain set to 5. I took it to a parking and had a friend watch my trailer wheels as I stopped. If they lock up, I was told to put the gain at one less. So if they lock up at 6, put the gain to 5. We experimented in a parking lot for both of our trailers and found the correct gain. My dealer told me I had to work in the new trailer brakes so I went for a few drives and slightly engaged the trailer brakes. I’ll look forward to more videos from your channel. By the way, I’m originally from PEI. 🙂
And...when you are driving in the dark, you have less awareness of your surroundings. That's part of the reason why I totaled my camper-- I just was not aware I was going downhill. It was a long slow gentle downhill-- 5 miles long--! But when I let off the gas when the trailer started to sway it didn't slow down because of going downhill. Enjoyed your video!
This is definitely one of the best explanations I've seen for how to tune your trailer brake gain to to your tow vehicle. Everybody talks about it but nobody really explains the correlation (as you have done) between braking with the pedal and the trailer brake gain. Thank you!
Thank you very informative. We are newbies to camping with trailer - we camped in tents for years. We are about your age and we know nothing so this has helped tremendously. We pick up our trailer middle of next week.
Driving through Arkansas at night at 60mph a razorback hog burst out of the woods right in front of me. I've got a third party brake controller installed when I bought my trailer. Anyway, I slammed on the brakes hard. Since my truck is equipped with traction control, I only heard the trailer tires screaching as they locked up and helped slow the truck.
I just bought a 31 foot travel trailer and have a 2020 dodge ram 1500 8 cylinder engine. It came with a built-in trailer brake. Thank you for letting me know how the plus and minus work and the push thing I was thinking that if you hit the plus and minus it moved the push toggles lol. I’ll have to go through my settings on the dash and see what I am at. If I push the side bar while the truck is moving is that a good way to make sure my trailer is breaking? But I think I’ll start at five. I also have a Jake brake feature.
Well, I've got my new 2020 F250 with the Godzilla 7.3 liter V8, my new East to West Alta 2800KBH (dry weight 7000#, hitch weight, say 1000#) is ready for me to be picked up and I'm getting the Ford dealership to install the factory Truck Brake Controller. After watching this video, I'm not going to take anything for granted towing this Alta. I think I'll start out with the 5.5 setting and work from there. I agree with the nighttime driving. I had an RV rental business for several years and I specifically prohibited driving before dawn and after dusk. I like to call it a day about 5 pm.
Thanks for watching and congrats on the new truck! I’ve been reading great things about the 7.3. Yes, the night time driving is best to avoid if at all possible.
After watching again, I have a new question: The + and - buttons increase the 'intensity' of the trailer brake when the truck brake is pushed. The 'slide paddles' on the controller apply the brakes only to the trailer, independent of pressing the truck brake pedal. Is this correct?
Thanks, good video. Getting ready to tow my cargo trailer conversion I've been working on. A little nervous. I towed it 500km home from the dealership, that went well, but that was empty. Last year I towed a Jayco RV of comparable size and weight, fully loaded with gear, to the Yukon and that went OK although the truck was riding a little low in the back. This year I had an air bag suspension lift installed to level it out. I find it hard to gauge whether my trailer brakes are adjusted appropriately or not. Hauling the cargo trailer empty, I thought everything was good until I pulled into a gas station and the trailer tires locked up on me. I guess it just takes practice. As for the craziest iffy situation I've been in Towing, last year Towing the Jayco we were going up a hill around a blind corner and there was a very large dead black bear in the middle of the opposing lane, and coming around the corner towards it was a semi. I had about 2 seconds to assess the situation and decide what to do, I just kept steady in my lane and applied mild brakes and prayed. I could not move over much due to a very steep soft shoulder, in the far morth of bc the highway is very narrow. The semi, unable to move out of the way without hitting me, chose to run over the dead bear right beside us. It did not look like he had enough clearance to safely do so, but he did and he stayed on the road. The whole ordeal was over faster than it began but had it been a smaller vehicle unable to plow through that bear, it could have been bad.
My biggest concern is towing on WET surfaces. My van weighs more than my trailer 7k to 5k and the brakes on the van could stop the 5000 lb trailer, BUT I always have enough break on the trailer to keep it from jack-knifing. Also, I have two axles with twice the traction as a lot of the newer single axle trailers. Having them properly adjusted is also important so that one or the other wheel does not grab. Mine is an aftermarket controller and allows me to also set how quickly or smoothly the trailer brakes engage. Thankfully I have never had to make a hard emergency stop. When I first started towing, I often drove too fast. Now a bit older, with over 30 years of towing experience, I drive at a much safer speed, which is also very crucial in emergency stopping. Thanks for the video. You did a well thought out presentation and you do an excellent job speaking. Thumbs up. Great tips!
Appreciated, thanks so much! It’s easy to get carried away with speed when towing. Like you say, keeping it in check can only help if quickly dealt with a bad situation. Thanks for watching.
The trailer can also start sliding if you have too much gain and it locks up well before the tow vehicle. . If in doubt between two settings, use the lower one. While a dual axle does have more lateral stability, you don't have any more stopping power (which is determined by friction of the road-tire interface). Though some only have brakes on one of the axles, which has less stopping power but more stability. All in all increasing distance and decreasing speed is the safest bet anyways.
This was very interesting and I am glad I have watched it. We have our brake set but I don’t think it is correct so now I know how to reset it to fit this new trailer. We have had an incident where we came upon a sudden stop on the highway that was not seen until we were upon it. We were going 100 Kms/hr which is not fun to come to a sudden stop. We stopped but not without skidding a bit. The brake obviously worked the way it should have but we are now towing a different trailer. Thanks again for the video great info.
Adjustments have been made for tbc but at times (not always) truck will idle extremely high when trying to break / slow down . Any suggestions or I still haven’t found my happy tbc adjustment
i should have had a harrowing experience but was to green to realize it. after buying my Jayco from Sparks, NV, i was towing for first time back to Cali and i came back on HWY 80....nuff said
Thanks for posting that video. I have 1995 Chevy G30, that I'll be (unfortunately) be driving alone; my partner passed away 6 mos ago after his 2 year battle with cancer. We used to sometimes tow a storage trailer when going camping, so that's probably why the extra brake system was installed; I don't remember if the van came with them already installed. Anyway, I'm taking it camping and after driving it around the yard to get it ready, I noticed the brakes are very sensitive; it jerks me forward when applying the brakes. I noticed the light on the controller goes on when I applied the brake. Is it doing that because the controller is set incorrectly? Also, when the van is "heavy", should I still use the electric brakes, or are they strictly for towing, which I'm not ready for?
Very sorry to hear of the passing of your partner. I think the light comes on as an indicator that signal is going to the trailer brakes. Perhaps your gain setting is set too high, and the trailer brakes are applying stronger than the tow vehicle brakes.
Good Good video man but I have a question do the rv brakes work by only plugging in the cord to the truck ? Or is like having the brake controller all the way to 0 TIA
I lifted one of the rv wheels a couple of inches from the floor and I applied brake pedal on my truck and nothing happened but I pulled off the brake away switch corrd and it engaged the brakes that means that works (note my truck doesn't have a brake controller switch)
Thank you very much for all your information. Quick question please, Does the new F-350 or F-450 it came with *engine brake* , or optional add-on? If yes, then when some situation steep down grade hill do you prefer using engine break over trailer brake or together at same time? Appreciate & thank you very much.
Most new super dutys come with an engine brake. When I tow and am going downhill I let the engine brake work until it can't anymore then apply slight brakes to slow it down. Usually it will balance back out and the engine brake will be satisfactory again. Just things you learn as you go. You will be able to feel it and know what to do as you get along. Good luck man.
Nice video! So I’m picking up a new camper in two weeks and am planning to head to the Smoky Mountains Ntnl Park. I’ve never been to the SM Park before and I have very limited mountain driving experience. Is this a bad idea..? 😬 I did drive through the Rockies not too long ago and I was kinda terrified but I really want to see the SM Park and I thought it might be better to face my fears. But I don’t want to do anything TOO dangerous.
Glad you enjoyed! Make sure you go at your own pace. For me, I chose “simpler” trips to get comfortable with the trailer and how the truck reacted to it. They are very different experiences with and without the trailer attached.
Tow/haul mode will limit how much the transmission changes gears. It will hold a gear longer without upshifting as quickly as it typically would when not towing. It also engine brakes the truck by downshifting into higher RPMs while under pedal braking.
Question, when you were going down the hill and increased the gain, we’re you pushing the plus button or squeezing those paddles to increase the gain? Thanks, good vid.
Glad you enjoyed! I was squeezing the paddles which directly applies the electric brakes on the trailer without touching the truck brake pedal. The plus button which increases the gain increases the maximum amount of braking that will be applied on the trailer.
How does your trailer brake controller sense or detect the amount of pressure you're putting on the brake pedal? Hopefully it has a pressure sensor on the hydraulic lines for the brake system. Most modern types I do not trust and would never use. Like the pendulum type that are unreliable and totally dangerous on slippery roads.
I’m not exactly sure, but from what I’ve researched the increase in brake pressure increases the electrical voltage through the brake controller which in turn proportionally varies the power put to the trailer brakes.
@@LifeonOURtime that must be a type that I'm not familiar with if it works as good as you say it does. The last time I looked for trailer brake controllers online most of them were the pendulum type that don't apply the trailer brake simultaneously with the truck brakes. Those do not apply trailer brakes until the truck is already slowing down which is very dangerous.
My preference is to stay no slower than 8-10 mph below the posted speed limit, but driving in heavy winds might force me to drive at an even slower speed.
I know exactly how RV breaks work. And they work a hell of a lot better with the old vintage proportional trailer brake controllers that hooked up to the master cylinder! Not the garbage they're pushing on the public nowadays!
This ONLY applies to Ancient "pig type " trailers not the more modern "dog trailers". It astounds me that van and trailer manufacturers add "features" and do not unload the ball on the vehicle which is a majour brake and instability issue, and make the trailers "weight distribution sensitive". About time the industry caught up with some modern tech to negate the down fall of ALL "pig type" trailers.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Bigger In Texas [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QxTkZTLWdo4/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you, we folks that are new towing a RV need as much info as possible..!!
Hello fellow Maritimer! I have a 2021 22 MLE and a 2021 Ford F-150 supercrew 3.5 L V 6 Ecoboost with 3.55 rear axel. I have my gain set to 5. I took it to a parking and had a friend watch my trailer wheels as I stopped. If they lock up, I was told to put the gain at one less. So if they lock up at 6, put the gain to 5. We experimented in a parking lot for both of our trailers and found the correct gain. My dealer told me I had to work in the new trailer brakes so I went for a few drives and slightly engaged the trailer brakes.
I’ll look forward to more videos from your channel. By the way, I’m originally from PEI. 🙂
And...when you are driving in the dark, you have less awareness of your surroundings. That's part of the reason why I totaled my camper-- I just was not aware I was going downhill. It was a long slow gentle downhill-- 5 miles long--! But when I let off the gas when the trailer started to sway it didn't slow down because of going downhill. Enjoyed your video!
Thanks Liz. Folks, you can see all the details of Liz's experience over on her channel.
Wow! that must have been frightening!
Good video thank you.
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for the lesson. You're a good teacher.
Thank you!
This is definitely one of the best explanations I've seen for how to tune your trailer brake gain to to your tow vehicle. Everybody talks about it but nobody really explains the correlation (as you have done) between braking with the pedal and the trailer brake gain. Thank you!
Glad it was a help, thanks!
Thank you for this video. We just picked up our RV today and the tech went over this but it was confusing. Great information.
Thank you very informative. We are newbies to camping with trailer - we camped in tents for years. We are about your age and we know nothing so this has helped tremendously. We pick up our trailer middle of next week.
Congrats on the big upgrade! Hope you enjoy some of the other videos and hope they help you get more comfortable with owning a trailer.
Thanks for the info! Getting my first travel trailer soon and new to towing!
My pleasure Cody!
Thank you for sharing. This is such a great thorough explanation of the braking system.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
Driving through Arkansas at night at 60mph a razorback hog burst out of the woods right in front of me. I've got a third party brake controller installed when I bought my trailer. Anyway, I slammed on the brakes hard. Since my truck is equipped with traction control, I only heard the trailer tires screaching as they locked up and helped slow the truck.
Maybe look into 'Independent Electronic Stability Control System' (ESC) for the trailer only.
Thank you!! Great information, i am new to travel trailers and looking forward to enjoy traveling with family.
Thanks! And congrats on RV ownership. Lots to learn but it comes with research, time, and real time experience.
I just bought a 31 foot travel trailer and have a 2020 dodge ram 1500 8 cylinder engine. It came with a built-in trailer brake. Thank you for letting me know how the plus and minus work and the push thing I was thinking that if you hit the plus and minus it moved the push toggles lol. I’ll have to go through my settings on the dash and see what I am at. If I push the side bar while the truck is moving is that a good way to make sure my trailer is breaking? But I think I’ll start at five. I also have a Jake brake feature.
Thank you. I’m just learning.
Well, I've got my new 2020 F250 with the Godzilla 7.3 liter V8, my new East to West Alta 2800KBH (dry weight 7000#, hitch weight, say 1000#) is ready for me to be picked up and I'm getting the Ford dealership to install the factory Truck Brake Controller. After watching this video, I'm not going to take anything for granted towing this Alta. I think I'll start out with the 5.5 setting and work from there. I agree with the nighttime driving. I had an RV rental business for several years and I specifically prohibited driving before dawn and after dusk. I like to call it a day about 5 pm.
Thanks for watching and congrats on the new truck! I’ve been reading great things about the 7.3. Yes, the night time driving is best to avoid if at all possible.
Great tutorial, thanks!! I have the Ford system as well, so it helped.
BAYDOG Awesome!
After watching again, I have a new question: The + and - buttons increase the 'intensity' of the trailer brake when the truck brake is pushed. The 'slide paddles' on the controller apply the brakes only to the trailer, independent of pressing the truck brake pedal. Is this correct?
Thanks, good video. Getting ready to tow my cargo trailer conversion I've been working on. A little nervous. I towed it 500km home from the dealership, that went well, but that was empty. Last year I towed a Jayco RV of comparable size and weight, fully loaded with gear, to the Yukon and that went OK although the truck was riding a little low in the back. This year I had an air bag suspension lift installed to level it out. I find it hard to gauge whether my trailer brakes are adjusted appropriately or not. Hauling the cargo trailer empty, I thought everything was good until I pulled into a gas station and the trailer tires locked up on me. I guess it just takes practice. As for the craziest iffy situation I've been in Towing, last year Towing the Jayco we were going up a hill around a blind corner and there was a very large dead black bear in the middle of the opposing lane, and coming around the corner towards it was a semi. I had about 2 seconds to assess the situation and decide what to do, I just kept steady in my lane and applied mild brakes and prayed. I could not move over much due to a very steep soft shoulder, in the far morth of bc the highway is very narrow. The semi, unable to move out of the way without hitting me, chose to run over the dead bear right beside us. It did not look like he had enough clearance to safely do so, but he did and he stayed on the road. The whole ordeal was over faster than it began but had it been a smaller vehicle unable to plow through that bear, it could have been bad.
Oh my, what a terrible experience!
My biggest concern is towing on WET surfaces. My van weighs more than my trailer 7k to 5k and the brakes on the van could stop the 5000 lb trailer, BUT I always have enough break on the trailer to keep it from jack-knifing. Also, I have two axles with twice the traction as a lot of the newer single axle trailers. Having them properly adjusted is also important so that one or the other wheel does not grab. Mine is an aftermarket controller and allows me to also set how quickly or smoothly the trailer brakes engage. Thankfully I have never had to make a hard emergency stop. When I first started towing, I often drove too fast. Now a bit older, with over 30 years of towing experience, I drive at a much safer speed, which is also very crucial in emergency stopping. Thanks for the video. You did a well thought out presentation and you do an excellent job speaking. Thumbs up. Great tips!
Appreciated, thanks so much! It’s easy to get carried away with speed when towing. Like you say, keeping it in check can only help if quickly dealt with a bad situation. Thanks for watching.
The trailer can also start sliding if you have too much gain and it locks up well before the tow vehicle. . If in doubt between two settings, use the lower one.
While a dual axle does have more lateral stability, you don't have any more stopping power (which is determined by friction of the road-tire interface). Though some only have brakes on one of the axles, which has less stopping power but more stability.
All in all increasing distance and decreasing speed is the safest bet anyways.
This was very interesting and I am glad I have watched it. We have our brake set but I don’t think it is correct so now I know how to reset it to fit this new trailer. We have had an incident where we came upon a sudden stop on the highway that was not seen until we were upon it. We were going 100 Kms/hr which is not fun to come to a sudden stop. We stopped but not without skidding a bit. The brake obviously worked the way it should have but we are now towing a different trailer. Thanks again for the video great info.
Diana DeHaan Glad you enjoyed and found value in it.
This is really great information. We tow a fifth wheel and use around 6.5 gain. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
Thank you for your info
Glad you enjoyed!
Helpful video. What's your trailer length and gross weight?
Thanks! The trailer box is 28 feet, total from tip to tip is 30 feet 11 inches.
Adjustments have been made for tbc but at times (not always) truck will idle extremely high when trying to break / slow down . Any suggestions or I still haven’t found my happy tbc adjustment
Enjoyed the video.
Glad you enjoyed, thanks!
So the brakes on the trailer are being applied by the foot pedal of your vehicle? And the dashboard only is for adjustments?
Good information. We are looking forward to more videos.
Glad you're enjoying, lots more to come!
Very informative! Great video!
Thanks Dean!
Yes sir, good stuff!
i should have had a harrowing experience but was to green to realize it. after buying my Jayco from Sparks, NV, i was towing for first time back to Cali and i came back on HWY 80....nuff said
Safe travels with the new RV
We ended up going over the rockies again its very stressful if you don't know your breaking system.
Need everything in optimal shape for that trip!
Thanks for posting that video.
I have 1995 Chevy G30, that I'll be (unfortunately) be driving alone; my partner passed away 6 mos ago after his 2 year battle with cancer. We used to sometimes tow a storage trailer when going camping, so that's probably why the extra brake system was installed; I don't remember if the van came with them already installed. Anyway, I'm taking it camping and after driving it around the yard to get it ready, I noticed the brakes are very sensitive; it jerks me forward when applying the brakes. I noticed the light on the controller goes on when I applied the brake. Is it doing that because the controller is set incorrectly? Also, when the van is "heavy", should I still use the electric brakes, or are they strictly for towing, which I'm not ready for?
Very sorry to hear of the passing of your partner. I think the light comes on as an indicator that signal is going to the trailer brakes. Perhaps your gain setting is set too high, and the trailer brakes are applying stronger than the tow vehicle brakes.
Great job!!
Thanks David.
Great info. Ty sir
Thanks Michael!
Nice information 💪
Thank you.
Good Good video man but I have a question do the rv brakes work by only plugging in the cord to the truck ? Or is like having the brake controller all the way to 0 TIA
Thanks! Great question, yes the RV needs to be plugged in to put power to the braking system.
I lifted one of the rv wheels a couple of inches from the floor and I applied brake pedal on my truck and nothing happened but I pulled off the brake away switch corrd and it engaged the brakes that means that works (note my truck doesn't have a brake controller switch)
Not sure I understand the difference between trailer gain and trailer output. Can you dumb it down a little? Thanks
Thank you very much for all your information. Quick question please, Does the new F-350 or F-450 it came with *engine brake* , or optional add-on? If yes, then when some situation steep down grade hill do you prefer using engine break over trailer brake or together at same time? Appreciate & thank you very much.
I understand it’s a standard feature with them, but not 100% sure.
Most new super dutys come with an engine brake. When I tow and am going downhill I let the engine brake work until it can't anymore then apply slight brakes to slow it down. Usually it will balance back out and the engine brake will be satisfactory again. Just things you learn as you go. You will be able to feel it and know what to do as you get along. Good luck man.
@@ryanhyderh thank you very much for information. Peace. Stay healthy.
@@GlorifyLife not a problem! Likewise!
Nice video! So I’m picking up a new camper in two weeks and am planning to head to the Smoky Mountains Ntnl Park. I’ve never been to the SM Park before and I have very limited mountain driving experience. Is this a bad idea..? 😬 I did drive through the Rockies not too long ago and I was kinda terrified but I really want to see the SM Park and I thought it might be better to face my fears. But I don’t want to do anything TOO dangerous.
Glad you enjoyed! Make sure you go at your own pace. For me, I chose “simpler” trips to get comfortable with the trailer and how the truck reacted to it. They are very different experiences with and without the trailer attached.
I have a tow/haul mode on my F250. How does that interact, if at all, with the brake controller? Should it be ON when towing? What does it do?
Tow/haul mode will limit how much the transmission changes gears. It will hold a gear longer without upshifting as quickly as it typically would when not towing. It also engine brakes the truck by downshifting into higher RPMs while under pedal braking.
Question, when you were going down the hill and increased the gain, we’re you pushing the plus button or squeezing those paddles to increase the gain? Thanks, good vid.
Glad you enjoyed! I was squeezing the paddles which directly applies the electric brakes on the trailer without touching the truck brake pedal. The plus button which increases the gain increases the maximum amount of braking that will be applied on the trailer.
How does your trailer brake controller sense or detect the amount of pressure you're putting on the brake pedal? Hopefully it has a pressure sensor on the hydraulic lines for the brake system.
Most modern types I do not trust and would never use. Like the pendulum type that are unreliable and totally dangerous on slippery roads.
I’m not exactly sure, but from what I’ve researched the increase in brake pressure increases the electrical voltage through the brake controller which in turn proportionally varies the power put to the trailer brakes.
@@LifeonOURtime that must be a type that I'm not familiar with if it works as good as you say it does.
The last time I looked for trailer brake controllers online most of them were the pendulum type that don't apply the trailer brake simultaneously with the truck brakes. Those do not apply trailer brakes until the truck is already slowing down which is very dangerous.
What’s wrong when your brakes start to grab?
When highway driving is it safer to do a minimum speed to avoid issues with passing trucks?
My preference is to stay no slower than 8-10 mph below the posted speed limit, but driving in heavy winds might force me to drive at an even slower speed.
If you live in USA why your speedmeter is in kms and low case in miles
Used to be backwards
I live in Nova Scotia, Canada.
I know exactly how RV breaks work. And they work a hell of a lot better with the old vintage proportional trailer brake controllers that hooked up to the master cylinder!
Not the garbage they're pushing on the public nowadays!
We have a class A but pull a toad! Likely applies to that too.
Yep, equally important.
This ONLY applies to Ancient "pig type " trailers not the more modern "dog trailers". It astounds me that van and trailer manufacturers add "features" and do not unload the ball on the vehicle which is a majour brake and instability issue, and make the trailers "weight distribution sensitive". About time the industry caught up with some modern tech to negate the down fall of ALL "pig type" trailers.
Can you turn off the idiotic irritating noise from that controller?