Trailer brakes not working

[bobm6996]

I have a 16' tandem axle Gator trailer that the brakes have quit working. It is only two years old, I have cleaned the connections on the truck and trailer. All lights work fine and the truck system recognizes the trailer is attached. Any thoughts on what I should be checking to find the problem?

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have a 16' tandem axle Gator trailer that the brakes have quit working. It is only two years old, I have cleaned the connections on the truck and trailer. All lights work fine and the truck system recognizes the trailer is attached. Any thoughts on what I should be checking to find the problem?

Are the brakes themselves adjusted? Per Dexter you must adjust the brakes every 3000 miles max. They are not self adjusting like the ones on a car.

Chris

 

[Bird]

Have you checked at a wheel to see if electrical power is getting all the way back there? I've seen on instance in which a wire got crimped; didn't even break the insulation, but broke the wire inside the insulation, and then no trailer brakes. I've seen another one where a wire run inside a hollow axle tube rubbed off the insulation and shorted out, but that was a much older trailer.

 

[DJ54]

Whenever I do my pre-trip walk around inspection, and checking lights, I listen for the brakes activating, when checking the turn signals, by turning on the emergency flashers.

If I can hear them activating, and then little or no brake action, usually either a weak ground, or need adjusting.

 

[Soundguy]

99% of e-brake issues I've ever seen was bad wireing ( usually a POS butt splice or a Tap splice connector int he feed wire at the axle.. or a chaff in a dexter axle with no grommet ).. or insuficient ground.

a pair of jump cables is a good way to test ground..

 

[grnspot110]

Nearly all of the problems I've had were bad ground! ~~ grnspot

 

[Sackett2]

usually bad wiring (and ground) but recently my controller went bad. started with no brake activation with the pedal, but the manual override worked. this told me there was no issue with the trailer and the control wire. looked at the activation wire but saw no problem.
Well, when the controller light went out and I still had power and ground; that solved that issue.....

 

[Diamondpilot]

Any progress?

Chris

 

[bobm6996]

Thanks for all of the suggested troubleshooting ideas. Plan to take a look today or tomorrow. Will update after the inspection and testing. Thanks to all for responding