Replacing Factory Brake Controller with Max Brake

[RVTRKN]

I wasn't aware of the technical info, thanks Bob.

 

[AfterBurner]

are you useing the transmission at all? as you come to a stop or just useing the brakes ? I've never had to set mine on 10 but then again I use the trans to slow me down first . ??? how are you slowing down ?

I guess you've never had to stop a HEAVY load in a hurry, or even a light load on slick roads? If you have, you would completely understand that no matter how well your truck can slow down (be it transmission or brakes) if the trailer brake controller doesn't apply your trailer brakes correctly your going to end up sideways with a trailer nose in your back seat.



My truck does awesome slowing down the rig with the engine brake, but you don't always have the luxury of time to reduce speed this way, and that's where a good brake controller can save your butt.



Also, I have electric over hydraulic and the owners manual specifically states that the oem controller is not designed for these trailer brakes. After a year (26k miles) of frustrated braking with the oem one set at 10, I found a solution with the MaxBrake.



If the factory controller works for you, that's great. But not everyone has had good results and the MaxBrake is a great alternative/improvement to the oem controller.

 

[Simplysmn]

I guess you've never had to stop a HEAVY load in a hurry, or even a light load on slick roads? If you have, you would completely understand that no matter how well your truck can slow down (be it transmission or brakes) if the trailer brake controller doesn't apply your trailer brakes correctly your going to end up sideways with a trailer nose in your back seat.



My truck does awesome slowing down the rig with the engine brake, but you don't always have the luxury of time to reduce speed this way, and that's where a good brake controller can save your butt.



Also, I have electric over hydraulic and the owners manual specifically states that the oem controller is not designed for these trailer brakes. After a year (26k miles) of frustrated braking with the oem one set at 10, I found a solution with the MaxBrake.



If the factory controller works for you, that's great. But not everyone has had good results and the MaxBrake is a great alternative/improvement to the oem controller.

Yes I have had to stop in a hurry and I guess so far I have been lucky enough to beable to stop truck n trailer without anything happening Yes I agree the stock controller isn't for everyone but we also need to remember that it's not the worst out there either .

 

[TWood]

well I would say there is something wrong with the brake controller I have never had to have mine on higher then 4 or 5 max

I don't know how heavy you tow but I have found that up to about 9000 lbs the factory unit works about as good as my tekonsha p3 ihad in my 06. Any weight over that and the factory controller gets worse as the weight increases. at least the tekonsha was consistant. It workrd pretty much the same no matter how much weight you are towing. I have used the factory controller towing about 7500 lbs and I had it set at 5. 5 and it worked fairly well then I hooked it up to my fiver and i could not set it high enough. I am seriously considering the maxbrake

 

[Simplysmn]

the heavestI have hauled is 17,000 on a 3 axle 40 ft trailer and it did great but then again it had all new brakes n everything on it fresh .

 

[HBarlow]

It is often impossible to convince someone who has never used anything but a nearly useless inertia-activated controller of the advantages of a real hydraulic over electric controller. They have learned to accept the slow down capability of the inertia controller and have never experienced anything else.

The old story, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" applies sometimes. Each to his own.

 

[WayneTurner]

Thanks everyone for the replies
To answer some questions
I had a Brakesmart on my 06 which replaced a Prodigy
The Brakesmart was awesome exactly like the Ford factory controller
I pull a toy hauler which weighs 17000 loaded
I have the Dodge controller set to max
It is such a vague feeling controller after having a Brakesmart

 

[mwilson]

I guess you've never had to stop a HEAVY load in a hurry, or even a light load on slick roads? If you have, you would completely understand that no matter how well your truck can slow down (be it transmission or brakes) if the trailer brake controller doesn't apply your trailer brakes correctly your going to end up sideways with a trailer nose in your back seat.



My truck does awesome slowing down the rig with the engine brake, but you don't always have the luxury of time to reduce speed this way, and that's where a good brake controller can save your butt.



Also, I have electric over hydraulic and the owners manual specifically states that the oem controller is not designed for these trailer brakes. After a year (26k miles) of frustrated braking with the oem one set at 10, I found a solution with the MaxBrake.



If the factory controller works for you, that's great. But not everyone has had good results and the MaxBrake is a great alternative/improvement to the oem controller.

Reading this made me remember something. .



When doing any brake adjustments on 18 wheelers that I drove and owned I ALWAYS tightened the trailer brakes a hair more than the tractor brakes.

If you did a panic stop it guaranteed that the trailer brakes came on a split second before the truck brakes so that you didn't have two problems to deal with.



The reaction characteristics of the Brake Smart would pay for itself right there.



If you have never had to get yourself out of a jack knife situation with proper trailer brake useage you simply won't understand how critical that can be.

If you cant power out of it you better have the best brake control available.



When the trailer thinks that it needs to pass you there a only a few brief seconds to save yourself... ...



My next one will be a Brake Smart, possibly this spring... .



Mike

 

[crispyboy]

From an outsiders point of view (reading all the various threads on the brake controllers) it seems that there may have been a change to the factory controller between the 2010 and 2011 models. My only correlation is the guys who complain the most seem to have 2010 trucks. Somewhere I remember reading that the 2011 models had selections to the amount of weight the truck was pulling.
I have a 2009 truck so my thoughts don't mean a lot here but I hope to get a MaxBrake sometime in the future for all the good that I have read about it. It's got to be better than my Prodigy which seems mediocre at best.

 

[RonD]

From an outsiders point of view (reading all the various threads on the brake controllers) it seems that there may have been a change to the factory controller between the 2010 and 2011 models. My only correlation is the guys who complain the most seem to have 2010 trucks. Somewhere I remember reading that the 2011 models had selections to the amount of weight the truck was pulling.

I have a 2009 truck so my thoughts don't mean a lot here but I hope to get a MaxBrake sometime in the future for all the good that I have read about it. It's got to be better than my Prodigy which seems mediocre at best.

I think the change was from 2011 to 2012, I know the 12 is not like the 11, the 10 I don't know. The 12 factory brake control works better than the Prodigy I had in my 05, does it work as well as the Max-Brake?, I doubt it, but is fine for me. If you could install a Max-Brake controller where the factory controller is, and if it would blend into the factory system I might install one, but another box screwed to the dash isn't what I want in this truck.

 

[Slow Six]

I had the Max Brake on my 03 and I was very impressed. I even had fittings shipped from Plug It Right (really good people) so I could install it in my new 2012. After reading some posts on here about the 2012 I opted to try it. As of now I am not going to change it out. The factory controller works very good. You do have to change settings on the dash display for one of four different brake set ups. I've only used it on my Mobile Suites which has EOH brakes and weighs in at close to 19,000 lbs. There are to many other features and integration factors that I would miss if I were to remove it. I will be leaving for 3 months of Rving in about ten days. I will know a lot more about it than. I will be taking my Max Brake along probably to sell.

 

[AfterBurner]

From an outsiders point of view (reading all the various threads on the brake controllers) it seems that there may have been a change to the factory controller between the 2010 and 2011 models. My only correlation is the guys who complain the most seem to have 2010 trucks. Somewhere I remember reading that the 2011 models had selections to the amount of weight the truck was pulling.

I have a 2009 truck so my thoughts don't mean a lot here but I hope to get a MaxBrake sometime in the future for all the good that I have read about it. It's got to be better than my Prodigy which seems mediocre at best.

There was some change between the 2011 and 2012 controllers, as the new controller does work on elec/hydr brakes, according to the manual. As to what exactly was changed I don't know.

 

[JWGreen]

I just received an email from the Airstream factory offering the DirecLink trailer brake controller. This thread has discussed the MaxBrake controller but not the DirecLink that is also offered by Southwest Wheel in Dallas. The DirecLink website describes it as connecting with the truck's computer network for trailer braking actuation. They also offer offer a separate actuator for the trailer for hydraulic trailer brakes, both drum & disc. I've towed a 34 ft. Airstream triple axle trailer (10k lbs. ) for over 50k miles with my 2005 Ram 3500 and Prodigy controller and never experienced ANY trailer braking problems problems. The old truck also had the PacBrake PRXB exhaust brake which worked flawlessly. I'm now using the OEM factory installed controller on my 2011 Ram 3500 4X4, DRW, crewcab longbed. Have only towed the same trailer less than 2K but I can't tell it's any worse than the Prodigy on my old truck. My trailer has electric drum brakes. Comments?

 

[HBarlow]

The Voyager brake controller you are accustomed to is an inertia-activated controller meaning it relies upon the truck to create deceleration first which it senses to create trailer braking. That's a mediocre compromise design but very common and popular among many.

The new Ram OEM controller is also inertia-activated so it is not likely to perform any worse than the Voyager. It is probably about the same but has the advantage of being factory OEM with a built-in finished look.

The DirectLink offered by Airstreaam is the same. It is also inertia-activated. The DirectLink controller uses a lot of fancy sounding rhetoric to make its product sound like more than it is. My advice is tell the folks in Jackson Center thanks but no thanks.

If you ever want a real brake controller that uses hydraulic brake line pressure created by the driver's foot input to provide perfectly controlled, precisely modulated trailer braking totally matched to the truck's braking, buy a MaxBrake. It is the best brake controller that money can currently buy in the market place.

 

[RVTRKN]

I have a question on the Parking Brake feature of the Brakesmart controller, I had it show up when I first got it and have never seen it since. I had to reset the controller when it happened, when I contacted the seller/builder of them in 08, they told me it didn't exsist, but I know what I saw (parking brake) and it activated my trailer brakes, thats why I looked down and noticed it on the display, but I've never been able to set them again.

 

[JMetzger]

RVTRKN, You are right, it is there. Go to maxbrake.com & at the top where it says How It Works click on that then about half way down on left side click on Brochure & in the brochure on page 3 it is titled Max Brake Temporary Parking Brake Feature. You have to watch the brochure as page 2 is on the left side & page 3 is on the right side next page down but it is there.

HARVEY, when you were pulling trailers did you have to change the gain on your Smart Brake with the different trailers?

 

[JMetzger]

Harvey Sorry about that I meant Brake Smart, getting old is not for sissy's.

 

[HBarlow]

Jack,

No, I've never had to change the settings for pulling different trailers except, when I pulled my own light tandem flatbed with no load and brakes only on one axle. It would lock the trailer brakes on that one. All conventional travel trailers, fifthwheels, of varying weights were okay.

 

[JMetzger]

Harvey thanks, I was just wondering if you had to make changes.

 

[HBarlow]

I've never seen anything on my BrakeSmart about a parking brake capability but it would be a big mistake to use trailer brakes as a parking brake.

The high current draw of electric magnet brakes will burn out the brake magnets and run down the truck batteries.