I have the prodigy controller on my Chev and pull a 32' 5th wheel. If I turn roll the power up to max and slide the manual lever, I can lock my brakes on the trailer. If I am on pavement, I can barely move, if I am on gravel, grass or alike, I can slide the trailer with the wheels locked. I suggest you check the manual for yours and understand the adjustments on the controller. If the trailer brakes are functioning properly(magnets & shoes), you should be able to lock the brakes.
According to Dexter Brakes - no not always. It will be dependent on the brake quality, adjustment, brake controller voltage output, road surface conditions and tires.
My opinion is they should when every element is as good as it can get, they should. If they dont you never know if at max braking demand if you are getting 95% or 60% or less.
Probably the best test is get onto some semi-gravel surface and if you can lock them up, they are probably pretty close to the best you will get.
I was born in Great Falls, Mt. My parents moved when I was 5. I found them when I was 10 - they were in California.
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...
Some trailer brakes will lock under full battery voltage, and some will not.
According to Dexter Axle:
On an unloaded trailer, you may be able to lock up your brakes
if your electric brake controller is supplying full amperage to the brakes.
When loaded to capacity, you may not be able to lock your brakes
as electric brakes are designed to slow the trailer at a controlled rate,
and not designed to lock up the wheels on a fully loaded trailer.
The best bet is to read the instructions that came with your brake controller.
With a "smart" proportional controller such as the Tekonsha Prodige P2 or P3 the brakes should almost but NOT QUITE lock up at 25mph (with warm brakes). On cheap, time delay controllers it's anyone's guess.
If you don't have electric brake control built into your truck the ONLY controller I'd get is the Prodigy P2 or P3.
-- Chuck
'06 Roo 23SS behind '07 Expedition out of Cleveland Our Photo pages
Id like to see a brake controller that offers sensitivity adjustment much like that of a stereo with independent His - mids - lows adjustment.
The Low would be for slow in traffic crawling like you do so much in Pigeon Forge.
The Mid would be normal city and mild highway driving.
The High would be to apply the max output your brake system can provide. Emergency stops.
These should be individual adjustments. As they are now, when you set your braking for good stopping abiliby at highway speeds it seems to provide a little too much braking at slower speeds.
Allow the driver to tune the shape of the voltage output ramp.
wittmeba wrote: Id like to see a brake controller that offers sensitivity adjustment much like that of a stereo with independent His - mids - lows adjustment.
The Low would be for slow in traffic crawling like you do so much in Pigeon Forge.
The Mid would be normal city and mild highway driving.
The High would be to apply the max output your brake system can provide. Emergency stops.
These should be individual adjustments. As they are now, when you set your braking for good stopping abiliby at highway speeds it seems to provide a little too much braking at slower speeds.
Allow the driver to tune the shape of the voltage output ramp.
This is the 'boost' feature on my P3
Dial in it's sensitivity to which ever trailer brake system am towing
that day
There is one trailer that my P3 will NOT skid the brakes and I've super
tuned that trailer's brakes to boot
As for the various conditions, yes, none to my knowledge (to date), but
that is most likely just over the horizon, but I'm not into too much
complexity for this kind of stuff
Background in industrial controls from fractional to +10,000HP main
propulsion (ship board).
I like to keep it simple (KISS) as much as possible.
The new OEM brake controllers are so integrated, that it can setup
a counter sway in the TV to negate the one going on at the trailer
That the brake controller can hiccup and cause ABS and/or traction
control to south with no recourse...at that moment
Not for me, as know all things do age and need recalibration over time
That all things have failure modes and want to keep each circuit alone
to allow the others to do their thing in case one computer goes mad or
gets a 'bad' or 'wrong' sensory input
But my P3 is manageable in the area you speak
Set the boost for <25MPH to skid the trailer brakes, but not enough to
do so above 25MPH, but then there is a sensor that senses deceleration
that then does some simple math according to whatever DB look up tables
to adjust the amount of power to the trailer brakes
My assumption is that those look tables references the basis (the
preset boost you dialed in) that then adjusts the level of boost sent
to the trailer brakes above 25MPH factored by the rate of TV
deceleration being sensed.
There is a manual override...that manual button/lever/etc
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