That must have been one heck of a bump Russell, to shear two of those bolts! Did it cause any handling problems during the event?
I have been fortunate in that I have never experienced the bump in the 6 years that I have had my Hensley. I have used a Prodigy controller all that time though, so that may be part of the reason. I did try that other controller for a short time but didn't care for the feel of it. I hope you find it is a fault of the truck and not the controller itself.
Barney
2004 Sunnybrook Titan 30FKS TT
Hensley "Arrow" 1400# hitch
2002 Ford F250 Super Duty, 7.3L PSD Visit our website here
BarneyS wrote: That must have been one heck of a bump Russell, to shear two of those bolts! Did it cause any handling problems during the event?
I have been fortunate in that I have never experienced the bump in the 6 years that I have had my Hensley. I have used a Prodigy controller all that time though, so that may be part of the reason. I did try that other controller for a short time but didn't care for the feel of it. I hope you find it is a fault of the truck and not the controller itself.
Barney
I was less than 1 mile from the park when I had to E-stop.
I did not notice the problem until I was unhitching. Luckily, I carry spare shear bolts.
I only had the "bump" once or twice with the Suburban with BrakeSmart. I towed over 60K miles with that lash-up.
I've already had a half dozen bumps with the new truck in 1500 miles.
I only had shear bolt breakage twice with the Suburban. Both were very sharp left turns in a turn around at the same place in a State Park that we've been to 10 times. I had numerous E-stops with the Suburban. I never had a shear bolt failure in an E-stop until last week with the new truck.
Russell '12 GMC Sierra 3500HD Duramax Z71 '13 Excel Winslow 34IKE
-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?...
I took my truck with trailer to my local GMC service center. A service tech, that is an experienced RVer, took a test drive with my truck and trailer. After multiple gain adjustments, we agreed that 8.0 felt best and most secure.
We then hitched my trailer to a new 2012 GMC Sierra 2500HD CC SB Duramax which is similar to my truck, except mine is a 3500 and has the Z71 package. We took it out on the same route and performed the same tests. It too had the best braking with my trailer with the gain set at 8.0.
I do not know why, but the brake pedal felt "mushier" and had more travel than my 3500.
The braking response with both GM trucks with the ITBC were similar, but not as smooth as my previous BrakeSmart controller. The GM ITBC only has gain adjustment. The BrakeSmart provided additional adjustments like initial brake constant and power factor, in addition to gain.
The tech felt that I had become accustom to a more customizable controller. The GM controller is acceptable to most people. He could not explain delay I observed with the brake pedal vs manual lever when stationary. The system is hydraulic brake fluid pressure based. He felt that additional motion sensors do not activate immediate signal to brakes if stationary. He has not had to repair an ITBC before.
They offered to disable the ITBC and install the brake controller of my choice at no charge. I will play with the current system and decide if I think I'd be better off with a different controller. Too bad BrakeSmart is no longer being produced. That would be my first choice.
A friend performed the same test with his GM truck with ITBC and had the same result. When the trailer wheels are off the ground and spinning, the manual controller works instantly and a 2-3 second delay when the brake pedal is depressed.
The service manager and techs at Classic GMC of Carrollton treated me with respect and Were very friendly and helpful.
My conclusion: The ITBC in my truck functions as designed. It is good enough to make most people happy. GM could take a lesson from BrakeSmart and increase the available adjustments and improve their ITBC. They also should provide better information to the consumer of how their current product functions. Even the techs are in the dark.
Did it cause any handling problems during the event? 
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