trailer brakes locking up

[OBRYANMAINT]

new tandem trailer w/ brakes plug them into the truck same as previous trailer.........when the brakes are applied the trailer brakes tend to lock up even with a load on the trailer.......small adjuster on side or brake controller in truck does not help..........controller bad?another adjustment i do not know about?

[John DiMartino]

It sounds like your gain is still to high,or the adjustment for level is off on the controller.Did the brakes work good on the old trailer?if they were worn or out of adjustment-they might have not been at 100%,and you wouldnt notice the controller being set to tight,or not level.To be sure-hook the trailer to another truck-if you have one-its proabaly just an adjustment on the controller.I have 2 knobs on mine,I never touch the level adjustment-only the strenth-when empty turn it down,when loaded,crank it up.If the level adjustment is off,the controller will give you hard braking,even when your just gently stopping,and lock the brakes easy.If you compensate for that by turning down the gain,then under hard braking you wont have full strenth of trailer brakes,and you might not be able to stop in a panic stop situation.Good luck

[Eric ELM]

The brake controls I have had have 2 adjustments. The one on the right side is for the pendulum type adjuster that adjusts how much forward thrust to apply the brakes. The one on the left is for the amount of brake pressure. It also has a slide switch for 3 types of loads, from light to heavy loads.

I have seen some guys think they are mounting knobs, so check it again. :)