Haney

I am not stuck on the side of the road, but I am 500 miles from home with no trailer brakes, so I guess this will apply.

My 2010 3500 has a built in brake controller. I FRIED my truck's front brakes on I-95 today. The trailer brakes will hit hard if you are going and mash the paddle on the controller, but using the brake pedal, they do not work. When I am moving and not applying the brakes, I can look down and see the setting on the brake controller, say 9.0. If I press the brake pedal, the read out on the controller displays "0" and no display in the center. It goes back to 9.0 after you let up the brake pedal. If I manually slide the paddle on the controller, I get a normal varrying number on the controller and a increasing bar on the trailer display in the middle. I can also feel the trailer slowing.

What is wrong here? I literally lost my brakes on the truck today becasue they got so hot, then I figured out what was going on and manually used the paddle in traffic and thank goodness for a great tow/haul auto tranny and exhaust brake.

Is there an adjustment for this controller? if not, can I put in a Prodigy and bypass the factory unit? I will be starting home Saturday and can't drive that far again without working RV brakes. It is hard to stop a 15K lb 5er without trailer brakes. Can somone please help?

Thanks,

6.7L MegaCab

Haney, you aren't the first to have this very same problem. I always thought my brakes weren't adjusted properly, but would work flawlessly with the slider, then I read about others having the same results. The brake lights come on, why wouldn't the brakes work?

I would file a report with the NTSB and take it to the dealer. It is a major safety issue which probably has to do with a faulty TIPM, something Chrysler has not and will not acknowledge. There is currently a class action lawsuit going on that addresses the TIPM, but the last time I checked none of the trucks were included. I have been having problems with my TIPM for a couple years now, but it's been more of a nuisance and a simple clearing of the codes would resolve the communication issues...though the trailer still won't work right.

To get back on topic, since your truck came with the controller you may or may not have the pigtail that plugs into one of the plugs that is plugged into the controller. If you don't have it, get one online or from the dealer so you don't have to splice into the factory harness.

I would have the dealer troubleshoot it once you have the trailer home and file a safety report with the NTSB.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

6.7L MegaCab

Update to this:

I started having serious issues with my controller without a trailer connected about a month ago. It kept saying trailer disconnected and causing other communication issues. I disconnected it and the only nuisance warning I get on the EVIC is a warning to service the brake controller. I can turn it off with my AutoEnginuity Scan tool, but haven't got around to it.

So what I said before that you can run aftermarket still applies, but you will have to have the factory controller turned off in the TIPM so you don't get the nuisance warning.