MaxBrake one more time.

I posted this yesterday and got two responses. Neither knew what I was talking about. I just want to know if anybody has any experience with a MaxBrake brand electric trailer brake controller? I went to their website,but it's not real friendly to dialup. I can't find a price or enough information to know if one will work on my 85 Ford pickup. They're computerized to apply the electric brakes gradually by controlling the current. I'm assuming everything is built in to the unit and just needs 12 volts of power and doesn't work off a particular trucks computer,but I wanted to know for sure.

Not sure about that one. I have a brakeforce controller. It works off of the brake light switch. When the brake light comes on it starts applying the trailer brakes. They come on with a small time delay and work okay. Backing a trailer can be a little bit of a pain in the neck though. The nice thing about it is that it doesn't have to be leveled to work.

Why didn't you provide this information in your first post post?? Armand

Mine is a Draw-Tite. Has a setting for how slow or fast it enables the trailer brakes. Also has setting for amount of power sent to brakes, does not have to be level to work. Never heard of max-brake ?? good luck

Tekonsha is what you want. There are several different models. I think Tekonsha makes them for other brands also. Don"t remember right now which model I have, but it works very smoothly.

On an 85 you can use the old type that tee into the rear brake line.

I"m using a Kelsey brake controller that plugs into the controller pigtail in my 1990 Ford F-350.

On their web site it is shown as $349.95.

It detects braking by putting a 'T' in your brake line and has some sort of quick calibration.

The pressure transducer is under the hook and only a wire comes inside the truck.

That's about all I can tell you.

RT

I was going to answer your other post but the others got off track.Borg-Warner or Steward-Warner had that same Controller 10-15 yrs ago and it was not that great.I have a Brand new one lying in the shop that I never was happy with,if you read their dealer listings, there are very few.What I believe killed the other one was upsetting the ABS system.I need a better one for one trl.has el.over Hyd. and the rest have St.El.,they have alot of hype but can't get many ans.

Never heard of 'em 'til I saw them sponsoring something on RFD TV the other day. I, too, looked at their web site, but couldn't tell much about them. My first controller was a Tekonsha (late 60s/early 70s), as mentioned by Rusty; it hooked onto the master cylinder and was activated by the pressure of the brake fluid. Had them on 3 or 4 trucks, but was never really satisfied. Finally settled on a 'Quantum' about 10 years ago; it's also computerized and works great on anything from 2,000-30,000 lb. trailers.

Make sure the one tou buy is adjustable. You don't want to look in your mirror and see a lot of smoke because your tires are sliding. Their is a big difference between a load and unloaded trailer and all of them need adjusting.

I'm with Rusty on this one. Have got them in all of my trucks. I went with the one fot triple axles and have not had any problems. But then we only adjust so the brakes come on very light when emty and then adjust according to weight

Are you saying that the brakes are on when backing as you may be at times " riding the brake"?

My Kelsey Hayes system works on an inertia system. It has an adjustable pendulum that controls the braking power to the trailer.

It is hard though to adjust, between loaded and unloaded as the power is the same all the time and if empty, the wheels will slide easier.

I think this is what rrlund is saying of his system.

To the original poster , when you said Maxi brake I was thinking you meant big truck and not a company that made trailer components for smaller trailers. This is why we were confused>

rrlund,I was wrong on my brand,It was a Kelsey Modular IV and everything appears the same as the Max Brake.The Prodigy is the best of the new units as far as following the truck brakes I have found.

Thought everybody had seen the commercials.

That's what I couldn't get to. It said "order" "add to cart" all that stuff,but it said $0.00. There was a "trifold brochure" that I clicked on. Looked like it was going to take 30 minutes to download onto Adobe Acrobat Reader. $350 is quite a chunk of change,but piling into somebody or sliding the trailer into the ditch ain't gonna be cheap either.

Most all the rv peaple I know are using the Prodigy.Mark

I put an el-cheapo on my Chevy. I did not wire it into my truck brakes. I don"t know if any of them HAVE to be wired into the truck brakes. 12 volts is pretty much 12 volts. I use it manually and can use more or less or none at all. Whatever suits me at the time. Cost about 60 dollars. TDF

Tekonsha is the standard of the industry today. They are the company that partnered with Ford to make their integral ABS trailer braking system that is an option on the new pickups.

I have pulled trailers with electric brakes since before 1980, and the older trucks without the ABS were well served by the Kelsey Hayes unit that tied into the hydraulic brake line right off the Master cylinder. I really liked the reliability and the smooth braking action. But when the ABS systems came out, that system was no longer usable with the tow vehicles. So the all electronic braking units were developed. Very few (none?) of them were as good as the Kelsey Hayes that tied into the brake fluid line. But in today's market, the Prodigy series of the Tekonsha is the leader, and the best now is the P3 model at about $140. It has an accelerometer to determine the rate of braking and adjusts the electric power to the trailer brakes accordingly, and works even while backing up. My 93 E350 van has an earlier model Tekonsha and has been trouble free for 15 years. My 2002 F350 has a Drawtite brake controller as purchased by the PO, and it is a piece of crap. It uses a timed braking function which ramps up the electric power to the trailer according to how long you have had your foot on the brake pedal. When slowing down gently, I have to keep taking my foot off the brake pedal so that it starts its timing function over again, otherwise it pulls the trailer brakes up too tightly. In a panic stop, it just does the same timing thing and doesn't do it any quicker....so the trailer is pushing the truck...likely to jack knife it.

I am about to throw away the Drawtite, it is reliable but stupid. Now that I have some experience with it, I can appreciate the Tekonsha much better, and will be ordering a new one soon.

Paul in MN

If it is not wired into your truck brake light switch circuit, it can not work automatically. And you are not sending 12 volts to your trailer brakes unless you want full lockup with all wheels skidding. If you get in an accident with your current setup, plan on the lawyers having your butt for lunch and dinner. You will be just a big slab of bacon they feast on.

Do yourself and the rest of the world a favor and do it right, or get off the road. I don't want any of my grandkids killed by your out of control truck and trailer.

Paul in MN

I have been selling and installing brake controls for over 30 years and have wholesale access to over 20 brands. I have tried several brands over the years and have had more problems with Tekonsa than all the others put together. In my opinion the Hayes XPC is the best control on the market for the money today. You can add a remote button if you want to. I have 4 trucks and I have them on all four.

I had alot of problems with them in the fleet trucks I worked on the more expensive line was better but the cheap line seemed to give up

I'm not likely to be in Minnesota so don't worry about me, Slick. TDF

I had one,MaxBrake that is, not sure of the model. burned it up.(Truck fire)Didnt get to use it by once ot tiwce, seemed OK to me, but you do know youll need more than just 12 volts right?