TRAILER BRAKES LOCKING UP

[texlacat]

Last time out my trailer brakes locked up on me preventing me from backing trailer into water to load boat. Eventually got them to relax long enough to load up boat and back into my shop. I don’t want to go back out again until I know this issue is resolved. What could be the culprit…low fluid? If there is anything else to check please let me know. Boat is a 2017 Eyra/tandem trailer. Thanks.

Tony D

[Chuck Bumpilori]

Your trailer lights and trailer brakes plugged in your vehicle? If not the brake solenoid “will not” release backing up.

[JEH in La]

Texlacat there are two things that you need to know.  There is a “solenoid” that activates when your vehicle is in reverse. That solenoid pulls in and prevents the brake fluid from going to your calipers and activating the brakes.  Like Chuck says ” you have to have your trailer lights hooked up for this to work”. That is elementary, so there could be a failure of the solenoid or a failure of your truck applying +12VDC to the solenoid.  You could have a fuse in the truck for your back up lights that failed.  Other than that you might have pinched the BLUE wire in the fold out trailer tongue and damaged it too.
Next, there is a small device designed to fit into the slot of the trailer tongue that allows you to back up, bypassing the solenoid system all together.  BCB supplies one with each boat purchased. If you don’t have one, just google it up and you’ll find several devices designed for this. Keep it with you in case this ever happens to you again.

This info should get your problem solved with a little trouble shooting. Good luck and it’s something simple I would suspect (not the solenoid).

[texlacat]

Thanks guys. Yes my trailer lights were plugged in. I did take the plug out and replace it several times to make sure it had a good connection so that part is covered. I will try my reverse lights when hooked to my boat trailer to insure that is working properly. I haven’t folded the tongue of the trailer in a while so I don’t think it is that. I will look for that “key” as I am sure I have it in my bag that came with the boat. Could there be a fluid level issue? Just trying to take into consideration all possible reasons for this to happen. I am not very mechanically inclined so if it is more than this I guess it will go to the shop for repair. Thanks again. Tony D

[JEH in La]

texlacat:

Thanks guys. Yes my trailer lights were plugged in. I did take the plug out and replace it several times to make sure it had a good connection so that part is covered. I will try my reverse lights when hooked to my boat trailer to insure that is working properly. I haven’t folded the tongue of the trailer in a while so I don’t think it is that. I will look for that “key” as I am sure I have it in my bag that came with the boat. Could there be a fluid level issue? Just trying to take into consideration all possible reasons for this to happen. I am not very mechanically inclined so if it is more than this I guess it will go to the shop for repair. Thanks again. Tony D

I don’t see how it could be a fluid issue. When it won’t back up it is because the brakes are being applied when they shouldn’t be. The solenoid has to be “activated” to prevent the brakes from being applied while in reverse.  When you shift into reverse your truck will supply the voltage to “activate” the solenoid.  The solenoid has to have a good “ground” in order to operate too so it is possible to have voltage to the solenoid and it not work because of a bad “ground”.  You might want to check that the solenoid case is properly grounded (you will need a volt meter to do this).

Put the truck into reverse and see if your “reverse lights” are working to determine if the truck is supplying the voltage to the lights.  If this is the case, then for some reason the solenoid is not “activating” due to bad ground, bad wire, or bad solenoid. It will just take a little troubleshooting.

 

[texlacat]

Thanks for the explanation JEH, as I said before I am not mechanically inclined and didn’t fully understand how they worked. The reverse lights on the trailer are not coming on when I put my truck in reverse. I checked all my fuses in my truck and they all appear to be good. So at this point it goes to the boat shop because it has to be a solenoid, pigtail from the boat, or connection on my truck side issue?

[Bass Cat Boats]

Good assistance was offered here,:

check that the emergency brake cable is not pulled… we see a lot of that

hit the release tab under the coupler and be sure it’s (cable)

not locked in a tension spot.

check fuses

broken wire (blue)

Bad solenoid

lock out key for backing up in event of failure

No or low fluid would allow you to back up.

[JEH in La]

texlacat:

Thanks for the explanation JEH, as I said before I am not mechanically inclined and didn’t fully understand how they worked. The reverse lights on the trailer are not coming on when I put my truck in reverse. I checked all my fuses in my truck and they all appear to be good. So at this point it goes to the boat shop because it has to be a solenoid, pigtail from the boat, or connection on my truck side issue?

Good advice from BCB above so check that cable and reset the tab under the tongue.

Before you take it in I would at least do a “visual inspection” by swinging open your tongue to look for something obvious going on with the “blue wire”.  When I looked at mine after owning it a year I noticed that my blue wire connection in the tongue was hanging on by a couple of strands so I had to re-do the connection.  You just never know how simple this might be. When you finally get it solved, let us know what it was.

[oldtimer57]

Test this sequentially, rather than haphazardly trying different things.  It will save you time and confusion as well as letting you avoid repetitive testing.

 

(1)  Get a helper.  Have them sitting in your truck with the ignition turned on (but not cranked to keep noise down).  Have them put truck in reverse while you hold your ear near the reverse lock-out solenoid (it is in the front of the trailer, where you see the brake line come out of the actuator.  When you see the back-up lights come on, you should hear a distinct click from the solenoid.  I am going to assume this is not the case if you are sure your truck and boat lights are working correctly, AND that your truck backup lights are working.  And note, SOME trucks use a different circuit for the trailer backup light power, you might have a fuse inside the truck for this.  Don’t forget to check this.

 

(2)  If you don’t hear the click, look at the blue wire from the solenoid.  It should go to the trailer connector.  Make sure it wasn’t pinched if you have a swing-away tongue.  Also make sure it wasn’t pinched/snagged/frayed/etc between the trailer and truck.  As an aside, I had this happen on my previous boat and it turned out to be in the trailer harness.  A wire maybe 1′ from the connector had apparently fatigued and broken.  So power to the solenoid is key.

 

(3) You can, assuming you have an ohmmeter, plug one probe in the trailer connector blue wire.  Use other probe to the blue wire near the solenoid to see if you have continuity.  If you do, then keep that probe in the blue connector and touch the other to the  solenoid body.  No continuity?  Replace the solenoid.

 

(4) if you have continuity to the solenoid body, take the probe and measure resistance between blue wire on trailer harness and the white ground wire on the harness.  Got continuity?  Then everything on the trailer seems to be working (the solenoid can still stick, but that is much less common than just having the coil burn out.

 

(5) Still got continuity?  If so, and you are not hearing the solenoid click, it is most likely bad.  If there is no continuity, continue on.  Maybe you have a bad ground from solenoid to trailer frame.  Usually the solenoid grounds through whatever it is attached to.  But that’s a lousy ground.  I always run a real ground wire (most solenoids have a threaded hole or two you can use) to get a good ground from the solenoid directly to the trailer harness white wire.

 

OK, now you know that the wiring from the blue wire on the connector is passing DC current through the solenoid and back to the ground on the trailer harness.  If you are not hearing a click, let’s continue.

 

(6) switch your ohmmeter to volts (DC) and connect one probe to the truck side of the connector, blue wire.  Connect the other probe to the connector white wire.  With truck ignition on and truck in reverse, you should be reading 12 volts.  If you are, the thing is working and you have no idea what you are doing.  🙂  (little humor thrown in…)

 

For this thing to work, you need 12 volts between blue/white wires coming out of truck connector, and you need continuity from the blue to white wires on the trailer harness.  If you have all of that and you still can’t back up, you can pretty well bet it is the solenoid.  You can always use the reverse lockout key to see if that lets you back up OK.  IF so that at least says the rest of the braking hardware seems to be ok…

 

Good luck…

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[texlacat]

Thanks for all the good direction and advice everybody. Again, I will reiterate, I am an idiot when it comes to all of this.

I have opened the tongue on the trailer and checked the blue wire and it looks brand new. I can confirm that the reverse lights are working on my truck properly. I have checked all fuses and they are all good. I found the lockout key in my bag so that’s accounted for. When looking at the piece of paper in the key bag it shows a diagram of the roller pin and brake lockout. What mine looks like does not resemble what the diagram shows. Below is what mine looks like. I do not see a slot or a brake lockout that can be slid forward or how you could even use the key if needed. I am sure I am missing something.

I have a buddy that has all the devices needed who is going to come over and check the electrical pieces this afternoon.

[Cajunhunter67]

Heres a quick video on how to use the lock out.

As stated above, you can check power by simply

1. Parking brake engaged.
2. Key turned to the “on” position. Starting not required.
3. Place truck in reverse.

When your buddy check s the reverse power (blue wire) to the solenoid, make sure he checks it coming out the trailer connector on the truck and trailer light connector when plugged in .

Mine had a worn contact in the trailer light connector (adapter). I had power at the truck, but when plugging the trailer connector to it there was not power out of it. I had to replace the trailer light adapter.

If there is power to the blue wire and the solenoid isn’t clicking, thats your problem.

Don

[texlacat]

UPDATE: Almost a month later I finally have had the time to get to figuring this out. Thanks to all for the advice and I have definitely learned a few things from this. First I did find my back up key and it does work. I checked all the fuses, made sure the cable wasn’t pulled out, hooked it up to another truck to ensure it wasn’t my trailer connection. At this point I called Basscat and explained it all and was told yep it’s your solenoid. That’s what I was thinking as well after talking to a couple of smarter than me friends and they all agreed. So I ordered a solenoid from Allen on a Thursday expecting to have it the following week. I got it the next day…Thank You Allen! BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE every time! I took it to a trailer place here locally and after explaining it to him he said somethings weird. You don’t get reverse lights to your trailer when you put your truck in reverse so it sounds like it’s your pigtail…and it was. That’s the one thing I didn’t think it could be. Replaced the pigtail and all is good. I almost forgot how fun it is drive my Eyra and I got to get out and catch this pig!

 

 

[pineycreek]

I had a similar problem except mine was intermittent failure to lock out the brakes when in reverse. Backup light on the trailer was always on when in reverse so power connection was good. I called Budy Products and they said it sounded like a grounding problem on the solenoid.  A grounding wire has been added to newer solenoids to correct this problem, but mine didn’t have the grounding wire.  The solenoid is tapped to take a #8 screw so I added the wire, and the problem is solved.  The wire can be added thru an opening in the bottom of the trailer.

[JEH in La]

Well, troubleshooting a problem is sometimes difficult but the solutions are almost always the “simple things”.  The solenoid is the least possible part to have problems with. All it took was the right person to look at it. Glad you got it fixed.  Nice fish too!

[MadDogRandy]

We should all copy clip Oldtimer57’s response out and print it and put in your truck/boat for future reference. Thanks Oldtimer57. And texlacat, glad you finally got the situation fixed.

 

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