Maxbrake trailer brake controller

[Deleted]

www.brakecontroller.com/maxbrake.htm

This is pricey, but I've not found anyone that didn't say it awesome. Anybody know about these?

I've used the cheapo $50 delay controllers and they are terrible because they apply the same amount of trailer brake no matter how fast you are going or how fast you are stopping.

I'm using an inertia pendulum controller and it's pretty good. It still has its flaws though, and a couple times that pendulum has started swinging inside when I didn't stop with a consistent pressure on the brakes. It'd go into a cycle where it's off/on/off/on/off/on until I let off and the aplly the brakes again to smooth it out. Not a huge deal, but always looking for something better.

What say you?

[JeepCJ5]

Let us know how it works Keith. I've got a Prodigy that cost about $100.00 bucks. Seems OK, no issues yet, but I'm not in the same towing league as some of you people.

[LILREDCJ6]

Feb 8, 2010 18:04:23 GMT -5 JeepCJ5 said:

Let us know how it works Keith. I've got a Prodigy that cost about $100.00 bucks. Seems OK, no issues yet, but I'm not in the same towing league as some of you people.

You will be one day.

[Deleted]

Feb 8, 2010 18:04:23 GMT -5 JeepCJ5 said:

Let us know how it works Keith.

I'm using the Valley Odyssey, works the same as the Prodigy. Not likely I'll be giving a review on the Maxbrake, unless I can find one in the $200 range, that just seems way overpriced. We'll see how towing my TT goes this summer.

[KarlVP]

I've used the Tekonsha Prodigy for 4 years now.

Plus I bought the plug and play cradles so I can swap it from the ZJ used for light towing to the Dually in seconds.

[87B2XLT]

Going to revisit this one... I put whatever 'nice' one NAPA sells (I'd have to look at the package) in my Chevy. I wanted to have a second cradle with a disconnect setup to swap it from the Chevy to the Taco eventually. Anyhow, the one I have has the digital readout and an adjustment and it seems to work pretty good.... I just know I have to 'reset' it if I'm going to hook up to an unloaded flatbed trailer so the RV setting won't lock up the brakes, lol. I'll get more info on mine and when I 'use it more', I'll 'review' it. I just didn't have time to order one of the Maxbrakes or try to find one of the others mentioned.

Dave G

[joshbaker]

I use the one from Nother tool. Cost about $50 And so does jack (jlmjeep) No issues. Use it all the time with chris b's trailer

[87B2XLT]

Well, what I've noticed is that the higher the number on the readout, the more 'sensitive' and more power the brakes get.... and a lot quicker... on mine. It only goes up to 90 on the readout, so I am not sure if that is for MPH or a percentage of brake bias or what. Been tooling around with the flatbed the past few days with a light load at most, and keeping it in the lower numbers seems to work, I don't feel the tongue nosing into my rear bumper. I'll be making a purchase of my own 16' flatbed here soon ... to go pick up my '89. I think I know where my Ramsey winch is going to be used first. Plan is to make a winch mount and mount a battery box to my trailer for loading vehicles, etc. Y'all may wonder, "Why don't you just drive the thing onto the trailer?"... Can't do that without risking further damage to the engine, unfortunately (find and read my post(s) IRT the '89... I think under "General Message Board"). I figure if the planned setup works well, I just may make it a permanent one and buy a new winch for my '87

Dave G

[Deleted]

I ended up pulling the trigger on the Max Brake. My Valley Odyssey started shorting out internally and kept activating all the time. Never did when a trailer was hooked up, but when the truck was off or driving down the road the thing would start activating and turning on the brake lights. I noticed it about a month ago at night when I saw the brake lights on the truck flashing. Ran out in my drawers thinking someone was breaking in to the truck or something and was ready to throw down.
So this thing is a little pricey but I've heard nothing but good about it and how smooth it is. So far I am unimpressed. I haven't used it yet because I can't get it to work. Customer service has been great. It's not getting a reading from the pressure sensor that T's in to the master cylinder. They've sent me 2 new cables and swore that was it. Now they say it has to be the sensor so they're sending that to try; but that they've never had one go bad. I said if this doesn't work I'm sending it back and getting a Prodigy. At least they said no problem.

[A "CJ"]

Man Keith, that is like buying a DVD player and not any of the cables you need come with it so it will work.... are they charging you for the cables there sending?

I got a real kick out of the throw down statement....probably do the same thing here......


tim

[Deleted]

Nah, they aren't charging me for anything. Like I said so far thier service is great and they have sent out parts to try very quickly and apologized. So anyway, it was the pressure sensor, got a new one in the mail and all is good. Just sux I got something bad out of the box. So far things seem very smooth and stopping with the trailer is seamless. Kind of like in the new Fords with the tow command system, works off hydraulic pressure over electric and is very smooth. I'll give an opinion after my long trip I'm leaving on next week if anyone is interested in this controller, otherwise I'll just let it die.

[toynrnd]

Interested.

[87B2XLT]

Definitely interested. I may eventually pull the trigger on one of the Maxbrakes. The one I have now is supposedly short-proof and all, and I haven't used or abused it enough yet to fail. I did notice on the trip back from VA that if I set it too far up on the numbers, it seriously seemed to drag me down quicker than I'd like, but at no time did I have lock-up on the trailer brakes. I was more worried about heating up the brakes on the trailer than much else.

Dave G

[Deleted]

To update, this thing works great. It is worth the money if you are replacing a time delay controller or are needing to add one to a new rig. I don't know if I'd go to the trouble or spend the coin to replace a Prodigy, but if you have to buy one, this is it. It's what they said it is, smooth braking no matter what the conditions. Instead of feeling like you stopping a truck and a trailer, it just feels like one vehicle; and I had a panic stop in the rain on 64 (of course).