Trailer brake disconnected

[ddoemland]

I have also been getting the random brake disconnected indication while towing our Coachman Camping Trailer with our 2018 RAM 2500 with towing package. I replaced the trailer plug last summer with a new SAE trailer connector plug and used dielectric grease hoping that would work. No luck... still occurred. Well spring is coming and we have a big trip planned at the end of May... so I found this forum. LOVE IT! Check out what I found when I opened the brake drum... the wires feeding the brakes were totally disconnected. It looks to me like the clips that are meant to hold the wires in place (see picture of my good brakes) and out of the way of the brake and drum were never installed, thus they got "eaten" up by the braking system. I have ordered a new magnet replacement kit (https://a.co/d/bGdEV0Y) and then all should be good. For anyone like me who has NOT done a lot of auto work, this video was very helpful. https://youtu.be/HMifZSj407A
Another issue is that my left rear tail light (opposite side of this brake issue) is super dim. This is AFTER I have replaced it with an LED bulb because the former incandescent bulb would not work at all. I am thinking this may be a ground issue, but if improving the ground does not work I will be replacing the wire that feeds the tail light...(pain in the butt as it is all tucked in under the camper).
Hope this helps someone as much as some of the above comments helped me!

 

[Poolmonkey]

Interesting. Ill have to try this.


Started getting the "trailer brake disconnected" message this weekend on a short trip to the desert.

The truck didn’t like my existing trailer plug, replaced it with ^^^ and all good.

 

[Hardtop]

Just a big THANK YOU to everybody who posted to this thread. I've had those brake gremlin visits in the past, which lead to completely rewiring a trailer's brake and light system out of frustration. Didn't know about the new vs old style trailer plug requirement for Ram trucks. You gave me some new things to look for before going all Mad Max with the wire cutter. And those internal brake wire clips are something I'll make sure are in place next time I lube the bearings.

 

[SLBrown]

You made me Sign up for this Forum........... I had a 2018 Ram 3500 and I bought a top of the line InTech aluminum Trailer. It had DEXTER axles under it. I started getting check trailer wiring messaged occasionally. Then as time went on it got worse. On one trip I got about 150 warnings in a 300 mile stretch and it progresses to actually telling me the trailer was disconnected. When I got that warning I had NO Trailer Brakes. I started calling ahead and one Dodge Dealer in Tuscon AZ set me up an appointment at a Dealer in Phoenix AZ. The Dealer in Tuscon knew I was on the road and he could not trouble shoot for me so he advocated for me and that was awesome. The Dealer in Phoenix was also amazing. The Tech came out to the Truck and I was able to watch him on a Laptop diagnose my Truck. It had a Trailer brake wire circut shorted to ground code. I was lucky because it actually was in the Failure mode when I arrived. When does that EVER happen? Disconnected trailer and then the code reset and went to the History file. Connect trailer and the code came back. So, NOTHING wrong with the Truck. ALSO this cannot be disabled by the TECH. So you will get warning after warning about your trailer brakes as you drive and only way to stop it is to disconnect = No Brakes/Lights. So I had to do my homework and found out the resistance of all the brake magnets etc since it would not stay in the shorted out mode. It basically stopped doing it by the time I got home to Los Angeles. 4 Magnets Times XX resistance in Paralel should equal XX. I was off by about one magnets worth. So I had to cut my brand new Trailer brake wiring system apart with wire cutters. I thought about it and made my first cut at the second splice that isolated the LF, LR and the RIGHT Side from each other. Right Side measured 1/2 a magnet (2 in paralel) and the LF measured one Magnet and the LR measured NOTHING. It was an open circut. BAM!

THIS IS WHAT I FOUND: THANKS DEXTER.
.

Do you remember what the resistance measurement is supposed to be? I’m having the same issues and would like to measure the brake magnets to see if the wiring to them is the culprit. Dexter axles on a Keystone travel trailer.

 

[gimmie11s]

Ordered Pollak 12-706 today. Fingers crossed this will get me fixed up.

Had no trailer brakes this past trip. Sucks!