Trailer Brake controller

[Jackpine]

You guys convinced me. I bought a Tekonsha P3 and used it on a camping trip last weekend. It was great! Very easy to set the braking force and now I don't have to worry about mechanical adjustment levers getting moved accidentally.

- Jack

[ticopowell]

So now that I am all graduated, I decided that it would be a great investment to buy a trailer... that way the air force pays me to move instead of me worrying about them breaking stuff as they move it for me... and I now need a trailer brake. I have found that at orieley and autozone they have ones for $60-$80, also the place I got the trailer from has one for $80. Amazon sells the p3 for about $150-$160, and other ones for cheaper. so with my new trailer, it is a dual axle 7000# max weight 7 foot tall 16x7 trailer with a v-nose, and with my future use of it (worst case, I use it to help people move, best case is I use it once every 3 years when the air force thinks I should change bases), is it worth getting the p3, or should I go for the voyager or the p2 or one of the other off name brands?
Thanks for all the replies!

[Longshot270]

Me and my dad both have a Journey HDs from Tractor supply. It gets the job done at a good price. Mine you can set brake timing and braking pressure. There is also a manual brake switch.

[Jackpine]

I think anything that applies proportional braking will work, but I really like the electronic adjustment capability in the P3. It is very easy to make small adjustments as needed (and you might want to do that as the weight you pull changes), and, once set, you don't have to worry about the settings getting "bumped" accidentally.

With my old controller, I started out on a trip and discovered there was no trailer braking action. I thought I was going to have to cancel the trip but discovered the lever controlling braking force had been accidentally moved, possibly by a technician at the Ford dealership during a visit. I reset it, but didn't have an "exact" reset point - you have to do that by "trial and error" on a level stretch of road with someone observing the trailer wheels for lockup. With the P3, once you get it set right, you simply note the number that appears on the screen, and restore that value if it ever gets accidentally changed.

If your trailer can gross out at 7000#, your tongue weight will be between 700-1100#. You need a Weight Distributing hitch to keep the axle loads on your truck in limits. There's some pretty good information on WD hitches here: Trailer Hitch & Towing Guide ? Hitch Info | Get Connected Basically though, you want a hitch that just about "matches" the tongue weight of the trailer - not rated too much higher, and certainly not less than the actual weight.

- Jack

[Longshot270]

Yeah, mine is just like Jack's. As you make adjustments a little LCD screen will have a numerical readout to tell you what adjustment you are at. It'll also give you a reading while you are braking so if you are pulling you can see how strong the braking is and how fast it is getting there.

[ticopowell]

Sorry I never responded back to the thread... getting married kept me busy over summer , I got the P2 if I remember right, and a weight distributing hitch, and I pulled my trailer here to colorado with only one issue. I blew a fuse for the trailer parking lights while pulling a neighbors trailer and I didnt know it until it got dark on my way to colorado... :/, but I got it all fixed up. Now I sold the truck, got a new one, and it had a voyager, but I am going to reinstall the P2 in it and sell the voyager. so anyone need a trailer brake controller? really cheap! haha
I sold the truck because as we were going up the hills on I-70 my gryphon started beeping at me saying the tranny fluid and engine oil were getting close to overheating, so we took it nice and slow from there on up and made it just fine, but my F250 shouldnt have that problem

[superdutynick]

I love the integrated electric brake controller on my F250... no other I have used compares. I was pulling an empty trailer so I had the gain turned down and a deer ran in front of me. I buried the brake pedal and the brake controller knew this, and I stopped sooner than if i hadn't had a trailer on... even with the gain set to hardly anything. With the integrated controller it really doesn’t matter what you have the gain set to. I have even tried it at minimum and smashed the brake and it will hit the trailer brakes hard. I will never get a truck without it.