Hi Everyone,
We are on our way to Massachusetts when the trailer started throwing "Wiring Fault on Trailer". The brakes were working but were not tight and didn't respond very quickly. We decided to get them looked at before moving on.
A bit of history: We had the same issue when we picked up the rig at McGeorge's in Ashland VA right as we pulled away from the dealership after delivery. We went back and the service techs spent 2 hours researching the issue, calling Redwood and finally telling us that the unit came with 2 actuators, one for GM and one for Ford, they said they bypassed the GM one. We went on our way and the warning did not come on until this trip. We had gone on short trips with it but not long ones until now.
We took the rig to Grumbine's RV in Harrisburg PA before continuing on the route. We spent over 8 hours at the dealership, waiting and waiting and waiting for brake manufacturer to send the dealer the specs so they could trouble shoot the problem. Redwood (or I guess now Crossroads Service Center) does not have the specs readily available for the hydraulic brake systems. Most dealers don't have the experience with these brakes and don't order them for stock units.
Needless to say, it took us calling both the brake manufacturer (phone kept going to voice mail every time I called, over 20 minutes of constant calling to get a live person) and Crossroads service center to get the specs to the dealer AND that was AFTER waiting all day for them to respond to messages left by the dealer!!
Once the tech had the specs in hand, the problem was identified. McGeorge's didn't bypass a 2nd actuator, they bypassed the computer that talks to the truck!! Hooked it up correctly and what do you know, the warning stopped and the brakes worked like a charm. One other small (OK not small) detail we found out while we were there, we needed to set the trucks integrated system to "electric over hydraulic". This information should be in dealerships hands!!!! After we left the dealer, I called Ron at Crossroads Service Center and told him that they need to get this info to dealers so they know how to troubleshoot these types of issues. Ron was very nice and agreed that this information needs to be more accessible. If Grumbine's had been able to get it in the AM, we would not be sitting in Harrisburg PA again tonight!!
Well now the bad news because McGeorge's did the "bypass", it isn't covered under warranty. We now have to go back to them for the $200 bucks spent fixing an issue that should NOT have happened in the first place.
The people at Grumbine's RV (now Camping World) were very nice, especially the tech, Shane, who was very professional and competent. Now we will see what McGeorge's has to say about it. Wish us luck!!
Ted and Suzy
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