No trailer brakes

[RV4us2]

We picked up our new '15 GK last Tuesday in Memphis. Drove south to Oak Mountain State Park (beautiful! ) in Alabama. Brakes appeared to work okay. It has disk brakes with a Cargo HydraStar actuator. Today, we broke camp and no brakes, even pulling the emergency brake away cable. Anyone have a similar experience?

[travelin' texans]

Check the fuse on the truck fuse box for trailer brakes, don't what truck, but on GM it's under the hood in a large,black box on drivers side. If you would post truck & trailer in the signature it would be helpful.

[atom ant]

Mine didn't work when we tried to pull away from the Dealer at closing. They had to replace the whole actuator. Something about the wiring was messed up between the actuator and the additional module and it burned out the actuator. They actually think the transport guy messed with it to get his to work before it ever got there, and he probably drove it with no brakes.

Anyway, it did work when the emergency cable switch was pulled, just not with the truck so probably a different issue.

[RV4us2]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

Check the fuse on the truck fuse box for trailer brakes, don't what truck, but on GM it's under the hood in a large,black box on drivers side. If you would post truck & trailer in the signature it would be helpful.

Truck is GMC 3500 Diesel-dually. Checked that fuse...it was ok.

[Retired educators]

Originally Posted by RV4us2

Truck is GMC 3500 Diesel-dually. Checked that fuse...it was ok.

Check the Cargo actuator. I have a 2016 GMC and had same problem. Found out the actuator that was on my Redwood was not correct one to be compatible with my truck integrated brake control.

[mhs4771]

If the brakes aren't working with the "Break-a-way Switch" it sounds like you've lost +12 Volts to the Pump, or the Pump hs died.

[travelin' texans]

That was my next thought, no power.

[Titan Guy]

Pulling the break away switch should activate the pump using house battery power. If the pump does not run and the battery is charged it should be the pump.

Quit looking at the truck until the trailer operates the pump via break away switch.

[RV4us2]

Thanks all. The Cargo actuator is working, but weak. We got to the dealer in Memphis, and they are replacing the actuator.

[5th_Time]

My rookie year, I had no brakes when I pulled out of the dealer - but since the pump was running, I didn't even notice until a few hundred miles down the highway. On mine, the pump would run but not output any pressure to the disk brakes. RW had Carlyle ship me one overnight since no dealers atound. I had to change it and bleed the system so I could get to the rally that August.

[RV4us2]

Yep, we needed a new actuator and pump. I thought they were one in the same, but guess not. We had a new Cargo actuator overnighted (hopefully), so should have that late morning and the dealer can install. On the "plus-side", I was supposed to be back to work next Monday in Los Angeles. Dang, guess I'll just have to extend the vacation another couple of days!

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by RV4us2

Yep, we needed a new actuator and pump. I thought they were one in the same, but guess not.

They are the same, unless something changed. Doesn't Redwood still use the Carlisle Hydrastar?

[Titan Guy]

Yes, Cargo bought out Carlisle.

[RV4us2]

Update: We left Memphis on Wednesday late afternoon after new actuator and CAM installed. Everything was fine until we got to Little Rock, and again errors came up on our '15 GMC Info panel. I looked inside the front cargo area, and found a loose blue wire. Reconnected, and still errors. I contacted CARGO, and the receptionist got me connected with the owner. Gave him the serial numbers of the actuator and CAM. He informed me this was the worst combination I could have received for my truck, as both are older models and will not communicate with on-board controllers. I do have some functionality with the trailer brakes, but not optimum. Retired Educators posted earlier he had the same issue, and I shared his post with the dealer in Memphis before he ordered the new parts. His reply was with his research the only problem was with RAMS. I will be going after the dealer for this issue. If he had not needed to replace these, I may have been stuck replacing them myself. We are in a very cold Albuquerque now, and will be back in Los Angeles on Monday or Tuesday. I just am being extra cautious and give myself long distances to slow down. Thank God for the exhaust brakes which work fantastic, and with some limited braking on the trailer disks I am doing okay. Anyone else with a newer truck and factory disk brakes, make sure you get the 7703 CAM and newer actuator. Also, I was very impressed with the response I got from CARGO....Great people!

[Titan Guy]

GM engineers have told us on 2015 & 2016 GM trucks no interface modules should be used. That it can interfere with the brake controller operation. I am not sure why Cargo is telling you to use one. Neither Titan or Dexter are recommending interface modules.

[RV4us2]

Ron, are you saying I should eliminate the CAM and wire the actuator directly?

[Titan Guy]

I have no idea what Cargo's system is about. I know 100% sure that GM does not endorse using an interface module. When you get stopped, I would disconnect the CAM module and try it again. Before restarting the truck, disconnect/re-connect the battery cable. This will reset the controller electronics.
I think you have to go with what Cargo is telling you, they know they're product.

[RV4us2]

Update: We made it back to Los Angeles 12 days ago with limited trailer braking. After conversing with Cargo tech support again, we determined the actuator was okay, but the CAM was the wrong one. Dealer shipped out the correct one and I installed it last Wednesday. Just in case it didn't work, I tracked how the dealer had wired the previous one up so I could put it back the same way. Thank god the new one worked, as I could not make hide-nor-tail out how they wired it( one wire was connected to a turn signal!!). But now the brakes work like they should and no errors showing on the truck info panel ("Check trailer wiring"). I lowered the on-board controller output down from 9.0 to 4.5. On Thursday, we drove from LA to San Diego and was thankful I had the brakes, as the traffic was stop & go a lot. The new Cargo CAM unit model is 6073 (note a correction from a previous post), and is the correct one for any of the newer trucks with on-board controllers according the CARGO. Another case of Buyer-Beware! And the dealer had to be educated by the buyer.

[Grizzby]

Glad you were able to wade through your brake issues and find a solution. It's so frustrating when we have to rely on the "experts" and they can't get it right. Too many times we have to go back to correct their mistakes...we shouldn't have. Workmanship isn't what it used to be.

Bob