2008 Ford 250 Tow Command and Hydraulic Brakes

[rtaylor537]

I had electric hydraulic brakes installed on my 2001 AS by the factory in Jackson Center and recently purchased a new tow vehicle with the integrated tow command brake controller. The folks at Airstream have been very helpful as are the engineers at ActivBrake, the manufacturer of the hydraulic unit. In reading the manual provided with the new truck (can you believe that I read the whole thing: sense retirement?) Ford emphasizes that their unit was designed for electric drum brakes and I have read on other forum boards of this issue. However, I also read that Ford modified their controller mid 2006 (and probably not their manual) to accommodate the electric hydraulic units; the engineer at ActivBrake was not certain but did say there was a work-around to solve the incompatibilty issue. Are you tired of reading yet?
My question is for those who have such equipment. What are your experiences with the Tow Command and electric hydraulic disk brakes?
Thanks

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by rtaylor537

... What are your experiences with the Tow Command and electric hydraulic disk brakes?...

hi taylor

we've covered this a few times here and so have many others using the integrated brake controller...

it might be useful to distinguish between towcommand and the ibc...

they are 2 very separate systems and issues and topics here... (one is tranny/computer thing and the other is a brake controller)

i'm not aware of ANY changes on the ford side (it's funny that actibrake suggests that)

but actibrake DID change their reservoir and controller board in 06 or so...

i've been using the ford ibc for 3 + years without issues.

i asked basically the same question 3 years ago...

here are a few posts...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/148064-post27.html

http://www.airforums.com/forums/158498-post2.html

http://www.airforums.com/forums/198184-post4.html

or ADVANCE search using 'controller' as the term and my name as the 'user name', then limit replies to 'posts' NOT threads...

you will get 30-40 useful hits/threads this way...

that cover many of the newer users and calibration and resetting and so on...

member craftsman DID have to change out the fluid reservoir (provided by actibrake) to get the system working....

he stopped/started his account under 2 names and his old posts with pix aren't searchable now....

here is a thread with one of his newer posts, pm him and he might give ya more details on the reservoir swap.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463...tml#post382309

the older (smaller) reservoirs are no longer available from actibrake as i understand it...

and that should be the tank YOU have, so u may need a NEW tank and circuit board from actibrake.

btw there is NO comparison to the 'not compatible ge'em' issue....

the ford ibc DOES work with electric over hydraulic brakes regardless of the owners manual notation...

cheers
2air'

[rtaylor537]

When I read the warning in the Ford manual I nearly took a double take. I thought I had the answer to the question of compatibility and then their disclaimer threw me.
My ActiBrake container is their new model with the updated circuit board according to the engineer at the company. I left the conversation feeling satisfied that I'd have no problems.
I purchased the truck 200 miles from home and so on Monday I'll hook up and do a test drive and check everything out.
Thanks again for your forum support.

[2airishuman]

ok good info,

i incorrectly assumed the brakes had been upgraded a few years ago, no on reread it seems this was done recently...

so you do have the new bits from actibrake!

Originally Posted by rtaylor537

... I'll hook up and do a test drive and check everything out....

great plan 'taylor and

-don't forget to do the setup/reset/calibrate procedure...

-and report back to us an outcome...

follow up info is just as important here as the q/a parts...

cheers
2air'

[rtaylor537]

I will certainly let you know the results. Information, questions and answers on this site is the primary reason I have been a frequent visitor albeit a infrequent contributor.

[DFDureiko]

what was the final outcome of this?
our '01 Duramax is having injector problems, (the special 7yr warrenty has exprired)
I have a line on a leftover F250 Powerstroke with TowCommand. Our '04 34ft SOL Limted has electric brakes, but we are thinking of having discs installed at Jackson Center this summer.
would be nice to trade in and go if we can make a deal on the truck
Dan