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Steering while backing down gravel with trailer

ebaikie

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I've had my 2023 Lightning ER just over a month now and I love it, but I recently discovered that it can't do something that I do all of the time with no problems with my Silverado.

At my summer cabin I park the boat against the side of the cabin. The driveway is a steep gravel road and the parking spot for the boat is almost 90 degrees from the direction of the main driveway immediately at the bottom.

Every time I go there the first thing I do is hook up to the boat and pull it up the driveway, down a short road, then back it all the way down a long, steep, windy road to an informal boat launch.

At the end of the weekend I put it back against the side of the cabin. I tried with the lightning for the first time this weekend and it can't do any of that. In reverse on a gravel hill the front wheels lock up immediately when braking and I lose steering.

If I bring it all the way to a stop and try to ease off the brakes it will just skid the front wheels with no steering as soon as the rear wheels start to turn, and I have to almost completely release the brakes before the front wheels unlock, at which point I'm going way too fast and I've skidded down the hill too far in the wrong direction.

I tried it in normal mode 1-pedal, normal mode 2-pedal, and offroad mode many different ways and it was completely impossible to turn the trailer on the hill.

After over a half a dozen tries I had to give up and disconnect the Lightning from the boat and grab my dad's F150 diesel. It was easy to just back it down with the diesel truck and park the boat in it's spot, just like it is always easy with my Chevy.

Is there some way to adjust the braking on the Lightning so that the fronts don't come on so hard and lock up? Shouldn't it have something like ABS preventing the wheels from locking? I'm guessing the massive front brakes and the lack of a heavy engine over the front axle are what is causing this issue.

I really need to come up with a solution for this. One of the main decision points with getting this truck was to stop burning so much gas going back and forth to the cabin. I don't want to have to use my ICE truck just so I can use the boat.
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RickLightning

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Do you have Autolock turned on?
Is the parking brake turning on? Release it with handle.
Assume you setup the trailer.
 

Maquis

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Turn off traction control.
 

Joe Dablock

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I had a similar problem backing up my sailboat. Do this.

Turn Reverse Brake Assist to off. (Then just leave it off.
 

struckby

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Please let us know if this worked. I'm not having this problem now but I might in the future.
 

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Are you in tow mode? If not then the truck may think the trailer is an object and locks the brakeso do you don’t hit it when backing up.
 

F150guy

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You could probably just slip it into neutral for that one last stretch of the launch. I know I do that coming out of my garage and approach the bushes at the end of my back-up zone. If I leave it in reverse and go just a bit too fast the reverse brake assist (collision assist I guess it is) slams the brakes. In neutral seems OK.
 
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ebaikie

ebaikie

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I don't think it was reverse brake assist. It told me reverse brake assist and cross-traffic alerts were disabled when I connected the trailer. I'm going back up there this weekend, I'll try with traction control off and try just rolling in neutral to see if either or those will work.
 
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ebaikie

ebaikie

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I tried again on the weekend. I turned reverse brake assist off and tried with traction control on and off. I just had a little 14ft aluminum on a small trailer hooked up this time, so not much weight at all. It must not have had a great connection on the 4 pin because "trailer disconnected" kept popping, but with reverse brake assist disabled I don't think that should affect it. It locks the front tires the same as before.
I forgot to try in neutral to see if the regen is the problem, but I think it's just the brakes. I was in 2 pedal mode and only using the brake pedal.
I'm going to try trading my XLT ER for my mom's Lariat SR next weekend to see if it's a defect with my truck or if it's a Lightning design issue.

 

Grumpy2

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If this was my old truck, I would be checking my brake fluid level. Are you sure you have rear friction brakes ?
 
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ebaikie

ebaikie

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If this was my old truck, I would be checking my brake fluid level. Are you sure you have rear friction brakes ?
Brake fluid level looks about right.

Ford F-150 Lightning Steering while backing down gravel with trailer PXL_20260708_042012599

Rear brakes are a little rusty compared to the fronts but all four look fairly normal.
Rear

Ford F-150 Lightning Steering while backing down gravel with trailer PXL_20260708_044656430

Rear

Ford F-150 Lightning Steering while backing down gravel with trailer PXL_20260708_044516956

Front

Ford F-150 Lightning Steering while backing down gravel with trailer PXL_20260708_044634745

Front

Ford F-150 Lightning Steering while backing down gravel with trailer PXL_20260708_044715538
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