Trailer Brake Controller, How Hard?

[Haulin' 8.1]

I'm about to take a travel trailer to Louisiana and it has electric brakes. There's a wire harness in my glove box that's for a controller. Do I just buy a controller, wire it to the harness, mount it under the dash, then plug in the harness to the truck and that's it? My trailer wiring is all there.

 

What else would I have to do. The tag on the harness says install jumper here, is that the end of the harness or am I missing a jumper?

 

Thanks,

Vernon

[3500in nc]

I'm about to take a travel trailer to Louisiana and it has electric brakes.  There's a wire harness in my glove box that's for a controller.  Do I just buy a controller, wire it to the harness, mount it under the dash, then plug in the harness to the truck and that's it?  My trailer wiring is all there. 

 

What else would I have to do.  The tag on the harness says install jumper here, is that the end of the harness or am I missing a jumper?

 

Thanks,

Vernon

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

yes its just a plug and play kinda deal just buy a controller and wire it into the harness

you will need to check in the fuse panel under the hood to make sure the proper fuse is in place for trailer brakes but thats it

 

i just installed my controller and it took me maybe 10mins

 

hope this helps

[Haulin' 8.1]

Great, thanks a ton (no pun intended).

 

Vernon

[COSilver]

My jumper was wrapped up in black tape attached to the harness. Remove this and plug the jumper into your fuse box under the hood where indicated. Happy Towing!

[Shaners]

Just make sure you match the wires correctly!!! They may not be color coded, so you'll have to match the tags that are wrapped on the wires... and like was mentioned before, you'll probably have to install the "Maxi" fuse, in the electrical panel under the hood.

[sonjaab]

GUYS.....Remember.........The factory trailer brake controller

harness plugs into the fuse center INSIDE the truck next to

the parking brake.

The Texnica prodigy (spl) controller just plugs in and the

factory harness is not needed.

 

The maxi fuse in stud #1 in the underhood fuse center only

makes the aux. power wire in the rear trailer plug hot !

[Shooter_va]

If you want to make it even easier, buy a Prodigy Controller with their pig-tail. No splicing of wires necessary: Plug one end into controller and the other into fuse center by brake pedal and install fuse in fuse bocks under hood.

Hardest part is to find your "perfect" location to mount the controller.

[Jester4736w]

Where could someone order or pick up a harness that plugs in under the dash???

 

Pepboys? I looked at one pepboys and found nothing, thanx!

[Polak]

Where could someone order or pick up a harness that plugs in under the dash???

 

Pepboys?  I looked at one pepboys and found nothing, thanx!

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

Online at http://www.brakecontroller.com/ or at the stealership.

 

But for the price you can get a Drawtite Activator II save $20 to $40 bucks over the prodigy and wire it yourself.

 

If you don't have the pigtail and fuse, or are not prewired for a 6 or 7 pin conection, i.e. you don't have the towing package, it gets a little more complicated.

[COSilver]

I have a Tekonsha Prodigy and did not order the custom harness to save a little $$, but the connections to the harness that came in your truck is a piece of cake, everything was very well labeled on the harness and on the brake controller's wires. I agree with shooter... the hardest part is deciding where to put the controller. What's nice about the Prodigy, is you could mount it at an angle without affecting its performance. I mounted mine to the right of the steering column, at about a 65' angle - works great!

 

The end of the harness plugs right into the fuse box under the dash on the left. To make life a little easier on yourself, you could buy the custom harness with the Prodigy, if that is what your're getting - the Prodigy is a great controller.

[Haulin' 8.1]

Thanks for all the advice gentlemen. I just got finished with my install. I bought a "Hoppy" brand controller from O'Rielly. It's a cheap-o delux but I'm trying to save on funds for the relief trip to Slidell and needed something. I called the store today about the custom harness listed in thier instructions and it was on backorder so I just connected the truck supplied harness to the controller supplied harness. The hardest part was finding a place. I went with existing holes in the dash lower support right above/in front of the brake pedal. Should I have put it somewhere easyer to reach? I know the slide knob is for "emergency" stopping but is that something to use if your truck brakes go out or if you run out of road at 60 mph?

 

I was concerned that the power on LED came on as soon as I plugged it in and won't go off. This was before I installed the Maxi fuse. But after reading through the posts (thanks Sonjaab) and talking with a friend I've concluded this is normal.

 

So onto the next thing.

 

Vernon