Joe T

That was the quote i just got from the dealer just to hook up the trailer brake wire to the harness. One little blue wire he said that had to drop the whole harness under the dash and run a diagnostic on it .

Everything else is easy to hook up on it and that lone blue wire is sitting there under the hood zip tied off waiting.

Is it this difficult?

Any other forums I can ask this question at? FWIW my truck didn't come with the tow package so all it got was the 4 flat and i bought the 7 pin harness and hook up from the dealer.

Oh and they can't duplicate the radio popping or the vibration so it sat there 3 days for no reason ... 45,000 dollar truck and a POS stereo .

WUnderwood

there should be a blue female connector up under the dash, right by the emergency brake, you really have to dig for it.

that should save you $200 bucks, if you cant find it, do a search if you need more help

hope this helps

Joe T

Ok, should I splice into this? All I have to work with is a bare wire.

GreyTD

is the new harness complete from front to back? if it is just the blue wire(brake line) find a convient spot on firewall and push it through and connect to brake controller. Thats $200 please cash only

Joe T

i thought I had to connect into the harness and then the brake controler went in someplace else..

I see what you are saying , but I thought it was a little more complicated.

GreyTD

typically brake controller has 4 lines wht=grd blk=pwr red=brakeswitch blue=trailer brakes. http://www.tekonsha.com/instructions/BC%20Wiring.pdf without trailer package you will have to spice into the wire harness under the dash. Blue wire is the only one that should go through firewall the rest should connect under the dash. Check under your dash by e-brake for a blue 4 pin connector zip tied. look real hard as it's way up there. if it's there half of your job done. if not then more work but not impossible and about 1hr of your time.

PoorMansCat

I put a brake controller in my '04 with no problems.... I had to run one wire from battery to controller and one from controller to 7-pin for e-brakes. Other than that, the 7-pin connector I bought had a harness extension on it that had a 4-pin flat on the other end. There may have been a wire under the hood that was for bringing power from the battery to controller...don't know, really didn't look. But it was NOT a $200.00 install.......
BTW... whats the radio noise you hear?.. I'd swear my truck was doing the same thing. Almost sounds like an old manual tuner thats just slightly off..but it does it on CD's too.. Not bad enough to call it a "busted" speaker, and I can't isolate it to any one particular speaker, but bad enough to notice.I may try it without the engine running and see if its alternator noise. Just wondering if your problem was the same?

GreyTD

most rv dealers and auto stores will have the wiring harness that will plug directly into the blue connector mentioned above from your brake controller. without trailer pkg the connector may have only two or three wires in it; blue brake wire missing and maybe black power wire also mia. clear as mud right

Joe T

So... I hate wiring, I understand what yall are saying but I don't know which wire in the 4 pin to connect to, which yall wouldn't know but yall did get me one step further . I might just take it to a trailer place though and let them warranty the work.

Anyway, yeah the radio noise that magically re-appeared as soon as I left the dealer, is that what you are asking about?

It is background noise and I only notice it on satelite radio since that is the only thing I listen to. It is a popping and cracking noise that is audible during breaks in the music. Sounds like EDIT... Really annoying. It is probably there all the time but is drowned out by the music. I've ridden in Kia cars that had better quality. DC really skimps in some places, but I can't complain I got the truck for 34K with 4x4 leather and diesel.

The best part about getting the truck back was the overhead was on 17.1 mpg compared to when I left it with 18.5 mpg and they only put a few miles on it. LOL, someone had fun on my dime.

Luvnacumns

Man mine only cost me $83! Your dealer's making some coin!!!

mic646

My 06 came with the trailer tow package. I assumed that it would have the blue brake controller wire under the dash that was easy to access like my 02 was. I went to hook it up on my 06 and could not find it under there. I looked and looked until I got a kink in my neck. I finally found it wire tied to the top of a bunch of wires that were above the e brake. I could not see it I had to feel for it. If you have the FACTORY trailer tow package it will be there, somewhere.

As far as the noise on the radio. Do you have a cell phone with you? I find if I put my cell phone in one of the dash pockets I get noise through the radio periodically. In fact the radio really freaks out right before it rings.

Joe T

So... What you are telling me is the blue wire doesn't connect to the harness, but only to the controller. You had to find that wire and dig it out?

I'm new to this, only used trucks with controllers already installed.

And no, it's not my phone I've turned it off and yes it will freak out the radio if someone puts one near it.


Thanks for all the help guys, like I said I'm new to this.

Joe T

The harness cost $71 from the dealer and took me about 30 mins to run up to the cab. I still need to ground it, the instructions say use a 3/8 bit and drill into the frame for the ground but I might just go to the body with an already existing screw.

HOV

Dude, here's the skinny on brake controller installation:

1. Get a wiring harness for your controller that is made for your truck
2. Plug one end into the controller
3. Plug the other end into your truck's receptacle harness for brake controllers (it's that zip-tied thing everyone's talking about - not hard to find if you just get upside down and look under the steering wheel area)
4. Mount your controller
5. Go buy yourself a $200 congratulations gift

Mike D

On the Second Gens it's the same way. It took all of 20 min. to mount the controller, the hardest part was getting to the plug.