I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with installing an electronic brake controller. I need one for this weekend. We are on a mission to save and resurect my buddy's old 87 F150 4x4. Its been sitting on a friends property for a couple years. And now we just found out someone shot the truck up. And we are planning to turn it into a 4x4 toy.

Anyway, It wont fit on a car dolly. So we are going to use a tandem axle car hauler. And it has trailer brakes. I've done plenty of towing before, but nothing that I've needed a brake controller for. I'll be using my 84 F250 HD. 6.9 IDI, T19 with 3.55 gears. Already has a frame hitch. And it also has the Road Warrior 10k tow bumper. I believe it has the round 7 prong plug built in. But I do not believe it's wired up to anything. I will check later and update. I am pretty good with electrical, I actually enjoy doing it. So I dont think it will be to hard to do. But If anyone has any tips or hints to help. I'd really appriciate it.

 

The truck does have the factory towing package. I found the wiring harness that was labled for the electronic brake control. So theoretically, I could find the correct plug-in harness and I'd be good to go right?

 

Sorry, but I don't know about trailer brake controllers. Dad's truck had one on it, but it was installed in such a poor way that I removed it immediately. The wiring was poorly done and certainly wasn't plug & play.

 

Just a tip: If you use an electric one like Reese, you can hook up the positive from the towing package wiring (if equipped), but make sure the negative goes directly to the battery.
BUT
The best way is to hook directly to the battery for both positive and negative (with a fuse of course).

I had mine hooked up to the factory tow wiring and smoked (literally) an expensive unit. The next one went straight to the battery and has been working great.

On the output to the brakes, use a larger wire, like 10 ga, don't skimp.

Edit: Make sure what ever you get can handle 2 and 4 brake systems. You never know what you'll be pulling in the future.

 

Thanks, Me and a friends were able to wire it up. And we wired it the positive thru the factory harness, and the negative directly to the battery. So far everything is working correctly.

 

I just bought an 82 F250 that looks like it has factory trailer brakes. The plug in the back is gone but the unit itself is still under the dash and looks like factory wiring going to it. I have not look through all the wires in the back yet, I see that someone spliced a regular 4 pin harness in. The unit in the cab has an actual brake line tube coming out of of it that just lays under the hood not hooked to anything? I have only ever seen full electric units. I am guessing that one used brake fluid pressure to activate.. Anyways where does the factory power wire go to? I will probably run to the battery, just wondering.

 

The units with the brake line to them worked off the Master Cylinder.

The brake line under the hood used to go to the master cylinder(it was hooked to a tee in the brake line).

Someone changed the master cylinder probably and didn't need or bother to hook it back up..

Personally, I would trash it and get an electronic unit, Kelsey, or whatever.
You can get them(depending on how fancy you want) for anywhere from 69 to 125 $..

NAPA, Autozone, O'Reilly's,Wal-Mart,, Carry them..

The electronic units are good..I have one on each of my trucks.

Be sure to run a hot wire(with breaker or fuse) direct to battery + side.
Run your ground from battery also..
The brake wire to rear(for trailer brakes) should be AT LEAST a 12 gauge, I prefer a 10 gauge wire..

Also, when you run the brake wire(usually blue) to the back of the truck, be sure to use protection on the wire(not a condom).

An old garden hose works good. Just run it through it and not worry about it getting shorted on the frame...wire tie it up and good...

All the other wires to your rear plug can be connected from the wiring harness at the rear...be sure to solder and heat shrink all connections..unless you have one with plugs from factory harness.

Enough rambling...Here is how your plug should be wired for operation..
White----Ground
Green----Right turn
Yellow----Left turn.
Brown----Tail and marker lights..
Blue (usually) to trailer brakes..This is the one you ran from the brake controller to the rear...

Maybe this will help.....Trav...

 

anybody know how to stop the brake controller from pulsing the trailer brakes when you have the 4way/hazards on?

I was going up a steep grade, slowly, turned my fourways on and my brakes where being applied with each flash.

what's wrong here? is there some add-on i need?

 

Thanks TruckerTrav, I already have the electronic unit, took out of my other truck I sold, this is just the first old ford with a factory setup I have messed with. I will follow your advice, some good info there!

 

Unfortunately, that's the way it is with our trucks. The easiest fix is to put a toggle switch on the brake feed wire going to the controller. Then you can keep it off when not pulling a trailer with brakes too.

 

NAPA sells and maybe other sources as well an electronic brake controller that is brand name JOURNEY HD.

It has your sensitivity control on one side and on the other side is your RAMP ****..

That ramp **** will let you adjust a delay before your brakes are energized on your trailer..
In other words, adjust it and your brakes won't pulse with flashers...Works great...
I have one...It is about 130 $...Trav..