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with the Ford, and was just going to take the brake controller out of the Suburban and put it in the Ford. I also bought a connector cable that is supposed to work to simply plug into the Ford and connect to the Brake Controller (a
). This is how I connected it to the Suburban - easy to plug into a connector block on the truck and the other end into the brake controller.
The thing is, I don't now where to look for the connector on the Ford. I watched some YouTube videos but those trucks must be different than mine. There is no connector up above the parking brake mechanism like I saw on the video.
Will my bare-bones F-250 have a nice rectangular connector somewhere I can plug this
Can't help with the wiring but what I can tell you is that the factory brake controllers in my Super Duties work better than any aftermarket controller I've ever tried. I believe the Reese Towpower is a simple time delay activation controller whereas the Ford unit is truly proportional.
To install your controller, you probably have to take the cover plate off the dash to get to the plug. I bought a Ford controller off e bay and went on u-tube to find out how to install it. Had to have a Ford dealer program it. Works slick.
I think I know what you mean by the way the trailer reacts when the Reese Towpower is on my Suburban. I can't get it adjusted very good. It 's very touchy.
I'll check for factory controllers and see if I can justify the bigger and additional expense.
Will even the most basic trucks that didn't come from the factory with a trailer brake controller have all the necessary wiring and any modules installed anyway, so adding the device that adjusts and manually activates the trailer brakes will work like a factory install after the truck has been programmed for the device? Or might the truck not even be able to be programmed because it may be missing stuff?
If I get a Forscan device, can I do the programming? Not sure the price difference between taking it in and buying what's needed.
I think the factory brake controller is located under the 4WD selector, right? Or under the little cubby underneath the 4WD selector?
I also see a fake removable "panel" underneath the headlight switch, but that panel is still one piece (attached) with the entire under steering column panel. It doesn't separate from it, other than cutting it out. And there is no connector located behind that panel under the headlight selector.
No idea where to look for the existing rectangular connector where the Trailer Brake Controller is plugged into.
OK - got it. A Factory controller goes into that coin cubby thing to the right of the steering wheel, under the 4WD selector.
I'm going to try and find one from a junkyard near me. I don't think the Amazon aftermarket "compatible" Ford copies have very good ratings, and am guessing the EBay versions are probably the same low quality.
I got my controller from Fairway Ford; a dealer and it was a Ford part. Yea the controller goes in the cubby hole, but to get it out the dash panel comes off. It is on utube.
The factory controller is definitely the best set up. I added one to a Lariat F150 and it was plug n play with programming to activate it.
There are a few threads on here somewhere that have added it to a XL and I have heard of some of them not having the compatible harness whereas the higher trims did. Not sure if that was certain years or what. You should know pretty quickly if yours does. Try searching threads, if I find it I’ll post it.
