What do you know, what questions do you have, what advice can I give you?

I really do want to do a good job, and I am seeing it from the inside out...

I can help YOU, but even with complaints, YOU CAN ALSO HELP ME!

So let's let it all rock and roll here....


"Tell me about it, so that ALL of us can learn"

 

Greywolf, it sounds like you're having way too much fun at your new job! As for brake controllers, I have the Techonsha Prodigy. It is by far the best electric controller I have ever used. Mine is completely seamless on stops. I can't even tell the trailer is back there on stops. I have the boost at level 1 and it is completely awesome! No jerking or banging just nice smooth operation!

 

I know they are adjustable, and then you always have the "OH KRIPES!" button. But I was hauling one with the adjuster set kindee arbitrarily one day, and I just had to make some trial runs from gittee up to NO DON'T DO THAT with it before I got it right....

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

But the thing I'm thinking of is WHERE ON EARTH to get coach diagrams from?

You gotta figure - a chassis leaves detroit or wherever, and then it goes to a builder.

WHO has the exact wiring diagram????

I ran into a nut buster today - and my boss done threw it at me to see what I would do!!!! A prewired C5500 chassis, class C, it was supposed to be pre-wired. But the plug was lost way up and in the A/C ducting....

You ain't getting up there to retreive it, but it sho nuff is there....


I had to run wire from the front, all the way to the back! With our master tech gone to Wisconsin for the weekend...

Son of a gun! I guess I just have to follow the doggone schematic.

And that's exactly what I did....

It looked like nine miles of wire.........

Worked like a charm though when I got done. My boss was impressed - I got it done first try! But I'd still like to go to the factory and whoop somebody.

Oh well, I guess jackasses creat the labor charges that we collect under warrantee.

 

I think the manufacturer would have it, but i could be wrong

 

I doubt it.

I was looking at the left rear brake light as a source for the brake control, before I found by testing that the turn signal was also on it.

CAN YOU PICTURE THAT?

Every time the turn signal is selected, the tires of the towed machine chirping...

You gotta go from the brake switch signal....

Oh dear LORD I had so much fun today, but I made sure it was RIGHT!

 

That would absolutely make sense. The turn signals and the brake lights share the same bulb and the same filament. So it would only make common sense that the turn signal would lock the brakes on the trailer. Almost all brake controllers of the electric variety rely on the brake lights to activate. You did the correct thing by going straight back to the TV brake wire and going from there. It sounds like a whole lot of work when you think about it, but I'm sure with the proper equipment and a shop to work in it would be much easier. You are correct though.... a mile of wire needed! I was lucky on my last 2 tow vehicles. They were both Fords and the brake controller plug was right where it should have been, just over the gas pedal under the dash wire tied to the rest of the harness.

 

Yeppir doo! I love Super Duties when they come in and already have a seven wire plug from the factory. I know right then that the whole job is going to take me about twenty minutes if I'm real slow that day... (say for example that I have to go find my coffee cup, but I digress.)

I had a Chevy Colorado today, new from the factory, straight off the lot. It looked like it was pre-wired, but it wasn't. They had a four pin flatwire converter on it.

BUT! The dealer they got 'er from promised to install a controller for them if they went out and bought one, so I whooped right around, pulled the parts from the shelf, got it put in the deal for the trailer, and explained to the customer that it would be MUCH better for the dealership they got their truck from to do the install, because the truck was under warrantee...

"Yippee kye aye!"

The only thing I had to build was a flatwire four-way to a seven wire cable adapter so their lights would work for the time being. Seems they had to drive right spang through the middle of Oakland Tennessee, and I know that town. If you go ONE mile over the speed limit, or have ANYTHING wrong with your rig, you ARE getting a ticket....

And it's true. That way if ANYTHING messed up, they would not have to go back and forth to see who had to make it right.

But the C5500 was a whole 'nuther story. I'd like to jerk a half-hitch in someones throat at GM for putting those harnesses in BADLY! If it's a pre-wired harness, I should not have to cut into the wiring to make it work. The best I could do was to try to make it all inconspicuous and professional looking. Someone out there is messing me up, and I don't like that when it happens.

 

Just to put you at ease, ALL of the Chevies I have ever seen that are supposedly prewired have been screwed up. There is no plug for the controller or at least where any normal person would look . Almost all Fords I have seen with the tow package (7 pin connector in the rear) have the plug right where it should be. I installed my Prodigy in mine in under 10 min. That included taking a smoke break and drinking a beer! Fords are made to tow and haul.... Chevies are made to just look ugly!

 

Actually - that would be "FUGLY" what with how they done Japanesed the look and all...

But what do you expect from people who sound FRENCH anyways.

"FIRST TIME, shame on you - SECOND TIME SHAME ON ME"

 

Yes, FUGLY would describe it to a tee!

 

Just bought 06 Super Duty without the factory brake controller. My 03 Excursion had the plug under the dash. Wondering where and if the SD is the same as the X. Just got it yesterday 8/27.

2006 SD 4x2 Lariat Turbo Diesel

 

It should be in the exact same location as the Excursion and all the other Fords I have seen. If you get the harness for your brake control, or if you have the same harness from your EX then it should be about 10 min install from start to finish. Simple plug and play.

 

If it's pre-wired, there should already be a seven wire socket on the back bumper.

 

My 2003 7.3L has the plug under the dash also, took a little hunting to find it but it was there. I would recommend the prodigy brake controller. It has the little stupid idiot light on it to show when the trailer/camper is plugged in, that way if you forget to connect it or it comes loose you will know before you have to hit the brakes .

 

The absolute most amazing one I have ever seen bar none was a Mercedes M 350...

I suspect to this day that there is a brake control already installed but hidden inside it somewhere. Very possibly it responds to the various software in what amounts to a pair of command and control centers installed above and below the windshield!

This is one of the vehicles that have a digital map display connected to onboard GPS that can show your position on the map (continually updated) and you have a choice of the map displayed "North Always Up" or oriented to the direction the machine is currently pointed....

AFAIK you can pay your bills online from inside it, order Chinese food or Pizza's to go before you get there, it has in excess of 123 fuses in three locations, and the underdash is seamlessly covered with interior panels.

The software disc for the beast to do everything is either $300.oo or $3,000.oo, I think it is the latter because I nearly choked when I was told about it by the owner....


MERCEDES BENZ will not tell us anything about it at all.