I purchased my '05 F250 w/o the factory brake controller. The trailer I usually tow does not have electric brakes. However this summer I am towing a large travel trailer that is equipped with eletric brakes. Don't have any plans after this trip to routinely tow with electric brakes.

To retro install the factory system will run in the neighborhood of 1K. The Prodigy 90185 system seems to be a well known and popular brand, lots of good reviews. Total install price, with me doing the install, is about $130.00.

Just can't justify the additional cost of the factory over the after market price for as little towing with electic brakes as I'll be doing.

That said has anyone installed the Prodigy in their truck using the pocket in the dash that the factory system goes in? Does the Prodigy fit this pocket nicely?

Any suggestions?

 

I do remember someone who posted a photo of a Prodigy mounted inside the cubby hole of a SuperDuty. I searched a bunch of old threads and tried to find it, but could not. I did find a good under dash mount photo though. Prodigy underdash mount in Superduty.

After looking at the linked photo, it seems the cubby hole may have shrunk over the years. The photo I remember seemed to have a larger cubby hole. But I do remember the owner said that he secured it up to the top of the cubby with velcro and it worked very well.

I have a much older F250 that has a pretty large cubby hole mounted closer to the RH side of the steering column. The Prodigy probably would have fit but I chose an underdash mount like the photo in the link. My cubby is hard plastic not vinyl and I was leary of cracking when drilled. When mounting the controller you have to have enough room to get your hand around behind to plug/unplug the wires or have enough slack in the wire to be able to pull it out far enough to get to the plug. With the underdash mount access it's not a problem.

Hope this helps, but I would really like to see someone post a photo of the cubby hole mount you're looking for.

Welcome to FTE and thanks for joining us in the Towing forum!

 

Check out post #14 in this thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/4...t=hook+on+dash

But if this is only going to be a one time thing I would almost look into borrowing one instead of doing a permenant install. If you do end up buying one just run the wires long enough to set it on the seat beside you or stuff it in the door panel. With the new electronic controllers there is not the necessity to mount them at a certain angle or anything.

BTW the prodigy is a good controller. I have used it and the Draw-Tite controller before getting the factory one in my new truck.

 

Thanks for the welcome, Horsepuller...

Don't know anyone with a controller I could borrow and typically have bad luck with borrowed electrical devices. Seems everybody has a unique way of wiring devices...

 

I agree on the used equip thing. Plus I am always paranoid I am going to break the equip I borrowed. For what it is worth I had a draw-tite activator II for a long time and it worked GREAT. When I got a second vehicle capable of towing the trailer I bought a second controller. The second one I bought was the prodigy because I had heard tons of good stuff about them. Quite honestly they both worked about the same and if I had it to do all over again I would have simply bought a second draw tite saving myself $20.

For a refrence the draw tite was in a 2000 F-150 and the prodigy was in a 2004 Suburban. Both had the wiring harnass that plugged right into the factory wires up under the dash. My trailer is a 30ft travel trailer about 5000lbs dry and just under 8000lbs loaded

Draw-Tite $79
http://www.etrailer.com/mm5/merchant...tegory_Code=BC


Prodigy $98
http://www.etrailer.com/p-90185.htm

 

If I remember right, the mount angle for my Prodigy was 0-70 degrees so to just "stuff it in the door panel" is probably not a good idea. Plus, you want the manual lever to be easy to get at, in case your trailer starts to fishtail.

Steve

 

You are correct. My apologies for the bad info.