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 Post subject: Educate me on my Towing Package
PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2013 10:14 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 14, 2013 9:52 pm
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Hi everyone! I frequented this forum about 5 yrs ago, but have forgotten my old username...

Hoping someone can educate me (pics help!) on my tow package.

I have an '04 Renegade that I purchased from CarMax. The original window sticker was still in the owner's manual and it states that the following were installed:

Power Steering Cooler
Class III Receiver Hitch
7-Pin Wiring Harness

How do I know whether the HD Cooling and Trailer Sway Control were installed?

I'm going next week to pick up a pop up camper and want to make sure I'm all set. Tomorrow I'm dropping it off to have Brake Controls installed.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

Thanks!


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 Post subject: Re: Educate me on my Towing Package
PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 4:53 pm 
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Welcome back!

Pop the hood and look for the extended fan shroud covering a mechanical fan connected to the water pump. If that's there you have the HD cooling. If you have the factory hitch and 7-pin connector in the back then you're set on the back side too. Trailer sway control? No, I don't believe any Liberty models came with a sway control. Jeep does recommend a trailer leveling system if you intend to tow over 3500 pounds - though plenty of Liberty owners have towed that much without the levelers.

As for the brake controller...Jeep did NOT provide an easy way to connect a brake controller. There is no adapter that can be simply plugged in to a harness under the dash that then connects to your controller. Read through this thread for details on how to find the famous blue wire that must be connected to the controller to send a brake signal to the appropriate pin on your 7-pin harness at the hitch. Since you have the factory-installed tow package the wire should be a bit easier to find wrapped up under your dash but it will still take some digging to find it.

Are you getting a Prodigy controller?

Bob

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 Post subject: Re: Educate me on my Towing Package
PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 6:42 pm 
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TwoBobsKJ wrote:
Welcome back!

Pop the hood and look for the extended fan shroud covering a mechanical fan connected to the water pump. If that's there you have the HD cooling. If you have the factory hitch and 7-pin connector in the back then you're set on the back side too. Trailer sway control? No, I don't believe any Liberty models came with a sway control. Jeep does recommend a trailer leveling system if you intend to tow over 3500 pounds - though plenty of Liberty owners have towed that much without the levelers.

As for the brake controller...Jeep did NOT provide an easy way to connect a brake controller. There is no adapter that can be simply plugged in to a harness under the dash that then connects to your controller. Read through this thread for details on how to find the famous blue wire that must be connected to the controller to send a brake signal to the appropriate pin on your 7-pin harness at the hitch. Since you have the factory-installed tow package the wire should be a bit easier to find wrapped up under your dash but it will still take some digging to find it.

Are you getting a Prodigy controller?

Bob



i dont know about 03 -07 but the 02's have a lead for a brake controller under the dash

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 Post subject: Re: Educate me on my Towing Package
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:18 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:38 am
Posts: 52
Believe it or not, electrically controlled brakes on trailers is illegal here in the UK...This is on safety gounds as wires can break, or you can have a bad connection, leaving you with no brakes on your trailer, just when you need them.
HGV (Articulated) trailers (over 3500kg) usually have air brakes connected to the tractor unit with "suzies" (coiled plastic, compressed air hoses) but smaller trailers normally use "over-run braking". This is where the hitch on the trailer can slide back and forth in a brass sleeve. It is connected to a rigid threaded bar (usually M10 (10mm) threaded studding bar) underneath the rear of the hitch via a lever connected to the back of the sliding section. The threaded bar runs along under the middle of the trailer, through one or more steel eyelets to support it. The other end goes through the middle hole of a "compensator" bracket, which has three holes in it. The sleeved brake cables going to the brake hubs bolt to the outer two holes. A self locking nut is screwed onto the rear end of the threaded bar until it touches the compensator, then as it it turned further it pulls the threaded bar through the middle hole of the compensator, which tensions both the threaded bar and the two sleeved brake cables simultaneously, allowing for quick, easy and automatically balanced brake cable adjustment. Once properly adjusted, the brakes are operated by the trailers own momentum pushing against the sliding hitch when the towing vehicle brakes, which in turn operates the trailer brakes...Very simple and very safe. Therefore, US-made trailers imported to the UK have to be converted to an over-run brake system before they be used on the road here.
Another advantage of the over-run braking system is is is not vehicle dependant...It can be used on any vehicle fitted with a tow bar. The trailer lights still connect to the tow vehicle via a standard 7 pin, or the newer 12 pin, trailer plug which plugs into the matching socket on the tow vehicle.


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 Post subject: Re: Educate me on my Towing Package
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:33 pm 
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Interesting. Modern electric brake controllers will generate an error code in the event of a wiring malfunctioning so it is pretty much a non issue.

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