Latest Brake Controller Recommendations?

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 1:40 pm

I realize the topic of towing and brake controllers was covered in some depth last year, in particular by chrispitude.

What I'm asking is if there's any updated info as far as the available brake controllers on the market.

With the pending move to Texas, I'm looking at completing the tow setup by adding a brake controller - that way regardless of whether I buy or rent a U-Haul trailer, I'll be ready to roll no matter the setup of the particular trailer.

Also, the latest and greatest on weight distribution/sway control hitches? Clip-on towing mirror extensions?

Never had any experience towing anything for any distance, so take this from the position pf my being a newbie.

FYI - using the Hidden Hitch model recommended by chrispitude, 5000/500 ball, 7500/750 weight distribution. At the most, I'm looking at a U-Haul sport/Jason Egg type trailer, or a U-Haul 4 X 8 type.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:19 pm

The little extra weight of 7500/750 hitch adds a safety factor that can make the difference when you are having a high stress towing situation. I paid the extra $15 to get the extra heavy duty.

All of the Brake controllers are much better than the ones made 10 or 15 years ago. When I was pulling my trailer the last time my Tekonsha Pilot Brake controller was a lot smarter than the idiot who cut me off and decided to prove he had ABS brakes. I was impressed how well I was able to stop.

With the state of the economy, shopping online will save you money over buying from the RV place down the road who has to order it in.

One place: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/R-and-P-Car ... iler-Sales

fastRob · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:34 pm

My wife leaves for Az next week. She has to report to the new job.
I will follow as soon as business here in Maine is concluded. Yes!

At any rate I would go easy on the latest and greatest brake controller.
My search indicated Teckonsha had the greatest customer satisfaction rating.
The price was not bad either although I think it is the Prodigy.

Tricky installation, I downloaded all the stuff from this site.
Good luck in Texas.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:51 pm

Just want to clarify that installing ANY brake controller on one our Jeeps is a PIA. (It has nothing to do with a Prodigy being a pain.)

(One would think that when you pay for a factory installed tow harness, it would include a plug like Ford does for the brake controller.)

DOC

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:59 pm

To make it so that it was only a PITA and not the knee too, here is where I hung my Brake Controller:

http://picasaweb.google.com/warp2diesel ... 8535793330

hatchetman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:55 pm

I put my prodigy in the cubby hole next to the power outlet. :evil:

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:58 pm

hatchetman wrote:

I put my prodigy in the cubby hole next to the power outlet. :evil:

Any horizontal surface is her's to pile on.
With my Brake Controller up on the inside of the roof, she can't pile anything on top of it.
I also had to hang the TV on the wall, so it does not get piled up either.

Just a fact of life.

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Sun Mar 01, 2009 11:27 pm

Hey partner, it ain't that hard to install if you have the tow package, and apparently the EVIC although I never understood why that was a requirement and it may not be. When I was looking it seemed like the Prodigy was the ticket and that is what I bought. I installed mine on the right side knee bolster. The left side might have been a better choice.

The install consisted of a large power wire from the battery to a 20 or 30 amp breaker you can install on the firewall and then through the firewall to the controller. Find a ground then splice into a wire on the brake switch and pluck the electric brake wire to the back out of a bundle under a flat, rectangular cover on the inside, drivers side fender inside the cab.

Can't tell you how well it works yet as everything I have towed has been brakeless or had surge brakes.

Now when I go back and look at the trailers you mentioned I am not sure that most of them have electric brakes. I have been looking at the ones like the the Wells and the ones at Home Depot and most of them don't seem to have them. Also, unless you get a aide trailer I wouldn't worry about extension mirrors. I pulled the 12' U-Haul about 600 miles and I didn't need them.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:03 am

Went by O'Reillys the other night, and they carry the Hayes lineup of brake controllers. Not that I'd want to pay their prices for one, but as far as wiring harnesses and accessories that would be rather convenient.

If I went with a Hayes, it'd be the Genesis or the new G2 - one website listed the Genesis for around $90, another had the G2 for $116. One reason I'd be looking at one of these is they're also capable of handling electric over hydraulic brakes on some newer trailers - if I understood the U-Haul website correctly, some of their newer trailers may have this setup - and again if I'm understanding things correctly, the Prodigy doesn't have this capability.

Understand that for the size trailer I'm talking about using, that I probably wouldn't need that much capability for the trip down - but if I'm going to go to the expense and time of installing a controller, and that's what the newer trailers are going to - may as well be ready for whatever the future holds - hey, 3 years ago if you'd told me I'd end up being forced to move to Texas just to find a decent job, the country would be in this foul a shape, and especially that I'd be driving a Mercedes Benz diesel as a second car, I'd have been calling the guys with the butterfly nets.

How about a weight distribution/sway control hitch? Overkill for what I'm looking at, or could one still be useful for keeping a newbie out of trouble?

FYI Freightliner Update - my mother got a call Saturday from one of my uncles on her side of the family. Turns out one of his sons had been working at the Cleveland plant as well, and was senior enough to escape the March 13th layoff. Guess again - they got word this past Friday that the remaining 800 or so would also be laid off effective late April, and the plant will be shut down completely. That's it - there will be no Freightliner plants left north of Mexico inside of two months.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:07 am

I installed my Reese POD (read cheap) controler on the vertical surface to the RIGHT of the steering wheel. My thinking for putting it there was I'm right handed and I won't bump my knee getting in :lol:

This controler is small and works out well for my trailer :wink:

The wiring was indeed a royal pain. I don't have the trailer package or the EVIC :cry:

But my "new" XJ has both the towing package and EVIC so the blue wire is there waiting for me

For those looking at trailers if it does not have brakes, check to see if the ends of the axel has the square mounting bracket so you could add them later :lol:

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:37 pm

Mitchell,

If you are talking a U-Haul "rental", I have never seen one that was not a surge setup. They are very particular about what they allow their trailers to be connected to and there are too many variations of brake controls out there for them to want to connect to those at all. So they keep the brakes self contained. Now there are variations of surge brakes and the last one I pulled was a combination of electric powered hyraulic, but it was pulling power from the brake light circuit not a brake controller circuit.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:17 pm

Cowcatcher wrote:

Now there are variations of surge brakes and the last one I pulled was a combination of electric powered hyraulic, but it was pulling power from the brake light circuit not a brake controller circuit.

Hmmm, that might be a cause for concern - the after-the-fact Mopar wiring harness I put in is different from the OEM setup from the factory - it taps straight off of the tow vehicle's brake lights and turn signals for power to supply the same on the trailer. Depending on how much additional power that would pull, it could risk blowing a fuse such that I'd have no brake lights whatsoever.

Always meant to go back and rewire that rat's nest - might be forced to now.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:26 pm

Relays and a circuit breaker are cheap and easy to add, just put the circuit breaker under the hood, run the power wire back from the battery and use the stop ligtht to turn on the relay and your done.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:11 pm

warp2diesel wrote:

Relays and a circuit breaker are cheap and easy to add, just put the circuit breaker under the hood, run the power wire back from the battery and use the stop ligtht to turn on the relay and your done.

I've been looking at just junking that entire confusing 6 relay setup that came on the Mopar harness - one for trailer power, one for activating the brake lights, and then another four, two for each side, for activating the respective brake light and turn signal. Even if I had a schematic, I'd be hard pressed to figure out that rat's nest.

Seems far easier to just get rid of those six relays, go to Advance and pick up four 30 amp relays, and reconnect the wiring per the factory setup schematic.

Latest Brake Controller Recommendations?

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