Today we are going to be installing this brake controller on a 2008 GMC Sierra. The part number is 5520 along with the 7-way replacement socket for the GM products part number 20047. We are going to start in the rear of the vehicle installing the 7-Pole replacement socket. We are back behind the bumper here and if you can see this unit here is actually the factory 7-pole socket we are going to be plugging into. So we want to go ahead and disconnect this off of the knockout that goes into the bumper. We are back on the outside of the bumper here and this knockout here is going to be removed. This is where the 20047 is going to be put in place of. Now that the knockout is removed we can place the replacement socket in there. It just slides right in after you have lined up the notches and rotate it. Then it will lock right into place.... more
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Posted: Wed, 28 May 2008
Today we are going to install on a 2007 Toyota Tundra and we will be installing the brake controller part number 39519 the Tekonsha Prodigy. We will also be using part number 3040-p from Tekonsha which lets you plug into the factory tow package in the vehicle. We begin our install by finding a spot to mount our bracket onto. Just go ahead and put it up there and see if you like it as a nice place to put a brake controller. It should give you a pretty good idea of how it fits. Makes sure you can access the thumb wheel on top. Seeing the LED screen is equally important. Now that you know it is in the correct position you can go ahead and mark the holes before you drill them. Now we will go ahead and drill out our holes after we have marked them.... more
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Posted: Wed, 21 May 2008
Today we are going to install part number 39510 from Tekonsha. This is their Voyager Proportional Brake Controller. I am going to give you a few quick notes here. We are installing this on a 2008 Ford F150. It does not come with a tow package. It only comes with a basic 4 pole flat. We will show you how to upgrade this vehicle to do a 7 and 4 pole and install a brake controller. To give you a point of reference this is the factory 4 pole that came standard on the 2008 F150. Now if you had a tow package you would have the seven pole already out back here and probably the hitch also. But to convert this what we need to do is plug into that with our adapter. Then you extend the wire and you will splice into it wire harness here.... more
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Posted: Wed, 21 May 2008
Today we are going to show you part number V52650 from Valley. This is the Valley Journey Electric brake controller. This is good for 1 to 2 axles. We will cover a few features of this brake controller for one it is a nice and small device. It can fit anywhere in a compact vehicle. It has a simple to use LED indicator light. There is also a little thumb wheel on the side to adjust the power as needed. It also comes with a slide adjustment for the ramp time. Basically it is how slow or how soon the brakes come on. It also has a little built in diagnostic system that constantly check for shorts in the blue wire system. This brake controller is solid state. Which means it does not have any moving parts and you can mount it virtually anywhere in the truck. Just as long as it is comfortable for you and easy to reach.... more
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Posted: Tue, 20 May 2008
Today we will show you part number ETBC7 brake controller installation kit. What this kit does is it fills in the blanks between your 4 pole connector and the brake controller. Basically on the brake controller there is a link between the foot brake and stop light switch and a battery and then a line going out to the connector out back. This kit here fills in those missing pieces. First we will start from the rear of the vehicle and work our way forward. This part here is 7 to 4 pole adapter. What this will do is this will plug into your existing 4 pole that you have on your vehicle. It just plugs in like normal while this white wire gets grounded to the body of the vehicle. You will have a couple extra wires like this black wire that is ran to the battery. This blue wire here gets run to the blue wire on the brake controller.... more
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Posted: Mon, 19 May 2008
Today we are going to show you part number 39523 from Tekonsha. This is their Power Track electric brake controller. This brake controller is good up to 2 brake axles. We will cover a few quick notes on this like when you hook up the trailer it does have a power on LED. Letting you know you have a positive connect between the truck and the trailer. It also has that green indicator that lets you know it is connected. The indicator also turn from green to orange to red as the power to the trailer brakes increases. It has the easy to use thumb wheel adjusting on the side and it is also solid state so you can mount this unit any direction you want. ... more
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Posted: Mon, 19 May 2008
Today we are going to show you part number V52740 the Valley Journey HD 2-8 Electric Brake Controller. This here is designed for 1 to 4 brake axles. It also has an easy to read digital display. It has a simple to use thumb wheel that controls output and sync. Basically output is how much power needs to be given to the trailer. Sync is how fast or slow the brakes come on. It also has a built in diagnostics system to check for shorts in the wires. This brake controller is also a solid state unit. Which means no moving parts so you can mount it anyway you want. Upside down, right side up or even sideways it does not matter. One of the other features is the easy to use disconnect socket. We will go ahead and show you how it works. ... more
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Posted: Mon, 19 May 2008
Today we are going to show you part number 39518 from Hidden Hitch. This is the Pilot 1 to 3 axle electronic brake controller. This is the time delay version. What is really nice about this brake controller is that it gives you 2 different options on mounting it to your vehicle. You can mount it with the traditional bracket or the ball mount where you can mount it at an angle and put it in any position you want. It does have a LED numeric display that shows the voltage output. There is even a way that if you want to mount it upside down the numbers on the display will stay right side up. Another nice feature is that it has diagnostic where it tells you if a wire has a short or not.... more
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Posted: Mon, 19 May 2008
Today we are going to show you part number 5520. Which is 1 to 4 Electronic Brake Controller by Draw-Tite and Reese. We will start off with some of the key features of this brake controller. Again it can work for 1-4 brake axles. It also has a digital output meter on a scale of 1-10 on how much power you need. It also has an easy to use thumb wheel output adjustment. It will also tell you if there is an overload commission like a short in your blue wire. It does come with a limited lifetime warranty. The unit is 100 percent solid state. Which means you can mount it sideways or upside down whatever is most practical for you when installing it to the dash of your vehicle. It is totally electronic although no hydraulic connections are needed. We will go ahead and show you some features and show you how it works.... more
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Posted: Tue, 13 May 2008
Today we are going to show you part number 5500 from Draw Tite. This is an Activator II brake controller. This is a time delayed brake controller. Basically what it means is power is set at a predetermined rate that you control also through a slide lever how soon the power comes on. You can set it for a half second or a whole second before the power in the brakes kick in and activate. This brake controller can handle up to 4 brake axles. It does have digital output indicator. It will also tell you if you have an overload or a short in your wires somewhere in your brake line. This unit is 100 percent solid state with no moving parts. Which means you can mount it anywhere you want. Upside down sideways it does not matter. Its really great in smaller vehicles with very limited space to sit in. Next we will cover how it works.... more
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Posted: Tue, 13 May 2008
Today we are going to install part number 90185 from Tekonsha. We are installing a Prodigy brake controller on a 2004 GMC Envoy. The first step here on the Envoy is locating the tow package. Which is located underneath the dashboard behind this plastic facing here. There are also 2 screws you must remove. One to the left and one of them to the right that hold that into place. So we are going to go ahead and remove those and pull this down. Then we will locate the wires that will be right up in here somewhere. The panel just pulls away but also be sure not to pull to hard because there is the diagnostic and Aux port over here that we do not want to pull any wires out of.... more
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Posted: Thu, 8 May 2008
Regardless of whether your Chevy or GMC truck came equipped with a factory installed 7-way tow package, this article can help you get your new brake controller installed. We detail the specific parts needed, where to find all the wires you will need, and how to make the connections. This will allow you to stop poking around aimlessly under the hood and get back to towing.... more
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Posted: Fri, 18 Apr 2008
The Dodge Ram can easily be equipped with a brake controller. It is just a matter of finding out what components you have installed from the factory and getting the parts you need to complete the job. This article will explain how to install a brake control on a Dodge Ram that comes from the factory with a 4-way flat trailer connector, 7-way trailer connector, or if you are starting from scratch with no preinstalled parts. The article explains what parts are needed and how to get them installed.... more
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Posted: Fri, 18 Apr 2008
If your 2005 Ford Super Duty Truck already has the factory installed 7-Way Trailer Connector installed, adding a brake controller is as simple as finding the right plug. First you need to pick out which brake controller you would like to use. Then this quick article can help you locate the factory installed plug and make the correct connections.... more
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Posted: Fri, 18 Apr 2008
If you are going to be using your Ford truck or van for towing, you will want to consider installing a brake controller. Brake controllers increase the comfort and safety of towing by distributing the braking power across the trailer and tow vehicle, making for safer stopping. In this article we lay out the parts and steps needed to make installing your now brake controller as simple as possible.... more
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Posted: Fri, 18 Apr 2008
If you are throwing around the idea of installing a brake controller or needed one yesterday this video will show you step by step what is required. Many trucks come with a factory provided brake control wiring harness which is usually tucked into the glove compartment. On this video we will demonstrate how to install the Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller using this OEM harness. Since this truck has the tow package the only hardwiring required is between the factory harness and the controller. If you want to eliminite all hardwiring and make installation even faster you can opt to purchase the Tekonsha custom wiring harness if one is available for your vehicle.... more
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Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2008
This is the second video showing the final steps require to install the Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller on the 2006 Ford Ranger truck. It can sound like a lot of work but finish watching the video, you will see it really is not as hard as it may sound. You will see where the brake controller is actually mounted in the drivers area and how the connections to the battery are made.... more
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Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2008
We show you here how to hardwire your vehicle with an electric brake controller. We are using the popular Tekonsha Prodigy and using our Brake Controller 7 & 4 Way Installation Kit, ETBC7, to set this 2006 Ford Ranger up to tow a trailer with electric brakes. Even though the truck is not pre wired to accept a brake controller it can be done allowing you to safely tow campers, utility trailers, horse or livestock trailers and more.... more
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Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2008
Before we begin our install we need to take down this access panel here to get to the port that's located behind the panel towards the center. We'll point that out to you. Inside this cavity here you can see all the wire harnesses and what not, behind this harness is a gray port. That's the port for the tow package we need to use. We'll run it from the inside here out behind this steel here and come back around to the outside. Since this is tight quarters you can take a screw driver and force this up a bit so it's facing towards you and it's easier to install. Next we're going to mount our bracket, we're going to use a standard one like so. This vehicle had a brake controller before, so we use the existing holes. The hardware that came with this is a little small so we're going to replace it with some number nine screws to take up the holes in the dash already.... more
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Posted: Thu, 28 Feb 2008
The first thing we're going to do is mount the wiring harness to the van. We'll have to make a few connections. We'll run this to the stoplight switch, the red wire, the white will get run to the battery ground, and the black will be ran to the positive ground. The blue wire will get run all the way to the back to the seven pole connector. We'll do the brake pedal switch wire first, this gets connected to the cold side of the brake switch. Which means when you hit the brake, the wire comes on. Next we'll run our last three wires, which we'll have to go out the firewall. There's a nice handy grommet here, we'll put a slice in it, poke our wires through and make our connections to the outside. Be sure to leave enough on the inside to be able to reach your brake controller. To mount our bracket for the brake controller we have this nice flat spot right here across this gap. ... more
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Posted: Tue, 22 Jan 2008
To begin our install, we have to gain access to the port. We take off this panel here, this comes down and we have to get back to the corner here to get to the actual plug. Once you have access to it inside, you'll notice we had to take out this bundle assembly here which is not typically found. This is an after market assembly, probably an alarm system. We need to get back to this area here, you can see the gray plug which is the port for the tow package. On the F250 and 350 they'll be up here, however there is one variance on this vehicle here which is this plug was mounted by the firewall. It's a little different and for whatever reason, there's a variant. We'll show you that also. This is the port here which was moved into it's non standard position. This is where we originally found it on the vehicle, we'll go ahead and use that since the alarm system is in the original location. ... more
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Posted: Mon, 21 Jan 2008
Brake controllers are an important safety device which should be used by anyone who tows often or heavy trailers. The technology that operates the brake controllers has made rapid improvement over the last few years and keeping up with what is available can be a challenge. As the technology improves the brake controllers provide more safety, while being easier to install and use. This article will cover the types of controllers, what the differences are, and how to install them.
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Posted: Fri, 21 Dec 2007
We are going to install a Tekonsha Prodigy Brake Controller on a vehicle without a tow package. This video will give an overview of the parts needed to make all the correct connections and then show you how to complete the installation on a 2005 Ford E250.
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Posted: Tue, 20 Nov 2007
The Valley Odyssey is an inertia activated electric trailer brake controller that has combined a high level of quality and sophistication with ease of use and installation. It is also one of the best values available in brake control systems. This video will show you how to install and set up a Valley Odyssey trailer brake controller.
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Posted: Tue, 20 Nov 2007
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