Adding wiring harness to non trailer pkg truck

[CLamb]

Hey Everyone



I posted awhile ago that I had an 00 3500 that did not have the factory tow package. Well I talked to the dealer and he ran my VIN and determined that my truck came without the trailer harness and hitch(good call on a 3500 eh?). So he ordered me the proper harness. What he could not tell me is where this harness plugs in. Can anyone tell me where it will plug in? And will it be plug and play from there for brakes and everything? My truck does have the trailer relay in the PDC under the hood. The harness won't be in until friday and I need to tow something on sat morning. I already have the controller and harness from my old truck. Thanks a ton for any info.



I did search but came up with 456 matches to trailer wiring harness lol... nothing seemed to answer my questions so I posted up.



Clark

 

[Bob4x4]

It has been a while since I have done a 2nd gen but as I remember it the harness plugs into the t/lamp wiring at the rear,then power directly from the battery up front,and has a blue wire you will have to run into the cab. You will also have to wire the brake controller in the cab-not a plug-in.



Bob

 

[CLamb]

The truck has the brake controller plugin under the dash as well as the trailer relay in the PDC. It just lacks the rear harness. I don't think the harness I bought splices in with the lamps as it should take advantage of the trailer relay in the PDC. . just wondering what connector it goes into. . thanks for the reply.

 

[SBettencourt]

You might want to check this out.

http://dodgeram.org/tech/mods/electric/trailer_wire.htm

I know on my '96 I ran the factory harness #82401265 to the PDC (+), a ground wire near the PDC and the lights connected at the left taillight plug. The blue wire went in via a hole I drilled in the firewall. It has its own running light relay built in and does not use the one in the PDC. 98+ "might" be diffrerent but the kit comes with pretty good instructions.

 

[CLamb]

Well, the harness they ordered me was not correct. . it was for a vehicle that had no trailer wiring whatsoever anywhere in the truck. I talked to two dealers and three truck and trailer accessory shops that should "know" what they are doing as all they do is wire trucks right? Well none of them can do anything other than clip into the tail light harness. None of them could tell me how to wire it so it uses the trailer relay and the factory brake controll plug.



So, I went to a friends house who has the same truck more or less but his was actually ordered with a hitch and harness. It appears eveything under the hood and dash is all wired the same but it all stops just under the drivers side floor. His truck has a completly different harness after that point. You can see where the constant hot wire, brake controll wire ETC all stop at that connector on my truck. So I guess to do it like I want I need to replace the entire rear harness.

 

[Bob4x4]

Well, the harness they ordered me was not correct. . it was for a vehicle that had no trailer wiring whatsoever anywhere in the truck. I talked to two dealers and three truck and trailer accessory shops that should "know" what they are doing as all they do is wire trucks right? Well none of them can do anything other than clip into the tail light harness. None of them could tell me how to wire it so it uses the trailer relay and the factory brake controll plug.



So, I went to a friends house who has the same truck more or less but his was actually ordered with a hitch and harness. It appears eveything under the hood and dash is all wired the same but it all stops just under the drivers side floor. His truck has a completly different harness after that point. You can see where the constant hot wire, brake controll wire ETC all stop at that connector on my truck. So I guess to do it like I want I need to replace the entire rear harness.

The harness they ordered you is correct. you wanted to add a trailer harness that has the factory protection built in. What you want is a factory install :-laf too late for that.



Bob

 

[CLamb]

The harness they ordered you is correct. you wanted to add a trailer harness that has the factory protection built in. What you want is a factory install :-laf too late for that.



Bob

No its not, the truck already has all the stuff there minus the rear harness. . it would be retarted to bypass all that stuff IMO. Simply replace rear harness with the correct one. simply



I can't believe the truck was ever ordered this way, a 3500 with no hitch or rear trailer harness. I have to pull the tank to replace the sender anyways that will make full access to the harness that much easier so might as well go for it.

 

[SBettencourt]

I seems like you are getting frustrated with this???? If you can buy the entire rear harness then go for it. There should be a tag on the harness somewhere on your buddy's truck so you can get a PN. Of course a friendly parts guy is also a benefit. Otherwise, you already had the next best thing with the factory add-on harness. Once its installed you'd never know the difference anyway. The stock harness may or may not be more $$ than the kit. You could also try a junkyard. Theres a guy on eBay out of Arkansas always parting out old Dodges.

To be perfectly honest, on a 2K truck, who cares if theres an extra relay in the PDC. The ADD-ON harness from DCX has the parking light protection relay built into it already and you can splice into the brake wire thats already there. And, BTW that would be the only splice youd have to take care of. The Power and Ground are ring terminals. Its your truck... we were just trying to help out. It is not common to do what you want but it is not impossible. All it takes is a parts catalog and $$. If your parts guy can't figure it out, then you are back to the kit or junkyard.

If you do get the PN and price for the rear harness, you could post it to help out the next guy.

Hope it works out for you.

 

[CLamb]

Nah not frusterated. I don't like the add on harness, the brake wire is much smaller than the one on the truck as is the B+ wire. I ran me a brake wire from the factory wire to my existing poorly installed connector to get me by for saturday and it worked fine. The harness add on would work great if I had a Dakota and wanted to pull a small camper.



The more I think about it the less I want to replace the rear harness lol. I will probably just bust out an FSM and make my own harness add on. thanks for the help.