towing gooseneck wiring? brakes?

[AWalkup]

I am just starting to set up my new 05 dually to tow my 34' gooseneck. Any advice on what kind of trailer brake controler to use? and any advice on wiring the light plug into the bed? I'm assuming I can just splice in at the bumper and wire into the bed???

 

[SRadke]

The ultimate in brak controllers to date is the Brakesmart. It taps into the trucks hydraulic system and brake proportionally to the truck. A great unit but you pay for it. Second on the list IMO is the Tekonsha Prodigy. Half the money of the other but it's the high end of the inertia line.



Splicing at the bed and running another plug up is fine but use some caution to protect things so the joints don't get corroded and cause you problems down the road.



-Scott

 

[TX Gooseneck]

I get Prodigy's at a good deal if you go that route. I run the Tekonsha voyager in my truck and have had no problems with it. I replaced the Prodigy for several reasons, wasn't recommended for electric/hydraulic brakes and if you held the controller on for over 20 seconds it would blow the unit. I replaced two of them in our other trucks before I changed over to voyager in those trucks as well.

 

[LesStallings]

You can see my setup in my sig.



I've been very pleased with the way everything works. I did spend some time trying out different settings on the gooseneck to get the trailer just barely nose up. I am always super careful on loading the trailer to keep the weight distribution and pin weight correct. I keep the brakes adjusted and the Prodigy does a very good job with 15K and 3 axles.



I put 20K miles on the rig between January and August.

 

[sniper351]

I have to admit that I have a cheap box now, but I have asked a lot of questions about these for when I start towing my horses around and most people say the same thing, Prodigy is the best for inertia type boxes. They aren't to expensive, around Nashville, TN at least. Haven't heard much about the hydraulic boxes so this isn't to take anything away from them, just givin my 2 cents...

 

[Spyke]

Awalkup

Something to consider when slicing the plug in for the gooseneck. I went and got one of the junction boxes they use on OTR trucks and pliced all my wires here. This gives you a place that is pretty water tight and also more options if you need to change wiring or add a different connector.



Steve

 

[LesStallings]

When I spliced for my in bed connector, I soldered each connection and tested them one at a time to be sure I was getting them in the correct order.



Much relief when I plugged in and everything worked!!!

 

[MMeier]

Anyone tell me which wire is which in the factory loom back by the bumper plug? Namely the brake lead and the hot lead? Will be using the flat 4 for lights. Never saw wires colored like that before, what happened to the universal wire code?

 

[SRadke]

It's been a couple years since I worked on mine but my notes have them listed like this:



Left turn = yellow-pink tracer

Right turn = white-pink tracer

Running lights = black-orange tracer

Reverse lights = Purple-purple tracer

Brakes = Light blue

Aux (+12 volt) = White-red tracer



No guarantees on any of that but that's how I scribbled it down. Also, I think I remember those colors being diffrent at the lights, this was taken from behind the plug.



-Scott

 

[BHolm]

Personally I just use the factory plug in the bumper. There should be plenty of harness from the trailer to reach it. In the past I spliced in and mounted a plug in the bed. I have since learned that anytime, no matter how good a job you do, in time you will have shorts, corrosion or something that screws with your lighting and brakes. Running the trailer harness right to the factory plug eliminates any extra cutting and splicing. I also run a Prodigy, works fine on all my elec brake trailers, two axle horse, two axle car, triple axle flatbed.

 

[Okie-Go]

This is good to know. I was thinking I had heard the wiring was different on the new trucks. I have the rv and the gooseneck wired so I can use the rv type plug on both trailers. Now just a matter of getting the hitch put in the truck. Thanks for the info!