Ok. So please, bear with me here because I know nothing about trucks, or brakes, or anything. I'm a truck n00b.

I bought a 2-horse straight-haul, bumper-pull trailer. GVW 3086 lbs (1400 kg). It is a nice trailer kept in good condition. Everything works on it. The connector is a 6-prong.

I want to install electric brakes on my Ram. All that is on there right now is the 4-prong for trailer lights.

I have no clue what I need to do this, or how to do it. I got quoted $500+ for installation and parts, and I have been told by several people that that is way too expensive.

I have my father to help me install it, he is a marine engineer so has some idea of how mechanical things work. But he still needs directions, and I need a list of what I need to buy.

So my questions are:

1. What "parts" do I need for this? Can someone give me a link to the parts that are required?

2. How many feet of wiring will I need for my truck to run the wire to the back of it? It is an extended cab, short box.

3. Has anyone here installed electric brakes themselves? If so, can you give me directions on how to do this? Keeping in mind that they need to be very simple because, once again, I'm totally new to this.

4. How do I tell if I have an OEM harness? Where would I find it on my Ram?

Those are all the questions I can think of for now... Thank you in advance.

Missy

 

Well we need some info on the truck year make model.

This has some info about the break controler and where to look to see if you have one.
The blue plug is standard on all factory tow package.

http://www.etrailer.com/faq-dbc.aspx

A part that will help get you to where you are looking to get.

http://www.etrailer.com/Brake-Contro...ler/ETBC6.html

 

Thank you for those links, very helpful.

I got quoted $500+ for electric brake installation by several different people. Is this a normal price for that kind of thing?

My horse trailer is actually a 7-prong, not a 6 like I previously mentioned. We found the 7-prong factory installed plug underneath the dash of the truck.

I am taking it to another guy tomorrow, to get a quote, because I have been told by several people that $500+ to install electric brakes is way too much... I have no idea who to believe about this lol

 

I did all my own work when I wired mine up it was not that hard. I made my own wiring harness and ran it all. I put the tail lights on a relay so I would not burn up my switch I will post some pis if you want them.

 

I did it all myself too. I did go high end on the brake controller so that was about $160 alone. To be honest, $500 does sound aweful steep, but then again there are a hand full of hours needed to install everything and keep it neat, expecially if your truck doesn't have the trailer wiring (like I couldn't find on mine). If you were out this way i'd offer to give you a hand, but your no where close. Overall the concept of installation is easy, but it is a lot to explain by typing lol.

 

My dad had a controller in his old truck and told me I could have it so I used that one I have no clue how good it is but I would say it is a good one because my only buys the best. As for the wire I got all that for free it is gas and oil resident.
I still have 3 wires to hook up the left and right turn and the back up lights

 

Nice, yeah I pre-ran my trailer wires a year ago when I ran my wires for my reverse lights. A year later I finally installed my brake controller early last week lol. I ran all of my wires in some wireloom and have had no issues.

 

I just put mine in last week also. My dad and I are pulling the front and rear end next week I am getting 4.10 put in and while the truck is down I am going to finish hooking up the wires and putting them in wireloom. I am also putting water pipe insulation on all the A/C lines

 

Thanks for the info guys, yes I'm assuming the labor is what makes up most of the $500 as it does take a while.

So anyway, we have a 4-prong at the back of the truck that works fine, so the harness is there because how else would the 4-prong connector work? My grandfather thinks that all that is needed is one wire (electric brakes) to be brought to the back of the truck and wired in to the other 4 wires already back there and hook those up to the 7-prong connector. I don't need the auxillary or battery wires as my trailer doesn't have them and we won't ever be towing any RVs. We are going to go see another guy about installation but if his quote is also too high my grandpa has offered to do it. Hopefully all goes well and I'll be able to start towing my trailer in no time

 

I didn't have the 4 prong so I started from the beginning. If you already have the "flat four", then I highly suggest in looking into this. I used this on my truck to give me both the four pin, and 7 pin on the same block. Also, you can plug your four pin existing wiring into this wiring plug (plug and play), and then you will need to run the remaining wires.

http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-Plug-S.../dp/B0002Q80GS

The aux is the center? (I think) And can be wired for whatever. Most commonly reverse but since trailers don't usually have reverse lights this is often skipped (I skipped for mine). Next, I would suggest hooking up the power wire! A horse trailer (think that is what you said you had earlier). The power wire is commonly used to re-charge the brake away battery that is hopefully on your trailer. Since your in Canada, im not sure if you are required to use them or not. Finally that will leave you with your third wire (the brake wire). The brake wire is needed, the 12v + is suggested. Once you figure out what you need, then you will know how many wires to run.

As far as the brake controller wiring, it is simple. This was the wiring colors when I did mine last week. Only reason I posted this is because it is different from what you might expect the wires to be for DC wiring.

Black - 12v +
White - 12v -
Red - Brake pedal signal
Blue - Trailer brake wire (the wire you ran)

After that, your good to go. I run a circuit breaker for the brake controller, and run a fuse for the power wire. I should have just went with two circuit breakers (may in the future), but for now a fuse works just fine.