I have a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 that I want to tow a travel trailer with. The trailer has electric brakes, so I need to run the truck's brake wire to the 7 way adapter that I installed. E Trailer told me where to look for the truck's brake wire, which they said is usually blue, and is located under the driver's side front wheel well, and they said it comes out of the wiring harness, but goes nowhere, and should be ready to link straight to the truck's rear. I only found one blue wire coming out of the harness there, and after spending a lot of time trying to trace it back, I found that it goes to something else.

Can anyone help me figure out which wire it is, and any tips on linking it to the aftermarket 7-way?
Thanks!

P.S. There are two extra holes in the harness that have no wires coming out, so I'm wondering whether a wire would need to be added. Also, the wire on my 7-way is 10 gauge, but NONE of the wires coming out of my truck's wiring harness are that big. Is that going to be an issue?

 

The factory wiring harness does not work with electric brakes, as you found out. It sends power to that wire and locks the brakes on the trailer. I have heard of switching that wire with another, but not sure which one.

You should also get an electric brake controller installed in your truck. Any good trailer shop should be able to help you out. Those electric brake controllers are between $60 and $150 or so. I imagine wiring them up should not be an issue, but I have not done it personally.

I am in the same boat as you - our horse trailer has electric brakes and I cannot tow it with the harness plugged in. Luckily, my wife's Suburban has a built in brake controller.

 

Thanks for the reply. I did install a Prodigy brake controller and was able to easily attach it to the OEM harness under the dash since I bought the the Dodge adapter along with it from E Trailer. But since I'm learning this as I go, I didn't realize that there was no electric brake signal going to the 7 way by just attaching the truck's factory 4 pole to the 7 way, so the brake lights, turn signals, and backup lights will work on my trailer right now, but there is no actual electric brake signal sent to the trailer 7way, so the trailer does not actually brake and the Prodigy brake controller just shows "nc" for "not connected".

I may be stuck going to the dealer to have them run the brake wire back to the 7-way for me, but I was trying to avoid that since they'll charge $92...just to run the single electric brake wire to the 7 way that I already have installed, and nothing more.

Any more input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

I have a small trailer that has brakes, All I did was plug it into the wiring harness in the back, Go buy a controller at wally world and it works great. Of course I have only connected the brakes twice. Most the times I don't haul heavy enough load to care about it.

 

Ah, I think it was assumed you had the 7 pin plug already, in which case you would have only needed the brake controller.

 

I am confused on your situation.

Did you simply buy a 7-pin "plug" that you mounted into the bumper and are now trying to get it to work with a trailer? Or did your truck come with the 7-pin already with the tow package? The reason I ask is because, if you added the 7-pin plastic "plug", you still need to run the wiring harness from the hitch, tap into the Left Brake Light, and run it up along the frame until you get to the engine compartment and firewall. This is where the "blue" wire comes from, as this is the wire you feed through the firewall to connect to the brake controller. I will also add that the 4-pin plug dangling from behind your rear bumper (which is on all trucks, regardless of if they have a tow package) should be connected to this additional wiring harness that accompanies the 7-pin plug.

Assuming you already have this wiring harness, all you should need to do is connect the blue wire to the brake controller. Then you should no longer receive the NC error.

 

Sorry for the confusion. Hopefully this will clarify:

The truck only has the factory installed 4 pole plug, not the 7-way. I added on the 7-way myself, and plugged that into the truck's 4 pole plug, and also grounded the 7way, but did not attach the blue (brake) wire from the 7-way adapter to anything, which is why there is no brake signal going to my trailer.

I mounted the brake controller under my dash inside the vehicle, and attached it to the truck's OEM plug which is also under the dash, so it is currently connected.

I'm still a little confused because I was under the impression that I need to run the truck's brake wire directly to the 7-way adapter in the back. I did not think I needed to run any additional brake wires to the brake controller itself.

Please let me know if there is any information I'm leaving out that would help. Thanks again for the input.

 

Let me give some insight on my situation getting my truck hooked up with a brake controller. This may help

My truck came with no tow hitch, and only had the 4-pin plug dangling behind the rear bumper.

I installed a Mopar hitch.

I bought the Mopar tow wiring harness

I had to install the 7-pin plug first into the rear bumper slot. Next, I plugged in the original dangling 4-pin into the matching 4-pin receiving plug on the new harness. Then, I had to take a designated wire from the new harness and splice it into one of the wires in the Rear Left Brake light to tap into the truck's brake system. After doing this, I had to take the rest of the harness, which was enclosed in insulated tubing, and run it along the frame of the truck (secured by zipties) until I got to the engine compartment. Once there, I connected the positive wire on the harness to the battery terminal. Finally, there was a LONE BLUE WIRE (for the trailer brake) that had to be sent through the firewall so it could enter the cab near the foot pedals. I took that wire, and connected it to the Trailer Brake that was installed under my dash. Connected my trailer to the 7-pin plug and it worked wonderful.

I hope this helps.

This isnt the harness I used but heres a vid of the install on a 2006
http://www.etrailer.com/tv-wiring-in...dodge-ram.aspx

 

Thanks for the details "pcollins". That sounds lot more involved than I had expected, but it's very helpful information. It sounds like what you did also included running a "hot lead" to the 7 way, meaning that your truck will charge your trailer batteries while running.

I was only planning on running the brake wire back for now and not the hot lead, mostly because of cost and time factors. But I guess we'll see what I can get away with.

 

Yeah I hear where you're coming from.

For what its worth, I paid about $60 for the Mopar harness, and about $75 for the brake controller (Activator II). It took me and a buddy about an hour and a half to connect, splice, and run the harness up the truck and into the cab. That includes the soldering, removing brake light, etc. It really was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.