electric brakes???

[joshkoltes]

whats needed to hook up my trailer brakes on a 3 gmc 1500??

has the tow package
so i bought the brake controller box and plugged it in under the dash
lights - no brakes
pulled covers off and now i dont even have lights
when i plug in to the rear my licence plate lights come on?? strange
my test light shows no power on 1o clock feed terminal and 7 o clock ground
the controller box lights up when one pushes the brake or pulls the lever

 

[knee deep in it]

check your fuses under the hood. There is one or two fuses for the trailer lights and brakes.

 

[joshkoltes]

stud #2

the big fuse under the hood is stud #2 and looks to be fine can it be bad though it looks good?

 

[Trashy]

if all the fuses are good have a close look at the wiring where it plugs in to the backside of the 7way connector.... it is very common for the wires to corrode and literally crumble out of the connector...

 

[joshkoltes]

decent

the wires look fairly decent at the inside of the connector from the trailer. they do have some corrosion but nothing serious ill try a little contact cleaner. this is a 2004 triton

 

[Trashy]

the wires look fairly decent at the inside of the connector from the trailer. they do have some corrosion but nothing serious ill try a little contact cleaner. this is a 2004 triton

Not on the trailer, on the truck...

 

[joshkoltes]

oh ya

that does make more sense as far as my testing is going

 

[joshkoltes]

not the connector

took it apart and it looks nice and clean

 

[Squirrelchaser]

check all your fuses in the under hood pannel, shood have one for each turnsignal and one for running lights, for trailer only. May also have to install a relay and or a fuse to power up brake wire at trailer plug. May also have a problem with a short in trailer back feeding into truck, may want to try plugging into another truck.

 

[joshkoltes]

back feeding?

do you mean a wire on the wrong terminal powering a different circuit? i had my oil changed a half hour ago while it was in there i had help to make sure there was power at the plug. so on to the trailer. i think ill try running a seperate ground first

 

[eyeles rmk]

I have an 06 Chevy 1500 and I had a problem installing my brake commander as well. I spent 3 hours tearing apart the trailer wiring and then going thru my fuses. Finally I looked at the plug in for my commander and the receptacle (plug in under the dash) that it goes into. Turns out that one of the pins was in the wrong slot on my truck receptacle. I pulled it out and moved it to the right slot and everything worked great. Might look at that. Hope that helps.

 

[snowdad4]

if your truck had the factory pigtail for the brake controller, there is also a 30 amp fuse(i think) that should have been taped to the pigtail. this goes in the fuse panel located under the hood, cant remember where exactly, should be in your owners manual. the fuse is physically larger than the rest, so your options of placement are limited. this is what should complete the circuits for brake and interior lights on the trailer.

 

[Ex-Member]

In my experience with wiring trailers, there really isn't a standard. Different brand vehicles are wired differently, different trailers are wired differently... get an ohmmeter and find the ground pin, hook up a 12v source and figure out which pin goes to what lights. Then either rewire the trailer to the vehicle (probably easier), or rewire the vehicle to the trailer.

Worked on a few horse trailers and i swear, none of them were alike.

 

[MORSNO]

if your truck had the factory pigtail for the brake controller, there is also a 30 amp fuse(i think) that should have been taped to the pigtail. this goes in the fuse panel located under the hood, cant remember where exactly, should be in your owners manual. the fuse is physically larger than the rest, so your options of placement are limited. this is what should complete the circuits for brake and interior lights on the trailer.

I have an 01 Chevy 1500. The instructions for the factory towing package are in the owners manual. You need to install the fuse included with the factory pigtail in the fusebox located under the hood.

 

[Snoclo]

I would check to make sure you have the right pigtail for the year of truck. Not sure which years are the same, but my 06 GMC is different from my 02 Suburban. Stopped by the trailer sales close to my house, they moved 1 pin in my pigtail.

 

[800sledder]

Yeah, check your harness for your brake controller. GM made a change from 02 to 03 so they were different. just have to move a couple pins.

 

[Trashy]

In my experience with wiring trailers, there really isn't a standard. Different brand vehicles are wired differently, different trailers are wired differently... get an ohmmeter and find the ground pin, hook up a 12v source and figure out which pin goes to what lights. Then either rewire the trailer to the vehicle (probably easier), or rewire the vehicle to the trailer.

Worked on a few horse trailers and i swear, none of them were alike.

Sorry Mule, gotta disagree with you on this one... the outside 6 pins are absolutely standardized, if it doesn't match the trailer then you can bet that its the trailer that is miswired! Have you tried plugging a different trailer into your truck?
If your truck were in front of me I guarantee you I could have it solved in under 10 mins...

 

[Trashy]

Had to close that post to dig this up...

 

[joshkoltes]

good info

thanks for the input. still dont have brakes but my lights work again with a little screw tightening. im thinkin it must be the brakes themselves. i lightened the trailer up enough to drive without brakes i hope. its only a twelve hour drive one way.