Questions on what I need

[Jason]

We are buying a camper this week, it's a 20' camper, and has trailer brakes and a 7 pin connector.

The person I'm buying it from says that the battery on the trailer tongue controls the brakes, but I'm almost 100% sure that it's just for the breakaway brakes.

Do I need a brake controller? If I do what's a decent option, not top of the line, but not from the wish app either. Preferably something I can find in town (I live in a decent sized city of almost 1 million people, and Denver is only an hour away).

How hard is it to install a brake controller? I'm okay with splicing wires if I have to, I'm an automation/electrical engineer for a living so that's right up my alley. But if I have to start disassembling parts of my truck or drilling holes then I may just take it to someone.

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[djrobb]

We are buying a camper this week, it's a 20' camper, and has trailer brakes and a 7 pin connector.

The person I'm buying it from says that the battery on the trailer tongue controls the brakes, but I'm almost 100% sure that it's just for the breakaway brakes.

Do I need a brake controller? If I do what's a decent option, not top of the line, but not from the wish app either. Preferably something I can find in town (I live in a decent sized city of almost 1 million people, and Denver is only an hour away).

How hard is it to install a brake controller? I'm okay with splicing wires if I have to, I'm an automation/electrical engineer for a living so that's right up my alley. But if I have to start disassembling parts of my truck or drilling holes then I may just take it to someone.

Some trailers have surge brakes and others have electrically actuated brakes. If it has surge brakes then the braking engages automatically when the actuator, which is build into the trailer at the front, compresses as you slow your truck. In that circumstance you don’t need a brake controller at all because it’s all mechanical.

The other type is electric brakes and they actuate by communicating with your truck through the 7 pin harness. In that case you need a brake controller. Personally, if this was my only trailer, I’d get a wireless brake controller you can install yourself quite quickly. The wired install is pretty involved but you can also find instructions on this forum for that. I’d also consider a weight distribution hitch as an investment if you are going to tow it more than a couple times a year.

 

[Jason]

Definitely not surge brakes, I will be picking up a brake controller and a leveling hitch tomorrow for it, thank you for that suggestion, Ihad never heard of one of those before.

After reading through the posts it doesn't look like it's too hard to wire in the controller.

 

[t4thfavor]

Brake controller install is trivially easy if you have factory tow package. There are already 4 wires pre-setup to be crimped to the 4 wires that most/all brake controllers understand.

We have a thread around that details it ad-nausium... I used a strong magnet meant for mounting a pistol to the bottom of a desk to mount mine to the fuse panel handle. When you don't want it, you just pull it off, unhook the wires, and stuff them in the dash.

I have a Teknosha Prodigy P3, and I've towed my camper about 1500 miles this summer without any trouble.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

Some trailers have surge brakes and others have electrically actuated brakes. If it has surge brakes then the braking engages automatically when the actuator, which is build into the trailer at the front, compresses as you slow your truck. In that circumstance you don’t need a brake controller at all because it’s all mechanical.

The other type is electric brakes and they actuate by communicating with your truck through the 7 pin harness. In that case you need a brake controller. Personally, if this was my only trailer, I’d get a wireless brake controller you can install yourself quite quickly. The wired install is pretty involved but you can also find instructions on this forum for that. I’d also consider a weight distribution hitch as an investment if you are going to tow it more than a couple times a year.

We have a wireless controller mounted in the trailer for ours. It keeps the controller box out of the footwell/dash where I'm certain I would bang my knee on it multiple times. It's also handy if you ever switch vehicles, since any vehicle with the 7-pin hookup can tow the trailer at any time and the brakes will work. No need for every vehicle to have their own controller. A wireless one is more expensive, but definitely more convenient, for us at least.

 

[t4thfavor]

We have a wireless controller mounted in the trailer for ours. It keeps the controller box out of the footwell/dash where I'm certain I would bang my knee on it multiple times. It's also handy if you ever switch vehicles, since any vehicle with the 7-pin hookup can tow the trailer at any time and the brakes will work. No need for every vehicle to have their own controller. A wireless one is more expensive, but definitely more convenient, for us at least.

This works well if you only have one trailer with brakes. or if you don't plan on borrowing/renting another trailer.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

This works well if you only have one trailer with brakes. or if you don't plan on borrowing/renting another trailer.

Also true. It's an ideal setup for a single trailer and multiple vehicles. Which is our kind of setup. So that's why it works for us. Certainly not the ideal setup for everybody.

 

[Jason]

This is my only trailer, and my only vehicle capable of towing a trailer.

Bought the camper and towed it home with no trailer brakes as I hadn't had time to install the controller yet, don't want to do that again, I was careful and only went 50mph the whole 65 mile drive back.

I have to do work on the camper, and will look at getting a leveling hitch as well, will that also help a little with trailer sway?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

This is my only trailer, and my only vehicle capable of towing a trailer.

Bought the camper and towed it home with no trailer brakes as I hadn't had time to install the controller yet, don't want to do that again, I was careful and only went 50mph the whole 65 mile drive back.

I have to do work on the camper, and will look at getting a leveling hitch as well, will that also help a little with trailer sway?

Hi Jason

What my concern is that you do not indicate if this trailer and the truck are within spec. 20 ft means nothing. Trailer GVW and the GCW are key. Do you have these specs and do they agree with the owners manual? Towing overloaded, you are in uncharted territory. Please provide the specs of the trailer and the weight and the GVW of your Ranger. If Ranger GVW and Trailer GVW are over the GCW, you will have to reduce the Ranger's weight below GVW as your trailer approaches its GVW.

The Truck Stop scales are your friend to answer these questions. Weigh the Ranger as it is normally loaded with a full tank of gas. Then weigh the combination of the Ranger and the Trailer. This will tell you if you are overloaded as you will be above GCW. Then weigh the trailer by its self. This data will allow you to make an informed decision if this trailer is suitable for the Ranger. Good luck! I hope you did not buy a trailer that is too big for the Ranger...I have no feeling for trailers as I have a Diesel Pusher RV behind which I pull my Ranger...

best,
Phil Schlke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[t4thfavor]

Hi Jason

What my concern is that you do not indicate if this trailer and the truck are within spec. 20 ft means nothing. Trailer GVW and the GCW are key. Do you have these specs and do they agree with the owners manual? Towing overloaded, you are in uncharted territory. Please provide the specs of the trailer and the weight and the GVW of your Ranger. If Ranger GVW and Trailer GVW are over the GCW, you will have to reduce the Ranger's weight below GVW as your trailer approaches its GVW.

The Truck Stop scales are your friend to answer these questions. Weigh the Ranger as it is normally loaded with a full tank of gas. Then weigh the combination of the Ranger and the Trailer. This will tell you if you are overloaded as you will be above GCW. Then weigh the trailer by its self. This data will allow you to make an informed decision if this trailer is suitable for the Ranger. Good luck! I hope you did not buy a trailer that is too big for the Ranger...I have no feeling for trailers as I have a Diesel Pusher RV behind which I pull my Ranger...

best,
Phil Schlke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Do what Phil says, but keep in mind, for a 20' trailer to be over GVWR it would have to be filled lined with lead, and carrying a John Deere tractor (or built in the 1980's)

My 22' weighs 3750-4K loaded completely with water on board. (Forrest River Wildwood 207BH)

go to a place with a good scale, and they can tell you from one drive across the scales, 1. What the trailer weighs, 2. What the truck weighs, and 3, the approximate weight of the tongue.

It's always safer to do the weights individually, as the math is less "fuzzy".

I have an EZ-Hitch branded weight distributing hitch with integrated sway control, I've never felt the trailer sway at all. Not even when I was towing it with my Jeep Liberty (which was scary for other reasons).

20' isn't too big at all, as my setup now is comfortable, and can accelerate easily up to, and way beyond the speed limit of any road in Michigan without breaking a sweat.

Now if this is a toy hauler, you (obviously) need to take into consideration the weight of the toys being hauled.

 

[Jason]

The camper is 2500 lbs dry weight, I'm not going to be loading much into it, much less another 5k in weight.

Also - not a toy hauler. I've got my trailer brake controller wired in and working fine, as well as a new battery in the breakaway box.

I'm not new to towing, I grew up on a ranch hauling tons of hay around (though admittedly this was 25 years ago) and regularly tow my motorcycle to track days now.

 

[Floyd]

Install a real brake controller!
It is easier and more reliable.
I like the Prodigy series, but they don't fit as well in the Ranger as some others.
My "Insight" works at least as well and can be installed in much more convenient locations with a built-in look.
below is a picture of my install, it just an example with many other choices.

https://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-47297-INSIGHT-Simple-Control/dp/B00C5THYIK

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