Brake controller (does anyone actually have one)

[VAMike]

It doesn't help that other dealers confirmed that there is something available and were quoting 75$ for a PCM flash, this is straight out of an email from a dealership that one user on this forum posted, so yeah, they don't know anything... And a module could very well need a flash to enable the truck to talk to it, so I think it's a reasonable assumption to make.

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/thre...yone-actually-have-one.1718/page-2#post-21692

We've already established that a lot of sales guys don't know anything, this isn't news. Simply discount anything that anybody heard from a sales guy unless it's available in writing from Ford or there's a picture of an actual thing.

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[bandit67]

There is no brake controller for the Ranger available through dealerships yet. There wasn't even a part number when I asked my lead parts manager 2 weeks ago. When that original info came out quite a while back, it was determined that the one single dealer making those claims was looking at the F150 add-on brake controller, and then making the assumption that the Ranger would have the same setup, which is not the case.

 

[t4thfavor]

Agreed, but this is why the assumption is there. That and the 7500# tow rating with nothing factory to back it up. I've moved on anyways, I have the P3 installed which appears to be a better controller than the redarc as it has actual parameters you can adjust instead of relying on what is pre-programmed or what you can manipulate through a single knob with an RGB LED. If you call just about any dealer today, they will most likely say something like "Well, it's such a new vehicle that we don't have access to the install kit yet" instead of saying "We don't expect a brake controller option to be available through Ford parts"

 

[bandit67]

And as a top dealership salesman, I know there are plenty of "green peas", as we call them, trying to sell cars, and spewing all sorts of BS to customers. Those idiots give the rest of us decent, knowledgeable salespeople a bad rap. They don't get, no matter how many times we tell them, that it's better to admit you don't know and need to look into it, rather than making up some crap answer. Those are the guys that can't make a living and don't last long. Unfortunately, that makes room for yet another bozo to fill their spot.

You wouldn't believe how often some customer wants to argue with me about something he heard on the internet.

 

[t4thfavor]

Lol, I don't argue until I've seen something, and know it to be true. But yes, I feel like I deal with the Green Peas way too often. When I got my FoST, they put 4.5 quarts of 5W20. I didn't find out until I checked my oil in 1500 miles and found there to be none on the dipstick...

I asked them what they thought they put in to which the service manager replied "Well the receipt shows 4.5Quarts of 5W20, but we put in 6 quarts of 5W30 and billed it incorrectly". I never went back for another thing, not even a simple oil change.

 

[pannwfn]

There is no brake controller for the Ranger available through dealerships yet. There wasn't even a part number when I asked my lead parts manager 2 weeks ago. When that original info came out quite a while back, it was determined that the one single dealer making those claims was looking at the F150 add-on brake controller, and then making the assumption that the Ranger would have the same setup, which is not the case.

When one comes available (ford OEM dealer installed type) will someone make a announcement for all to know? And yes I don't understand why they couldn't get some Chinese company to do this a year or two ago when they knew you had to have one to pull that much weight or get a surge break trailer. Oh have any of you guys seen how much your truck is rated for or are you just assuming 7500?? Mine says 6060 what's yours rated for? Check the tag. Buy a drop hitch that's rated for 8000 lbs. And that's not the el cheapo one at wally world they only go to 5000. Change the things you can accept the things can't and foremost know the difference.

 

[MT19RANGER]

When one comes available (ford OEM dealer installed type) will someone make a announcement for all to know? And yes I don't understand why they couldn't get some Chinese company to do this a year or two ago when they knew you had to have one to pull that much weight or get a surge break trailer. Oh have any of you guys seen how much your truck is rated for or are you just assuming 7500?? Mine says 6060 what's yours rated for? Check the tag. Buy a drop hitch that's rated for 8000 lbs. And that's not the el cheapo one at wally world they only go to 5000. Change the things you can accept the things can't and foremost know the difference.

GVWR is the total weight of the vehicle plus any cargo/tongue weight of a trailer. Mine is 6050 LB.

 

[pannwfn]

GVWR is the total weight of the vehicle plus any cargo/tongue weight of a trailer. Mine is 6050 LB.

OK was going by gvrw on door.

 

[Spyder]

I spent a good 15-20 minutes looking all around the dash and couldn't find a pigtail harness. I was the one who asked etrailer where their "confirmed" wiring kit plugs in to the Ranger pigtail harness and they told me that they were told by Redarc, it's located to the left of the radio. Keep in mind Redarc is an Astralian company, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt that they may not have readily available access to a Northa American Ranger.

I also think it would be odd that Ford would have the 4 wire buttsplice wires to the trailer AND a pigtail harness. Despite all the literature from Ford stating that the tow package comes with a wiring harness, etc. Maybe the wiring harness wasn't readily available for these first batches of Rangers? I just installed my Redarc Tow-Pro Elite and didn't run in to any issues. I'll make a post about it shortly.

Did you have to splice into wires or did you simply plugged it in?
If so, where i s the plug?

Thanks!

 

[MT19RANGER]

Did you have to splice into wires or did you simply plugged it in?
If so, where i s the plug?

Thanks!

As @j0shm1lls pointed out: There's no harness, just those capped off wires that have already been found in this thread.

 

[Marshal.]

Yup just installed my brake controller into the truck, simple butt connectors on the wires previously mentioned and away we go. Like an extra 15 mins of work to installed the controller.
Truck did not come equipped with factory tow package either.

 

[oggvorbis]

Did you have to splice into wires or did you simply plugged it in?
If so, where i s the plug?

Thanks!

The wires need to butt spliced together as previously mentioned. The link to my step by step install is below:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/redarc-tow-pro-elite-install.1924

 

[RJohans]

Anybody seen these yet?
https://www.etrailer.com/p-C51180.html?hhyear=2019&hhmake=Ford&hhmodel=Ranger

 

[pannwfn]

Anybody seen these yet?
https://www.etrailer.com/p-C51180.html?hhyear=2019&hhmake=Ford&hhmodel=Ranger

Yeah but I don't know how to make a smart phone work just to old learn. Old dogs maybe? Researched and think redarc is the way to go pricey but a neat installation is doable. And have ordered one.

 

[t4thfavor]

I don't trust my smartphone to give me the correct weather, or make sure I get notified properly of new cat videos, I don't think I will trust it to even make an attempt at controlling the brakes on my trailer. I hardwired the P3 in, and magnet mounted it to the handle that you pull to access the fuse panel, it's solid, and after a few months of being there, it has only moved once when I was exiting the truck I whacked it with my knee. It's not easy even hard to move to another truck if I wanted to, I just need the cheap pigtail and the etrailer vid on where to splice the wires.

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