Hi folks -- I have a boat trailer that's got surge brakes and a flat 5-pin wiring connector. My 2000 Tundra has a 4-pin connector. I understand that 5th pin connects to....(and here's where I get in over my head) the circuit that activates the "reverse" light.
I'd like to add this single connector, asap, if at all practical. Unfortunately the trailer shop is busy, and can't get to it.
In theory it doesn't seem too hard, but...I don't have a wiring diagram, and have no practical knowledge of how to go about tapping into this circuit, assuming I can even find it. I have visions of poking around under the back of the truck while my wife has it in "R" stepping on the brakes!!
You must have a Ranger boat. Every time I bought a new truck, I had to go to the boat dealer to rewire the harness. I was really happy when my 2003 came with a 7 pin connector. There is a 7 to 5 adapter that worked very well.
I am not the right guy to tell you how to do this, but I believe the easy way to get to the reverse light is to tap into the wire that goes the bulb in your tail light.
__________________
I've moved dealers again. Hopefully this is the last one. I'm at Rosner Toyota in Fredericksburg VA. Call 540-898-7900 and ask for Steve Clifford... they will not know who "Cliffy" is.
STK - the key question here is does your trailer have disk or drum brakes? Only boat trailers with disk brakes need the 5th prong to be connected since disk brakes work forward and backwards (drum only work forwards) and hence the reverse light wiring is actually used to activate a reverse soleniod that basically blocks the brake actuator from engaging when backing up. If you can back up your trailer currently without the brakes locking up, you definitely have drums and hence the 5th pin isn't actually connected to anything. My boat trailer doesn't have reverse lights, but has a 5 pin connector just like yours that I plug in to the 4 pin on the truck.
Boat trailer manufacturers just put the 5 pin on there so they only have to stock a single part, even if a 4 pin was all that was needed.
JMO -- trailer has disk brakes, and they definitely lock up in reverse. They're amazingly sensitive, and I've dug a huge trench in my lawn. <sigh>
For now, I'm just using the disconnect pin to physically prevent the "surge" feature, but it sounds like I'll just need to go to a real trailer store. OTOH, I will look at the wiring to my tail light and see how accessible that is.
I don't remember exactly where I saw it, but they would turn one of the plugs sideways and plug them in perpendicular to each other where the 5-pin plug blue wire is connected to the brown wire on the 4-pin connector. At least I think it was the brown one, I believe that is the wire that ties into your tail/marker lights. To release the brake they just needed to turn on their parking lights. It makes the trailer think the reverse lights have been activated. While not optimal, it should help for moving the trailer around your yard or backing up. Just remember that your vehicle will be the only stopping power until your parking lights are turned off or wires plugged back in normally. This should at least work until you are able to get the proper wiring done. I just recently put a 7-pin plug (and brake controller) on a 2001 Sequoia. Had to run some wiring from the front to the back, but you would only need the proper wiring converter and find a reverse light wire to splice into. On the Sequoia I had to take off the left rear cargo space side panel. I'm not sure how the Tundra's wires are routed to the taillight.
JMO -- trailer has disk brakes, and they definitely lock up in reverse. They're amazingly sensitive, and I've dug a huge trench in my lawn. <sigh>
For now, I'm just using the disconnect pin to physically prevent the "surge" feature, but it sounds like I'll just need to go to a real trailer store. OTOH, I will look at the wiring to my tail light and see how accessible that is.
Thx
Well, the upside is disk brakes are so much better on boat trailers than drum. The standard drum brakes on boat aren't self adjusting like the ones in cars, which means to keep them operational you have to manually reset the shoes every so often which is a major hassle given you have to pull the wheel and hub off to do it, and then repack the bearings afterwards.
I swapped in kodiak disk brakes on mine and I couldn't believe the difference. On a side note, if you trailer your boat alot, make sure you keep the bearings lubed, 90% of the time when you see someone with a trailer broken down on the side of the road its because the wheel bearings ran dry on grease and proceeded to heat up and seize.
Anyways, if there is a toyota dealer near you, just have them install a 7 pin round receiver on the truck and then get a 7 to 5 pin adapter and you should be all set to tow just about anything. Hopefully it won't take them more than an hour to rewire the truck. Also note, with surge brakes you don't need the prodigy brake controller, thats only for trailers whose actuator (master cylinder) is activated by wire.
I completely rewired the trailer end of mine when I installed the brakes and new actuator - let me know if you have any questions on that end...
Surge brakes -- newbie wiring question
Linear Mode
