Brake controller on a 1st gen?

I recently purchased a BigTex dump trailer. Unloaded it weighs around 2,500 lbs. so when it's loaded with rock it will be a nice, heavy load so I need a brake controller on my 2002.

Has anyone done this? Any suggestions on a controller and advice on installation? Is it easy to do yourself or should I have a shop do it?

 

Any chance your truck has the factory tow package? If so it’s pre-wired for a brake controller, if not you’ll need to run a few wires to the controller location and to the hitch and change the plug for the trailer hookup to a 7 pin plug.

I have a Tekonsha Prodigy controller, I had it in my T100, worked fine, I haven’t used it with the Tundra yet, but worked fine in the T and had good reviews.

 

Thanks for the info! I got the 7 pin already but never thought about it being pre-wired for a brake controller.

 

Go on YouTube and look for brake co trollers on 1st Gen tundras. eTrailer has a lot for our trucks. Mine is prewired and I bought a plug and a controller and it works great! Curt discovery or something like that.

 

Tekonsha P3 is the best I know of for the $. Used them on a few vehicles and they are one of the best.

 

Crawl under the rear of your truck and see where the wires go. In addition to the turn signal and brake wires (which are probably wired to a 4-pin connector) there should be two beefy wires (or 1 beefy cable with 2 conductors in it) that go to the front of the truck -- one for line is for brake control, the other is for constant 12V.

 

My truck has the tow package so came pre-wired, it has a plug under the dash for the controller and came with a harness that plugs in to it with pigtails to wire up to the controller of your choice. If you’re lucky the harness with pigtail is kicking around in your truck somewhere, I found mine in the glovebox.

 

P3 here too,nothing bad that I have ever read about them at all!

Like has already been said check to see if your 7 pin is already connected and has voltage on the charge line and either wire it up or pay someone else too depending on your skills.

 

Does anyone have experience with this? I've been looking at this for a few days.

https://www.etrailer.com/multi-prod...5645&HHYear=2006&HHMake=Toyota&HHModel=Tundra

 

I had a friend who works at an RV shop install mine on my 2000. Towed a 28' TT that weighed around 7k pounds. Quite a bit of wiring involved if yours isn't pre-wired. Not rocket surgery but enough of a pain that I would consider having someone else do the install again if needed. Some new fuse blocks under the hood. Power wires run along the frame to the back of the truck. Some wires run up into the cab, mounting and adjusting the brake controller properly.