Hi everyone, just signed on and i am a new R.V owner/user. I have quite a few questions for you, hopefully you guys will have some answers for me! We just acquired a 1975 dual axles Aljo travel trailer. It was from a friend's dad and in amazing condition as well as cheap. We have two kids and have always been camping in tents, time to try the R.V world! I am coming into a few problems to start with. The trailer was dropped off to us by the friend's dad at our house and i never got to speak to him, i was at work. Everything seems to be in working order on the trailer but my problem lies with my truck.I have a 1993 Toyota Landcruiser that is capable of towing that thing but no luck with the electrical part. The truck has a 4 wire plug by the hitch, for regular trailers and the Aljo trailer has a 7 pins plug. Here are my questions for you guys;1) By having a 7 pin plug on the trailer and dual axles, i assume that the trailer has breaks correct?2) If the trailer does indeed have breaks, is it safe to assume that only a break controller can provide breaking to the trailer?3) Did anyone ever did their own wiring from a 4 to a 7 wire + a brake controller and was it pretty straight forward?4) What type of brake controller do you recommend, Proportional Controller or Time Delayed Controller and which ones would you stay away from?5) Any other general advises?Thank in advance for your help, trying to figure this all out before the "planned" camping trip next week before school starts again! :)

When we first got our Scamp (in fact the Scamp was ordered), I dove our Ford Ranger up to Minot, ND so my son could give me a hand in hooking up a 7 pin controller. (Yes, if it has brakes, you also need a brake controller) The 7 pin controller I bought (I believe I got it at Walmart) had a place for a 4 pin connector could be 'plugged' into it on the back. It still need a heavy duty 'hot' wire to be ran to the pin(s) to supply DC power to the trailer. I believe one hot wire & one for ground.He also ran wires to hooked up a brake controller. It wasn't an extremely expensive one. But it has been working well since Sept. 2005 in the Ranger & now in the F150. Can't say about Proportional Controller or Time Delayed Controller, not sure what it is. Don't believe it is a Time Delayed one. It can be set to different setting, from off to very light tough of the brakes & the trailer brakes will engage. Maybe that is Proportional Controller. ? It is electrical. Many years ago (mid-80s), I had one which was connected to the hydraulic brake line of the pickup. See no reason to do so now. Once you get the brake controller on, then you will need to see if the brakes are working.Here's a Plug In Multi Tow Adapter at Walmart. 7-Way RV Flat Blade Connector KiBut all you really need might be a 7-Pole RV Blade Round Plastic Tow Vehicle End Socket.Pricey, but they do have a Pre-Wired Adapter - 7-Way Flat Pin Connector with Brake Control WiringGood Luck & Safe Towing & Camping.Post Edits:As westend below mentioned, if it doesn't have a anti-sway bar, I'd want to get one of them for sure.Trailer Sway Control KitDepending on the tongue weight & how strong your rear springs are on the TV, a WDH might be needed.My son had a couple of overload springs he had on one of his pickups & put one on the Ranger when he did the other work for me. I brought the other set home. After getting the Scamp home I added the second set to keep it from shagging. He likes air bags for that now. What he has on his TC on a ton dully pickup.Break Controllers at JC Whitney: Controller w/time based activation Controller/wAdvanced Dual Acess AccelerometerCamping world: Primus IQ Brake Control Energize III Brake Control Prodigy P2 Brake Control Tekonsha P3 Electronic Brake ControlI checked on Amazon, they have many trailer Brake controllers. Many prices, they have a Tekonsha 78081 Voyager Proportional Brake Control for $53.10.Yes, it is all DC wiring, very basic. Even I could have gotten it done by myself, but we were going out to see him anyway.

Yes, conversion to 7 wire coupler is the best solution. There may be an aftermarket plug-in adaptor that fits your vehicle harness to make this transition easier. If your Landcruiser doesn't have the wires factory installed for aux. power and brake power, they will have to be added.The Prodigy 2 or 3, made by Tekonsha, are two of the favorite lower cost brake controllers used. Again, this will have to be powered from your distribution panel on the truck and wired to the coupler and brake light wiring. All of this is pretty straight forward and doesn't involve a lot of technical skill or knowledge. One caveat: I would make sure that the trailer is within your towing and payload capacities. From a brief search, I saw that max towing capacity was 5000 lbs. and max payload was 1500 lbs. It would not take much trailer with the combination of tongue weight, passengers, gear, fuel, etc. to reach the payload capacity.I would also suggest a good weight distributing hitch with sway control to insure that your shorter wheel base vehicle tows the trailer with safety.Good luck and have fun with your new TT!

With an old trailer like that I would actually look underneath to see if it still really has brakes.But yes, a 7 pin means it's supposed to have them. You will need a controller they are easy to hook up. Just 4 wires, harnesses are available for most modern vehicles. You'll also need to hook up a 12v charge line back to the trailer to keep it's battery charged from your tow vehicle.DO NOT get a timer based break controller. Do they work? Yes. Are momentum controllers much, much smoother? Yes.I have a Tekonsha Primus which I think is toward the bottom of their line. It is 10 times better than the timer based unit it replaced. I can only imagine how good the upper end products are.

westend wrote:Yes, conversion to 7 wire coupler is the best solution. There may be an aftermarket plug-in adaptor that fits your vehicle harness to make this transition easier. If your Landcruiser doesn't have the wires factory installed for aux. power and brake power, they will have to be added.The Prodigy 2 or 3, made by Tekonsha, are two of the favorite lower cost brake controllers used. Again, this will have to be powered from your distribution panel on the truck and wired to the coupler and brake light wiring. All of this is pretty straight forward and doesn't involve a lot of technical skill or knowledge. One caveat: I would make sure that the trailer is within your towing and payload capacities. From a brief search, I saw that max towing capacity was 5000 lbs. and max payload was 1500 lbs. It would not take much trailer with the combination of tongue weight, passengers, gear, fuel, etc. to reach the payload capacity.I would also suggest a good weight distributing hitch with sway control to insure that your shorter wheel base vehicle tows the trailer with safety.Good luck and have fun with your new TT!After looking at Aljos on the net. I agree fully with this post. Be sure you can tow it. Older TT are heavy. Your trailer has BRAKES, and it will need a BRAKE controller. I would suggest a Prodigy brake controller. Best for the money, and when set correctly. The TV, and TT stop as one.

Do you know what length the TT is?

Hello everybody, newbie here with a few questions

12 Replies

westend
Explorer
Aug 23, 2013
Yes, conversion to 7 wire coupler is the best solution. There may be an aftermarket plug-in adaptor that fits your vehicle harness to make this transition easier. If your Landcruiser doesn't have the wires factory installed for aux. power and brake power, they will have to be added.
The Prodigy 2 or 3, made by Tekonsha, are two of the favorite lower cost brake controllers used. Again, this will have to be powered from your distribution panel on the truck and wired to the coupler and brake light wiring. All of this is pretty straight forward and doesn't involve a lot of technical skill or knowledge.

One caveat: I would make sure that the trailer is within your towing and payload capacities. From a brief search, I saw that max towing capacity was 5000 lbs. and max payload was 1500 lbs. It would not take much trailer with the combination of tongue weight, passengers, gear, fuel, etc. to reach the payload capacity.
I would also suggest a good weight distributing hitch with sway control to insure that your shorter wheel base vehicle tows the trailer with safety.
Good luck and have fun with your new TT!
DesertHawk
Explorer
Aug 23, 2013
When we first got our Scamp (in fact the Scamp was ordered), I dove our Ford Ranger up to Minot, ND so my son could give me a hand in hooking up a 7 pin controller. (Yes, if it has brakes, you also need a brake controller)

The 7 pin controller I bought (I believe I got it at Walmart) had a place for a 4 pin connector could be 'plugged' into it on the back. It still need a heavy duty 'hot' wire to be ran to the pin(s) to supply DC power to the trailer. I believe one hot wire & one for ground.

He also ran wires to hooked up a brake controller. It wasn't an extremely expensive one. But it has been working well since Sept. 2005 in the Ranger & now in the F150.

Can't say about Proportional Controller or Time Delayed Controller, not sure what it is. Don't believe it is a Time Delayed one. It can be set to different setting, from off to very light tough of the brakes & the trailer brakes will engage. Maybe that is Proportional Controller. ? It is electrical.

Many years ago (mid-80s), I had one which was connected to the hydraulic brake line of the pickup. See no reason to do so now.

Once you get the brake controller on, then you will need to see if the brakes are working.

Here's a Plug In Multi Tow Adapter at Walmart.

7-Way RV Flat Blade Connector Ki

But all you really need might be a 7-Pole RV Blade Round Plastic Tow Vehicle End Socket.

Pricey, but they do have a Pre-Wired Adapter - 7-Way Flat Pin Connector with Brake Control Wiring

Good Luck & Safe Towing & Camping.

Post Edits:
As westend below mentioned, if it doesn't have a anti-sway bar, I'd want to get one of them for sure.
Trailer Sway Control Kit

Depending on the tongue weight & how strong your rear springs are on the TV, a WDH might be needed.

My son had a couple of overload springs he had on one of his pickups & put one on the Ranger when he did the other work for me. I brought the other set home. After getting the Scamp home I added the second set to keep it from shagging.

He likes air bags for that now. What he has on his TC on a ton dully pickup.

Break Controllers at JC Whitney:
Controller w/time based activation

Controller/wAdvanced Dual Acess Accelerometer

Camping world:
Primus IQ Brake Control

Energize III Brake Control

Prodigy P2 Brake Control

Tekonsha P3 Electronic Brake Control

I checked on Amazon, they have many trailer Brake controllers. Many prices, they have a Tekonsha 78081 Voyager Proportional Brake Control for $53.10.

Yes, it is all DC wiring, very basic. Even I could have gotten it done by myself, but we were going out to see him anyway.

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Hello everybody, newbie here with a few questions

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