Town & Country's a Tow Vehicle Finally
Finally got a hitch installed on my 2014 Town & Country... Can't wait to tow with it. Its a Draw-Tite/Hidden Hitch 'Class III' hitch rated for 500 lbs of WD and 5000 lbs trailer weight (yes I kno...
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Update time...
Got my brake controller wired in... We had a dear loved one pass over the weekend so I took some of the down time and installed the trailer wiring and the brake control in between all the activities and planning... Yea I know, strange... I like working on cars when I need to think and clear my head. So over three days I progressively got this job done.
I feel a lot better by accomplishing something... But Man I am going to miss my wife's Paw Paw..(he was like my own!)
I'm going to call this a budget brake controller install because I did this "on a budget" for a reasonable amount of money.
Here is my parts list....
1) Used Draw-Tite Intella Stop brake controller I scored for $55 (it's a relabeled Prodigy one with the red display) price includes the pigtail...($35 for the control on eBay and $20.00 for the pigtail at Camping world)
2) Valley powered and circuit protected tail light converter (Fire-sale on eBay for $13.00!!) (I already had 30 ft primary wire for this and a sweet 20 amp fuse to power the converter)
3) 50 ft Blue and 50 ft Black 10 ga primary wire from eBay for $22.00 shipped to the house
4) Misc connectors- ring terminals, end to end connectors etc- $20 ish with TONS left over....ever heard of Posi-Taps? They are AWESOME btw...
5) Hopkins 7 way super tough awesome vehicle side connector I bought years ago and never installed.... It's tough tough tough and I think I spent $13 ish years ago.
6) 40 and 30 amp circuit breakers - $6.00 ish
7) Etrailer...install videos- Free
Total for the budget install was $129.00...
Now, there were tools and electrical tape and wiring loom and zip ties that I already had so those were not counted but could add another $20 -30 ish depending on what you have in your toolbox.
I was successful in hiding the wiring inside the vehicle behind the panel on the drivers side quarter panel trim. There is a access panel here on the Mini-van where the jack and the air pump is located.
When not towing there is no evidence of the trailer wiring... When I need to tow I just pull the wiring out from behind the access panel and lay the wires outside of the rear hatch and hitch up and connect the wiring.
All connections are secure and the brake controller works like new... Zero complaints there. The 7 way works like it should and overall, it's a clean install. I was fortunate to find the red display Prodigy instructions still on the net.
I'm really looking forward to the self leveling feature of the Intella-Stop (Prodigy) and the boost feature.
I'm happy...now I just got to start looking for a budget (used) 400-600 lb weight distribution hitch and start researching pups for our future camping adventures.
Thanks everyone!
Jeremiah
Got my brake controller wired in... We had a dear loved one pass over the weekend so I took some of the down time and installed the trailer wiring and the brake control in between all the activities and planning... Yea I know, strange... I like working on cars when I need to think and clear my head. So over three days I progressively got this job done.
I feel a lot better by accomplishing something... But Man I am going to miss my wife's Paw Paw..(he was like my own!)
I'm going to call this a budget brake controller install because I did this "on a budget" for a reasonable amount of money.
Here is my parts list....
1) Used Draw-Tite Intella Stop brake controller I scored for $55 (it's a relabeled Prodigy one with the red display) price includes the pigtail...($35 for the control on eBay and $20.00 for the pigtail at Camping world)
2) Valley powered and circuit protected tail light converter (Fire-sale on eBay for $13.00!!) (I already had 30 ft primary wire for this and a sweet 20 amp fuse to power the converter)
3) 50 ft Blue and 50 ft Black 10 ga primary wire from eBay for $22.00 shipped to the house
4) Misc connectors- ring terminals, end to end connectors etc- $20 ish with TONS left over....ever heard of Posi-Taps? They are AWESOME btw...
5) Hopkins 7 way super tough awesome vehicle side connector I bought years ago and never installed.... It's tough tough tough and I think I spent $13 ish years ago.
6) 40 and 30 amp circuit breakers - $6.00 ish
7) Etrailer...install videos- Free
Total for the budget install was $129.00...
Now, there were tools and electrical tape and wiring loom and zip ties that I already had so those were not counted but could add another $20 -30 ish depending on what you have in your toolbox.
I was successful in hiding the wiring inside the vehicle behind the panel on the drivers side quarter panel trim. There is a access panel here on the Mini-van where the jack and the air pump is located.
When not towing there is no evidence of the trailer wiring... When I need to tow I just pull the wiring out from behind the access panel and lay the wires outside of the rear hatch and hitch up and connect the wiring.
All connections are secure and the brake controller works like new... Zero complaints there. The 7 way works like it should and overall, it's a clean install. I was fortunate to find the red display Prodigy instructions still on the net.
I'm really looking forward to the self leveling feature of the Intella-Stop (Prodigy) and the boost feature.
I'm happy...now I just got to start looking for a budget (used) 400-600 lb weight distribution hitch and start researching pups for our future camping adventures.
Thanks everyone!
Jeremiah
