wiring chevy silverado for towed

Well looks like I need to check the brake lights, will do tonight or tomorrow with a second set of eyes. I found what appears to be a junction attached to the bottom back of the cab. I was hoping to tie in here as I would only need half the amount of wire. Also trying to get a better picture of the Hopkins kit, if the plugs are the same I would just need to plug the kit into the factory plugs and no splicing. Thanks for all the info.

UsualSuspect wrote:

discovery4us wrote:
I guess the year would help, not sure where my head was (wait don't answer that!). It's a 2004 Chevrolet 2500.

Mine is an 07 Classic. I ran the wiring for the lights from the front bumper, down the drivers side frame to the rear. There is enough room behind the taillights for diodes. I used the BlueOx Diode kit on mine, but any of them will work.
I am thinking you will also need a relay for the brake lights. The relay is installed in the cab, and prevents the brake lights from being triggered by the supplemental braking system. The lights should all be wired off the coach.
I did all the wiring myself, and it took me an afternoon, most of the time was trying to figure out how to twist my body around to be able to get the connections done under the dash for the brake light relay.
If you are in SoCal and close enough you can take a look at how I did mine.

I used to think that ALL vehicles were setup so that the brake lights were activated when the brake pedal was pushed, ignition on or not. But, in all my toads, I've found that many, do not have the brake lights activated by the brake pedal, if the key is OFF.

This is why I asked the OP what year he's planning on towing. On our present toad, the GMC, it DOES NOT ACTIVATE BRAKE LIGHTS when the brakes are applied via our Ready Brake while being towed. But, our previous toad, a 2011 Honda CR-V EX-L, AWD, DID have the brake lights activate when the brake pedal applied, even when the key was/is completely out of the car.

So, just for grins, have the OP push on the brake pedal of his intended toad, with the key in the OFF position, and see if his model/year of truck, does or, does not, activate the brake lights, when the pedal is pushed.

Yep, I ran the wires the same way, all the way back to the left tail light housing area and, there's where I did all the work. As far as the diodes, I used some cheap-o Radio Shack ones. I got the largest they had for about $4.00 for a four pack. They've always worked perfect. But, it's nice that the stock tail lights work great for this part of towing. Good luck.
Scott

discovery4us wrote:
I guess the year would help, not sure where my head was (wait don't answer that!). It's a 2004 Chevrolet 2500.

Mine is an 07 Classic. I ran the wiring for the lights from the front bumper, down the drivers side frame to the rear. There is enough room behind the taillights for diodes. I used the BlueOx Diode kit on mine, but any of them will work.
I am thinking you will also need a relay for the brake lights. The relay is installed in the cab, and prevents the brake lights from being triggered by the supplemental braking system. The lights should all be wired off the coach.
I did all the wiring myself, and it took me an afternoon, most of the time was trying to figure out how to twist my body around to be able to get the connections done under the dash for the brake light relay.
If you are in SoCal and close enough you can take a look at how I did mine.

I guess the year would help, not sure where my head was (wait don't answer that!). It's a 2004 Chevrolet 2500.

double post

In my 07 I used a diode kit, it allowed me to use the same bulbs. I did not think I would have enough room for a separate bulb. You will also need a relay for the brake lights. The relay keeps the brake pedal from activating the brake lights when you are towing it.

Discovery4us,
Well Sir, I might be able to help here but, what I need to know is, what year of Silverado are you planning on using? On our toad, an '11 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4 Extended Cab, I did it the easy way. I did it the same way I've wired the last ELEVEN toads we've owned. And that way is to utilize the stock tail light bulbs for toad lights.

Some people cringe at it and think the entire vehicle is going to burn to the ground if you mess with the factory wiring. Well, in all those toads, using the exact same method, I've NEVER had any issues what so ever. And, the really good part to me is, anyone following our toads, see natural tail light operation, including amber turn signals if and when equipped, depending on what kind of toad we had at the time.

Anyway, it's an incredibly simple system to setup. If you'd like to see how I did it, PM me and I'd send you a wiring diagram that I drew up showing every bit of the setup.
Scott

Not much help, but I had mine wired by an rv tech who used a kit. No problems and works just as it should. My Silverado is a 2012.