[Hudsonhawk]

I was looking at he cables online and think I may be wrong about the one that the Cherokee uses. I need to double check the plug and see. But I think it actually uses the Dodge pigtail and not the Jeep one.

 

[CurtWPk]

A little variation on the the theme.

I plan to use the Jeep wiring differently. I did this on another vehicle and it worked well.

I have hydraulic surge brakes on the trailer. It has a "backflow solenoid" that allows one to disable the trailer brakes with the solenoid. I hook the backup light lead to the solenoid so when backing up, the surge does not apply the brakes.

I also hook the brake signal wire to the solenoid, via a simple switch under the dash. I use this to manually disable the brakes when going down very long hills using engine braking. If you don't do this, the engine braking applies the surge brakes for a long time and they can overheat.

Its a Colorado thing.

 

[Hudsonhawk]

From Chrysler's wiring diagram database: There is a 4-pin connector in the usual location above the driver's footwell. I haven't personally gone looking for it yet, but according to their info, it's there.

Does your source tell you what each of those pins is for?

 

[CDNTrailHawk]

Pin /Function/Wire Color
1/ground/black
2/brake lamp switch output/wt-vt
3/electric brake feed/dg
4/fused b+/tn-rd

 

[Hudsonhawk]

Thank you.

 

[CurtWPk]

I got a good look and picture of the plug under the dash.

It matches the one on the etrailer web site BUT it is the wrong gender !
http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Tow-Ready/22294.html

I suppose we could ask why in the world would they do that... but the more important question is... where can we find the right plug of the right gender ? ?

 

[Hudsonhawk]

I have been talking with tekonsha support. the correct plug would be on the 3021-p cable for the current rams. But the battery and trailer brake wires are swapped on the connector according to the pinouts you provided.

 

[Hudsonhawk]

So if we could get aRam pigtail we could splice that into whatever controller you wanted to use.

 

[Hudsonhawk]

I have the 3021-p cable on order. I will test the pinouts and see if the wires are swapped.

 

[CurtWPk]

I have to say... The 3021-p plug sure does not look like it would fit with the plug in the photo I took (above).

I have my fingers crossed that you receive the correct plug.

I am not concerned about the pin assignments - that is easy to change.

 

[Hudsonhawk]

I received the 3021-P and can verify the plug is the correct one but wiring is different than the Dodge that it was meant for. The ground (white) and brake light (red) feeds are correct but the +12 fused (black) and the trailer brake lines (blue) are switched. So when you plug this adapter into the 2014 Cherokee (KL) the blue wire is 12v hot and the black wire is cold. The wires were all verified using a voltmeter.

I switched the blue and black wires on the vehicle end of the 3021-p harness and will use this with my Prodigy.

So if you just wanted the generic pigtail you would get this one:

http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Tow-Ready/20273.html

But you would still need to switch the black and blue wires in the plug for it to be correct.

 

[Hudsonhawk]

I put together a PDF file with all the information in this thread.

http://www.hudsonhawk.net/th/klbcwire.pdf

 

[CurtWPk]

Excellent

Thanks John, for following through and producing an excellent summary.

Its a great convenience to use the factory plug instead of having to replace it.

I have already ordered the adapter.

http://www.amazon.com/Tekonsha-3021-P-Control-Wiring-Adapter/dp/B004I9UFNQ

 

[CDNTrailHawk]

Nicely done John! Just picked myself up a new ultralight travel trailer so suddenly this all becomes more relevant to me! Guess we'll see how the little KL does with a 24'x8' 4000lb (dry) unit this spring!

 

[CurtWPk]

I finished my little project - to control my surge brakes via the under-dash wire harness. Works great.

The plug that John references did fit properly.

Link to plug

I ended up with an extra harness(accidentally ordered two). If anyone wants it - its yours. Free. Not worth returning. Just PM your s-mail address if you want it.

 

[CDNTrailHawk]

Where is everyone mounting their brake controller? The usual spot would be might dangerous with the knee airbag right there (not that there is a pile of space anyway).

 

[Hudsonhawk]

I am going to mount it on the door for thetray on the left of the steering wheel. it is out of the way of the knee airbag at that point.

 

[Hudsonhawk]

You can't mount it to the right of the steering wheel because the dash curves and is not perpendicular to the direction of travel.

 

[CurtWPk]

The usual spot would be might dangerous with the knee airbag right there (not that there is a pile of space anyway).

This is a very good point. I noticed whilst crawling around under there that it would be easy to miss the fact that a panel is part of the air bag - and start drilling is a spot that would be real baaaaaaad.

Lets be careful out there !

 

[Hudsonhawk]

Mounted my brake controller this morning. It definitely stops better with the trailer brakes. Even with my little trailer. I completed the towing break in about half way through the drive. I was able to get it up on the highway on the way home. Very happy to say the TH was rock solid towing the trailer in fairly strong winds at 65~70 MPH.