electric trailer brakes with my B-61

[teleman]

My B-61T has the pos ground system and I was wondering how to hook up electric trailer brakes to it.I found a nice goose neck lowboy trailer that I could use behind the Mack but need advise on hooking up the brakes...My buddy bought this trailer to pull with his semi and the light went off in my head...hey I could use it and haul my sons old power wagon and take it to the Watts truck show...sounds like a neat road trip...also I should have changed it over to neg ground but didnt as everything worked ok...thanks Jim

[eddeere]

Tekonsha has a wiring diagram / harness that they say will work on pos. gr. systems with their P3 brake controller. www. tekonsha.com 1 888 785 5832. I have used their products they are good but not cheap.

[Ezrider]

for the most part for trailers designed to be pulled by pickups behind a semi you don't need trailer breaks. the weight of the combination will normally exceed the trailers weight limit before you exceed the tractor break ratings. that being said if it was going to be a regular thing i would want to get the trailer breaks set up. another thing you have probably already thought of is you will need to re-wire the trailer lights to positive ground as well.

[Freightrain]

When I first went to pull my 40ft trailer with my B, I used a typical pickup brake controller as I had already switched to NEG ground. I quickly HATED it. The old pendulum style would not work right due to the rough ride. The newer electronic versions were a PITA due to they just ramp up to full power over a certain time period and do not work well going down a long grade. I switched over to a air over electric model and it works PERFECT. Tap into your brake pedal air and it then works proportional to your brake activation.

You literally wouldn't have to switch over to NEG ground,as the brake magnets would not care what direction the current flowed. No electronics to worry about either. Unless you had LED tail lights in the trailer.

This is what I bought...NOT cheap.

https://www.etrailer.com/Brake-Controller/Warner/1300-80.html

This one is a bit cheaper:

http://www.brakecontroller.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=29

[Ezrider]

good point on the trailer lights, i was thinking led's witch are polarity sensitive. reg bulbs don't care what way the current goes.

your break controller defiantly looks like the way to go. nice setup

[thomastractorsvc]

I use a regular electric brake controller set up for 8 axle I have the electronic ones with time sensor and motion. I have one in both of my Macks they seem to work good with my 20K Gooseneck trailer. My B did not have fifth wheel so I made a GN Ball mount and have it set up with a 7 way RV plug, on the R I bought a kingpin receiver tube so depending on which truck or even my 1 ton I just have to swap the tube over about 3 minutes.

As far as the don't worry about brakes, if the trailer comes with brakes then they should be hooked up. I know with my trailer loaded with my JD 60 or the Mack B I like the ability to stop.

[carlotpilot]

dot in all states are checking more and more for working elec. brake set ups eastern states more so than others . so try to have power at least going to them. they don``t have a way to effectively check holding power that I know of but if no power at all going to them is a gauranteed ticket and shut down until they do work speaking from experience

[eddeere]

As caroltpilot said DOT is checking more. I have electric over hydraulic brakes on my 24K gooseneck and pull it with a Freightliner. I got pulled over for a safety inspection at a weigh station. The Dot inspector wanted me to slide the tandems on the pavement with a loaded trailer. I told him that I was not going to tear my clutch out to do that. After he got the state patrol involved they let me pull forward and apply the brakes as they watched the trailer tandems. I think they could see that the brakes were working and let me go.

[Freightrain]

I don't think I could slide the axles on my car trailer no matter how much power I applied to them. I always pull test them in the driveway before leaving. I get the truck rolling and pull on the application arm. The truck will stop. Not instanteous like air brakes, but I make sure they work.

I would not like having no trailer brakes. With minimum weight on the fifthwheel, my rear axle will lock up quickly and send me sliding into a jacknife. No thanks.

[Gmerrill0516]

I installed Tekonsha system in my Dodge two days ago. It is the P3 referenced above and is cabalbe of 1-3 trailer axels and electric or electric/hydrauulic I think it said. It clearly states that you can wire it to work properly with a positive grounding system. The braking forces (output) is fully adjustable and is a pretty nice unit htat sences G forces and adjusts accordingly. They make the pig tails for the new trucks set up with tow packages so literraly plugging the harness into the truck then into the controller and mount the controller...done! I don't think they will have a pigtail to fit a B-61 but the wiring is not too bad as long as you keep track of what is what. They give a good written explanation of what each lead is for to help clear up the confusion if wiring is not your thing.

The cost was not bad either as I recall.

Good luck

[fxfymn]

As the replies said the P3 can be used with positive ground, but there other accessories that cannot run on positive ground. I use a back up camera mounted to the front bumper of my 75A so I can "see" when I am loading onto the trailer.

I created a negative ground buss bar by running a fused wire to an isolated fuse panel from the positive battery post and in turn running a wire back to the negative terminal that is also insulated from the truck. Now I can use the camera and a GPS in the truck. Both panels are mounted in a plastic box I bought at Radio Shack to keep them from electrically touching the truck.