Towing with a 4.0L 4x4 XLT

[03roushs1]

Just need to know if I can hook a brake controller to my XLT. I have the class III hitch with the RV 7 pin Electrical hook-up. I have a tekonsha Prodigy brake controller from when I had my truck. Thanks

 

[hlenoble]

Tekonsha makes a specific "Ford" cable for connecting directly to the factory wiring in the explorer. It's not easy to find where to plug it in, it's WAY back behind the glove compartment, but after you plug it in the brake controller works the brakes through the 7-pin connector perfectly.

 

[Atom Ant]

If you need a brake controller when you tow, are you pulling more than you should. I have a 02 XLT 4.0 4x4. Have not towed a trailer yet, don't know how much i could pull. Not able to figure out the numbers in the book. Numbers hurt my head.

 

[03roushs1]

If you need a brake controller when you tow, are you pulling more than you should. I have a 02 XLT 4.0 4x4. Have not towed a trailer yet, don't know how much i could pull. Not able to figure out the numbers in the book. Numbers hurt my head.

It is not the amount that I am towing. In fact I will be towing an empty trailer back to my dads house that he left here. it has brakes, because it is heavy duty, but empty it is well within my limits. I have a brake controller, I just wanted to know if it would work. Some light trailers still have there own brakes.

 

[hlenoble]

Not true

If you need a brake controller when you tow, are you pulling more than you should. I have a 02 XLT 4.0 4x4. Have not towed a trailer yet, don't know how much i could pull. Not able to figure out the numbers in the book. Numbers hurt my head.

That's not true. In NY, the law is that a trailer over 1,000 lbs is required to have brakes. My feeling is that anything over that 1,000 pounds should have brakes, regardless of the law.

The 4.0 with the factory tow package is rated to tow around 5,000 pounds. I tow a 3,500 pound (loaded) trailer, and again, regardless of the law, I think brakes are a MUST.

 

[Atom Ant]

Point well taken. Thank You

 

[Thelt]

I put a brake controller on my Explorer. All you have to do is get the wiring harness to hook it up with. I think I got mine from etrailer.com. You plug it in to the connection behind the glove box. It is easier just to remove the glove box first. Then you just wire up your controller to the harness. I routed the wires under my console and mounted it in the little area below the climate controls. You can remove the round cap under the black rubber mat and run the wires through it. The only cutting I had to do was to the black rubber mat. You could just mount it under your dash but I planned to keep my controller in mine all the time.