patrick_g
Elite Member
So, you lay down your $ and buy a new truck with an OEM towing package. You get a good stout (but not amazingly so) receiver hitch, a built in electronic brake controller, a couple styles of sockets to let you plug the trailer plug into the truck as well as engine stuff like tranny coolers etc.
You then plug in your new dump trailer and SHAZAM! all the lights work correctly: turn signals, running lights, clearance lights, stop and tail lights...
Ahh, isn't life grand? Then you notice that the battery running the hydraulic pump for dumping the trailer is not doing too good. A little trouble shooting and you find that the pin in the trailer connector that is proclaimed to be 12 volts (charge line to trailer battery) is in fact dead as a doornail. Further investigtation and phone call to the dealership reveals that the vehicles are supplied without a relay and fuse that you have to buy to plug into a fuse block to get the 12 volts out the trailer connector.
There is a schematic diagram on the dust cover/lid to the connectors showing which pins are for which lights and which is for 12 volts but the 12 volts is NOT THERE. So the MFG saves a buck by not really making the truck ready for towing and you are inconvenienced by a dead battery which should have been charging off the trucks alternator.
Is mine an isolated incident or is this the NORMAL state of affairs? I'd have appreciated it if they would have at least reminded me when we were specking out a truck WITH TOWING PACKAGE that the towing package was incomplete and you were responsible for buying a couple parts and installing them yourself. I think this situation SUCKS!
Pat
You then plug in your new dump trailer and SHAZAM! all the lights work correctly: turn signals, running lights, clearance lights, stop and tail lights...
Ahh, isn't life grand? Then you notice that the battery running the hydraulic pump for dumping the trailer is not doing too good. A little trouble shooting and you find that the pin in the trailer connector that is proclaimed to be 12 volts (charge line to trailer battery) is in fact dead as a doornail. Further investigtation and phone call to the dealership reveals that the vehicles are supplied without a relay and fuse that you have to buy to plug into a fuse block to get the 12 volts out the trailer connector.
There is a schematic diagram on the dust cover/lid to the connectors showing which pins are for which lights and which is for 12 volts but the 12 volts is NOT THERE. So the MFG saves a buck by not really making the truck ready for towing and you are inconvenienced by a dead battery which should have been charging off the trucks alternator.
Is mine an isolated incident or is this the NORMAL state of affairs? I'd have appreciated it if they would have at least reminded me when we were specking out a truck WITH TOWING PACKAGE that the towing package was incomplete and you were responsible for buying a couple parts and installing them yourself. I think this situation SUCKS!
Pat