Trailer wiring on Tahoe Q5

myoung84

Seaman
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
67
I am about to pull the trigger on buying a 2004 Tahoe Q5 with 220HP V6. The boat is in great shape with low hours. I have already gone to look at the boat and heard it run on ear muffs. Now I have a question on the wiring. The boat is 100 miles away and when/if I go to pick it up, I need to know what kind of wiring is on the trailer. I know the trailer is the original that came with the boat and has factory trailer brakes. I tow with a 2004 Ram 1500 but only have the flat 4 trailer harness, not the round 7 pin. I forgot to look on the boat when I was there to see what it had installed. What do the Tahoe boats normally come with?

I don't want to use the trailer brakes since my truck is not set up for it and I don't have a brake controller. I know the Ram has plenty of brakes to stop the trailer by it self, I have pulled trailers upwards of 6000 lbs with this truck with no trailer brakes and had no issues stopping. The boat and trailer loaded down will only be around 4k lbs. I honestly have never pulled a trailer that has brakes, but I am not new to pulling. If anyone one has the answers to help me I would greatly appreciate it. I will probably be picking this boat up this week. I I absolutely must, I can install the 7 pin receptacle on my truck.
 

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: Trailer wiring on Tahoe Q5

nothing to installing the plug. but it all depends on if the trailer has hydrolic brakes, or electric brakes. either way you need to set your trunk up with the proper equipment to tow that trailer,, which has brakes for a reason. you have not had a stopping issue YET. when you do it will be too late to do it right, may kill you, your family or someone elses.
 

myoung84

Seaman
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
67
Re: Trailer wiring on Tahoe Q5

I am fairly certain that the boat has the 5 pin flat connector, which means it just has hydraulic surge brakes and I will not need a brake controller. Is this correct?
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
Re: Trailer wiring on Tahoe Q5

The trailer can have electric brakes and still use the five pin connector so that logic is not valid. You need to know what brakes the trailer has and a phone call can answer that. If it has surge brakes, the fifth wire gets connected to the back up lights to activate the reverse solenoid on the trailer. If it has electric brakes, the fifth wire would come from the brake controller which you don't have.
 
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