# 2007 Suburban - Tahoe : Brake Controller Connections



## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

I finally got around to moving the Prodigy brake controller from the old 99 Suburban to the new 07 Burb this weekend and was un-pleasantly surprised! In addition to some other unkind things, it seems that to save fifty cents GM has decided to eliminate the "plug & play" connector under the dash. For those that may need to install a brake controller in the future, here are some details you will need to know:

1. No more plug connector under dash. Instead the wire ends are taped up to the wiring harness above the OBD port. So forget about buying that simple plug-n-play connector for a 5 minute install.

2. There are no towing fuses in the main under hood fuse box. You will need two of them. 1 30 amp and 1 40 amp. They are for positions #66 and 71 and are labeled "stud #1" and "stud #2".

3. And just to be absolutely sure that you get no electrical power to your rig, GM also left the two main wires disconnected from the under-hood fuse box!







You will find one coiled and taped to the wiring harness about 12" below the master cylinder and the other coiled and taped to the wiring harness between the fuse box and driver's side fender. Both wires are red in color with a black stripe.

4. At the very front of the fuse box there are two threaded studs (connected to fuses #66 and #71 inside the fuse panel). One is fatter & silver, the other thinner & black. This is where you will connect the wires you just pulled up. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PULL OUT THE FUSE PANEL TO MAKE THE CONNECTIONS! Lets just say that I know







The studs are slightly hidden by one of the gray straps used to pull the main fuse panel out of the box. All you need to do is slightly lift that gray strap to make room for your wrench.

5. You will know which wire to connect to the proper stud by the different sized holes on each wire-end connector. Large hole = large silver stud. Smaller hole = black stud.

6. OK, so they didn't provide an under-dash plug, they didn't install the fuses, they hid and didn't connect the wires to the fuse box, hmmm what else could they do to slow ya down? I know, make the threaded studs an odd size and don't supply the hold down nuts! Three stores later I finally had them and the job was done. The nut needed for the small black stud is 1/4-28, and I don't know what the larger one is because I had one in the garage.

Now I know why they say that "Chevy trucks are built tough" !


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

> stud #1" and "stud #2".


And don't forget the most important stud! YOU! You da' man!









Good going in tackling a difficult situation!

At least now you know it's done right!

Mark


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

mswalt said:


> > stud #1" and "stud #2".
> 
> 
> And don't forget the most important stud! YOU! You da' man!
> ...


Well i DID feel the need to flex and yell YEAH when the Prodigy finally lit up


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Did you actually pay extra for the Towing Package on your Suburban? Sounds like you got gypped!

I don't see how in the world they would make a TV such as yours and not feel that a brake connector plug was an important feature









Great job figuring it out though!


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Yeah I hear ya.

And I actually advised the dealer to get the tow circuit powered and ready to go. Silly me, I figured that they would know what to do! All they did was pull down the wires from under the dash. And that was after they denied that the wires needed to be pulled down at all and insisted that all I needed was this cool little plug and play cable available at my local RV dealer!

Sheesh! Kinda sad when a guy poking around on the internet knows more about these things than a GM certified technician!


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

Congrats on getting your Prodigy going, Jim! Sounds like the kind of adventure that makes my gut wrench (npi) just thinking about it









-CC


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

Oh, I should have told you that. We put brake controllers in our 3 new ones at work. I too was screaming when I saw the plug and play connection was gone!!!! I watched the guy at the hitch shop hook it up, I dont get paid to do that but i am willing to learn







. I should have informed you of that on your first new rig post.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Bummer on all the extra effort you had to put into the new Burb....but at least you had an excuse to have a few cold ones after the project was complete.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

When I heard about this awhile back I wrote GM and told them how disgusted I was about this and the hitch, and said that if just one person buys another brand because of it they would not have saved a dime.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

N7OQ said:


> When I heard about this awhile back I wrote GM and told them how disgusted I was about this and the hitch, and said that if just one person buys another brand because of it they would not have saved a dime.


Good for you Bill









Did you ever receive a reply from GM??


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