JPaul
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,400
- Location
- Way up north, UT
After dinner and getting the girls in bed I spent some more time on the Alpha, this time installing the Tekonsha P3 brake controller I picked up. At first I mounted it on the left of the steering wheel, but that ended up being a bad location because my knee would hit it while getting in and out of the truck.
So the next step was moving it over to the right side, but I put it up fairly high and then discovered that it was in the way of the ignition. Oops.
So I moved it down lower which worked out better anyway because I could see the screen a lot better through the steering wheel, and I can rest my hand on my knee and be able to manipulate the controls as well as the manual brake lever.
It's a good thing I went with the P3, because right off the bat after getting the wires crimped together with the OEM pigtail, it started complaining about the brake line being shorted to ground. I noticed that it wouldn't always do it and would clear after a random period of time, but then come back up with that warning. I wracked my brain trying to think of what could possibly be causing an intermittent short to ground for the trailer brake wire, then finally remembered and issue others have had with the harness at the rear bumper rubbing against the body and shorting out.
Opening up the gate and looking down at the harness and sure enough, it was rubbing through. Bummer. I didn't have this issue on my red H3, it cleared it just enough to not be a problem, and I added some insulation to it in order to prevent it from happening later. Guess it's too late on the Alpha. The brake wire is rubbed through enough that it really should be repaired or replaced.
So the next step was moving it over to the right side, but I put it up fairly high and then discovered that it was in the way of the ignition. Oops.
So I moved it down lower which worked out better anyway because I could see the screen a lot better through the steering wheel, and I can rest my hand on my knee and be able to manipulate the controls as well as the manual brake lever.
It's a good thing I went with the P3, because right off the bat after getting the wires crimped together with the OEM pigtail, it started complaining about the brake line being shorted to ground. I noticed that it wouldn't always do it and would clear after a random period of time, but then come back up with that warning. I wracked my brain trying to think of what could possibly be causing an intermittent short to ground for the trailer brake wire, then finally remembered and issue others have had with the harness at the rear bumper rubbing against the body and shorting out.
Opening up the gate and looking down at the harness and sure enough, it was rubbing through. Bummer. I didn't have this issue on my red H3, it cleared it just enough to not be a problem, and I added some insulation to it in order to prevent it from happening later. Guess it's too late on the Alpha. The brake wire is rubbed through enough that it really should be repaired or replaced.