ThePatricksRV
Indianapolis
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I am back with another question about tow dollies. Unfortunately, I haven't received much help from the local trailer store.
Anyway, I need to know if my 2005 Winnebago Sightseer is wired for a tow dolly with electric brakes. There is an input on the hitch but I don't know if that's just to operate the trailer brake lights. I am fully aware that this is probably a dumb question but I've been unable to figure this out myself. Based on what I've read, I'd like to avoid purchasing a tow dolly with surge brakes. Any assistance and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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sunkatcher
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If your Winny has brake controller by the dash I would say YES. If you have no brake controller the sad answer is NO.
Ron
masa4u.com
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kaydeejay
SE Michigan, USA
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If you have a trailer electrical connector on the Motorhome, how many pins does it have? In fact, more accurately, how many wires does it have in the back?
If only four, it's wired for lights only. To have a brake energizing circuit you need At LEAST five pins/wires.
What do you have in the cab of the MH? Any connections for a brake controller. You need four wires for that too.
Keith J.
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michelb
Ottawa, ON, Canada
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You really need to find out if your mh has a brake controller and not just 6/7 pin wire plug as I think it's not uncommon for trucks and motor home to come pre-wired for brake controllers but you still need to actually hook up a brake controller. In most cases, brake controllers are external and you can see them around the dash (kind of like a CB) but I believe some have no ajustments (although there's usually a light in the dash for it). It should actually be pretty easy to tell though as you can probably just use a volt meter at the plug and have someone else press the brakes.
As far as the surge brakes, I'm curious why you'd rather avoid it. I got surge brakes on purpose. The biggest thing is that it lets me use the dolly with other vehicles.
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jauguston
Bellingham, WA
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It is not a big deal to add a electric brake controller to a vehicle. Get a quote from the folks you buy the dolly from. I ran a paired 12 ga set of wires from my vehicle battery to the new controller then to the rear. Instead of going to the trouble of changing out my 4 pin trailer light plug I just used a separate two pin connector for the brake wires.
Jim
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1995brave
San Antonio, TX
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Here is the link to the Winnebago manuals. It should be able to answer your question.
Winnebago Manuals
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tatest
Oklahoma Green Country
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I found the wiring of the towing socket in the Owner's Manual from Winnebago, rather than in the chassis wiring diagram. It has enough pins to carry wiring for a brake controller, but for my motorhome, that is not how Winnebago used the pins.
Unless you actually have a controller installed by you or a previous owner, you are not wired for electric brakes.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
2001 Ranger Edge
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ThePatricksRV
Indianapolis
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Based on the above, I'm assuming that my RV is not pre-wired for a tow dolly's electric brakes. However, I will take a better look this weekend to confirm. If that's the case, maybe a dolly with surge brakes is the way to go after all. Any information related to this would be appreciated as well. I want to be safe while making the most cost-effective decision.
I greatly appreciate all of the responses. RV.net us such a great source of information...especially for us newbies.
Thanks!
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ThePatricksRV
Indianapolis
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I had previously contacted Winnebago with my question and just received this response:
"Your chassis manufacturer offers a provision under the dash on the driver's side to hook up a trailer brake controller. Please make sure you stay within the 5000# drawbar and 350# tongue weight towing capacity limitations when using a tow dolly to tow your car."
Can anyone help me understand how to use this information? Do I need to take the RV to a place like Camping World to have them look at it?
Thanks!
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michelb
Ottawa, ON, Canada
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ThePatricksRV wrote:I had previously contacted Winnebago with my question and just received this response:
"Your chassis manufacturer offers a provision under the dash on the driver's side to hook up a trailer brake controller. Please make sure you stay within the 5000# drawbar and 350# tongue weight towing capacity limitations when using a tow dolly to tow your car."
Can anyone help me understand how to use this information? Do I need to take the RV to a place like Camping World to have them look at it?
Thanks!
Certainly an RV place like Camping World could help you. Most mechanics can probably hook one up too.
One thing that does concern me is in your response is the '350lbs tongue weight capacity' - if that's not a typo, I believe this may severely limit your towing ability. I suspect that most cars and dolly combination will exceed this.
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