Where is the wiring to connect an electric brake controller on a 2001 Jeep grand Cherokee?

Answer 1

I mounted my electric brake controller (Tekonsha Prodigy) low on the driver's right knee bolster of my 2005 Liberty. The Prodigy comes with a 3 foot long jumper wiring harness. This jumper harness has a 4-way connector on one end that plugs into the back of the Prodigy and four individual wires on the other end that must be connected to four circuits in the Liberty. Do NOT plug this 4-way connector into the back of the electric brake controller until you have completed all connections to your Liberty and TESTED them to make sure they are correct! The first connection needed is to the electric brake wire that routes to the rear of the Liberty through the seven pin trailer connector to the trailer's electric brakes. Only a Liberty with the factory towing option will have this wire! This red wire is hidden in a three inch wide and half inch thick plastic conduit located behind the kick panel to the left of the driver's feet. Remove the black plastic panel at the bottom of the instrument panel just below the steering column. This panel is attached to the bottom of the dashboard by two screws and to the firewall by two plastic pins that plug into holes in the firewall. Remove the two screws and then pull the panel towards the rear of the vehicle to pop the two pins loose from the holes in the firewall. Set this panel aside. Pull up on the front of the driver's door sill molding. Push it back towards the seat to clear the kick panel. Pull the kick panel away and set it aside. Use a small L-shaped pry bar to release the three clips nearest you that hold the white cover over the black flat conduit. Pull the cover open and look for a looped red wire with a white flag tape labeled ELECTRIC BRAKE. Pull this wire out to unloop it. Strip the end of this red wire and crimp it into one end of a butt connctor. Crimp the electric brake wire (NOT the stoplight wire) in the 4-way jumper harness into the other end of this butt connector. The second connection needed is to the stoplight circuit that becomes 12 volts positive only when the brake pedal is depressed. This circuit is the tan wire with a white stripe found in the connector plugged into the top of the spring loaded plunger switch above the brake pedal. This wire is easy to access if you swing open the driver's knee bolster panel. This knee bolster panel is hinged at the bottom and swings down if you pull on it at the top by the steering column. Use an insulation displacement splice connector to connect this wire to the stoplight wire (NOT the electric brake wire) in the 4-way jumper harness. The third connection needed is to a ground directly to the battery. There is a threaded stud on the sheet metal down by the driver's left foot. On the stud is a nut holding a ring terminal connected to a black wire. Unscrew the nut, crimp a ring terminal on the ground wire from the 4-way jumper harness and put this ring terminal over the stud on top of the existing ring terminal. Replace the nut and tighten it. The last circuit needed is to a 12 volt positive that is always powered. This circuit typically requires installing a 20 amp (1-2 axle trailer) or 30 amp (3-4 axle trailer) circuit breaker available from most auto parts or trailering stores. The circuit breaker has two threaded studs with nuts for the electrical connections and two tabs with holes through them for mounting it to a flat surface with two sheet metal screws. Mount the circuit breaker on the sheet metal reinforcement bar across the backside of the driver's knee bolster panel. Drill a couple of holes into this sheetmetal and mount the breaker with two short sheet metal screws. Crimp a ring terminal onto the 12 volt positive wire in the jumper harness. Place this ring terminal onto one of the circuit breaker studs and tighten the nut. Fish a 12 gauge wire (red) through the firewall grommet located just above the driver's left foot rest. This grommet is over an inch thick and has about a one inch diameter bundle of wires passing through it. I used one of my wife's knitting needles with a rounded point and gently pushed it through the bottom of the grommet until I saw it protruding into the engine compartment. I pulled the knitting needle back out. I then pushed an old flexible speedometer cable through the path left by the knitting needle. I pulled enough of the speedometer cable through from the engine compartment side until I could tape the 12 gauge wire to it. I gently pulled the speedometer cable with the wire taped to it back through the grommet and routed the wire to the circuit breaker. Crimp a ring terminal on the end of this wire, put it over the other stud of the circuit breaker and tighten the nut. The final connection is the other end of this 12 gauge wire to the junction block located between the left headlight and the battery. Flip open the junction block cover to reveal two posts. Unscrew the nut on one of the two posts. Crimp a ring terminal on the end of the wire, place the ring terminal over the post, reattach the nut and tighten it. Connect the ground (typically black) lead of a voltmeter to the ground wire in the 4-way connector. Connect the positive (typically red) lead of the voltmeter to the 12 volt positive wire in the 4-way connector. The voltmeter should read positive 12 volts. Now touch the positive lead of the voltmeter to the stoplight wire in the 4-way connector. The voltage should read zero. Depress the brahe pedal. The voltmeter should now read plus 12 volts. Release the brake pedal. The voltmeter should once again read zero. Connect the positive lead of the voltmeter to the brake wire in the 4-way connector. The voltage should read zero. If the voltage readings are all correct, reattach the conduit cover, kick panel, sill molding, and under dashboard cover. Close the driver's knee bolster. Plug the 4-way connector into the back of the brake controller. Hook up your trailer and plug the 7-way trailer plug into the 7-way socket next to the trailer hitch on the rear of the Liberty. Step on the brake pedal. The controller should indicate that it is properly connected. Turn on the Liberty's lights to make sure the trailer's running lights turn on. Check to make sure the trailer's turn signal and brake lights function correctly. Excellent answer. Additions: On '02 Liberty, the Blue trailer brake wire is coiled outside of white rectangular box on left kick panel; marked with tag (not inside box). Also, the correct wire to splice in brake switch is white with brown stripe, not brown with white (there are 6 wires to this simple switch!). Stringing hot wire through firewall easy with straigtened coat hanger from interior side. Tape wire to end and push through. You can then snake the coat hanger up next to the left fender all the way up towards the battery. I used an inline ACG fuse right after connecting to power distribution lug from fuse box in front of battery. Now where to mount the brake controller? I mounted it to the black plastic panel at the bottom of the instrument panel just below the steering column but the angle is about 0 degrees and the Prodigy complains that the angle is too low on even moderate uphills. Should have added a wedge to increase angle away from 0 degrees.