Do I Need To Use A 7-Way Towing Starcraft Trailer With Toyota Sequoia

Question

Question:

Want to start towing the attached pic with my 2002 Toyota Sequia rated at 7K towing capacity Do all trailers over a certain length equipped with electric brakes? THe plug in the back of my Sequoia is flat and has 4 inputs. Its nothing like the rounded plugs with 7 inputs I see on the site. DO I have to change this? I saw that there are now wireless attachments for trailers. What is the general experience of this? I saw that 2 axels need to be hooked to a 20 amp circuit breaker fuse? I have no idea of how to do that- if I buy a controller whether wired or wireless, how much work will I have to do? Seems like lots of the problems people experience with bad brakes is corroded wires, connections that are poor, etc.. How do I test for that? Are these plugs/setups/connections fairly interchangeable- for example, if I buy a different trailer- will I all do is plug ininch to the next trailer? Thanks for the attention to these basic questions- any recommendations are appreciated.

asked by: Don

1

Helpful Expert Reply:

From your photo it looks like you have a 2019 Starcraft Autumn Ridge Outfitter 23RLS which has a dry weight of 5,295 lbs and gross weight of 6950 lbs. If your Toyota has a towing capacity of 7,000 lbs you are cutting it pretty close as far as the weight capacity is concerned. I recommend to tow the trailer with a truck with a bit more towing capacity but it is ultimately your decision.

If you decide to tow with the Toyota you will need to upgrade the 4-pole plug on the back to a 7-way plug and obtain a brake controller because your trailer does have electric brakes according to my research. The 4-pole can be upgraded with the 7-Way RV Upgrade Kit for Trailer Brake Controller Installation part # ETBC7L.

The 7-way plug that comes with the upgrade kit will have a pigtail coming off of it that you can plug your 4-pole into. Then you would need to ground the white wire to a clean bare metal surface of the truck's frame. The black wire would need to be extended the vehicle's battery via the provided circuit breaker.

Then you can use a Curt Echo brake controller part # C51180 which is wireless to control the trailer brakes and plugs in line with the 7-way. The Curt Echo is one the easiest ways to use a brake controller because it only requires 12V power from 7-way plug to operate compared to the other brake controller options that would require much more wiring. The Curt Echo has been a quality option since it was introduced and a lot of our customers prefer it's convenience over a traditional brake controller. It is compatible with an apple phone that has IOS 8.0 or newer or an Android phone that has IOS 4.4 or newer. I believe this is what you mean by wireless attachments, if not please let me know.

I am not exactly sure what you mean by 2 axles need to be hooked to a 20 amp breaker fuse but there is a circuit breaker with the ETBC7L kit I mentioned that is used when you wire the black power wire from the plug to the battery.

To inspect your trailer brakes, I recommend to visually inspect the wire for corrosion or frayed wires. You want to check the plug on the trailer to make sure the pins are not corroded. If they are you can lightly sand it or replace the plug with part # A7WCB. If you buy another trailer that has a 7-way plug you will be able to plug right into your truck if you upgrade the 4-pole to a 7-way plug. Almost all trailers that have electric brakes will have a 7-way connection.