Mounting a P2 controller?

[tacobill]

Just curious as to where you guys have mounted trailer brake controllers in your 5th gen T4R. I would have put mine under the steering wheel, but behold, there is a knee airbag there. Love to see some clever mounting places.........

 

[brockeverly]

Mine is under the dash to the right. Should clear the air bag if it were to go off.

 

[motioneffects]

Right by where Brockeverly said. I didnt drill holes in my lower dash, I use this

 

[Jtraskell]

Put mine on the left side, but I use Velcro and only attach the brake controller when I need it.

 

[CmdrCody]

Put mine in the center stack.. wrote it up here.

 

[azn-sensation]

I'll be doing this next week as I just received all the stuff needed to finish up my trailer project.

 

[dsfra]

I ended up going back and forth - in the cubby hole, hung on the dashboard, in the glovebox somehow, etc, and ended up making a mount that just slips into the cup holder. It lifts out in about 2 seconds and hides in the console when parked at trailheads and in dark alleys - no point in arousing curiosity - and it's real easy (and fun) to play with the manual brake lever between wet and dry pavement, sand, mud, ice, snow, etc. The spouse says to put eyes on it, paint it green, and name it Froggy - from the side it looks like a frog that's about to jump. It really is parallel to the centerline of the vehicle - the camera angle and the angle of the side of the console make it appear crooked.

Note that apparently it's advisable to add an extra ground between the factory trailer wiring plug and the controller. In fact, the adapter harness from e-trailer comes with the extra ground wire already attached: Tekonsha Plug-In Wiring Adapter for Electric Brake Controllers - Toyota and Lexus Tekonsha Accessories and Parts 3040-P and they say that without a good ground the controller may not work consistently.

Yep - replaced the big dorky looking shift knob (that Toyota stole from a 1957 DeSoto) with a small dorky looking shift knob (from AutoZone). But now I can pretend that I have a 6-speed manual trans.

 

[tacobill]

dsfra.......pretty clever there ! Did you take the console apart like Cmdr Cody did, to put the 3040-P through? His install is real slick too.

I will ground that extra wire (bought the harness). P2's are not happy w/o that connection.

 

[dsfra]

dsfra.......pretty clever there ! Did you take the console apart like Cmdr Cody did, to put the 3040-P through? His install is real slick too.

I will ground that extra wire (bought the harness). P2's are not happy w/o that connection.

Actually, this approach was a quick and dirty and temporary solution to get the trailer brakes working for a trip that involved some pretty good mountain passes. But as sometimes happens, the quick and dirty and temporary seems to have become the quick and dirty and pretty much permanent. Out came the wood filler and spray paint to dress up the plywood, and it seems to be working out fine. We don't really miss the cup holder, and wanted to save the cubby hole for the wiring for the ScanGauge and the rear view camera mounted on the back of the trailer. Plus, the spouse forbade taking apart the console on such a new vehicle. I just used a Dremel Tool and a nice new sharp X-Acto knife to cut the access hole. Thanks again to Cmdr Cody for his hints on staying way over to the left to avoid hitting the stuff behind (in front of) the cubby hole.