www.iFourWinns.com

I have an 07 Tahoe and an 08 sl262 - I'm thinking about adding a brake controller to the truck. Questions - how expensive should this be? Does it matter that I only have surge brakes on the trailer? Would I need to bring the trailer to the place for the install or do they just wire it into the adapter plug?

TIA,

Todd

My 2005 3/4 ton suburban came with a brake controller. I have not instaled it yet. I was told it basically plugs in. If yours did not come with one maybe GM was smart enough to have a universal plug to use after market brake controllers. You will have to convert your trailer. It can be done. I have looked on line looks like it is about $800. I believe Four Winns offers this as an option for their trailers. I have no idea of the cost and if it can be added after the fact.

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2008 Horizon 260 VP 8.1 Gi

You going to start trailering that thing?

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

I think if you just need the controller in the truck, ie your trailer already has electric brakes, then it is only ~$150. I'm sure converting your trailer from surge to electric is probably much more expensive as tennja pointed out. If your surge brakes are working well, I don't see any reason to change them out. My surge brakes work great, so it would be difficult for me to justify the added expense of converting them. A SL262 is quite a bit more boat than my H200 though Hit up a few local truck shops that install hitches, they can give you pricing and what's involved.

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'99 Horizon 200

You would need the brake controller & to have the brakes converted on your trailer. Nothing really long with surge brakes on the boat & electric brakes on a boat trailer are rare. Water & electric brakes can present issues.

Thanks everyone - that shows how little I know about what I'm doing. I didn't realize I would need to convert to electric brakes - doh! I guess I'll just stick with the surge brakes then - I won't be trailering much, but I opened my big mouth and offered to haul my boat about 5 hours away this summer for a family get-together and I'm already stressing about it. Why won't my wife just let me buy a new pickup truck as a dedicated boat hauler?

Second question - my Tahoe was equipped with a tranny cooler. Are the factory units beefy enough, or do I need to upgrade to a heavier duty model? My dealer seems to think the OEM one is plenty.

Guy - I went ahead and ponied up for another season of wallet-busting slip rental, but I do want to check out some other lakes this year, so I'm trying to prepare (which is typically not my modus operandi).

To convert your brakes to use an electric controller doesnt mean you need to convert the brakes themselves. You nned to add a electric over hydroulic pump, like this one http://www.trailerpart.com/brakerite.htm

You also would need to remover the surge coupler and install a regular one.

I agree with the otheres, the surge brakes on our Vista work very well. There isn much difference in stoppin distance with or without the boat on IMO. I think our setup weighs about 9500# with fuel and water and stuff.

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)

I'll take another stab at this...question 1: Make sure you complain all 10 hours round trip to ensure that you can get a new tow rig. If you could somehow pull off a 'safe' close call scenario and blame it on the vehicle, that would be a bonus. question 2: If your tahoe has a tranny cooler on it already, then you should be fine. If you were doing major towing all the times or going through mountains, then you might consider an upgrade (to a new tow rig that is). The local trailer guys around here off the record told me not to even bother with a tranny cooler on my Honda Pilot. I don't tow with it anyhow, but thought I might put one on in case I wanted to tow. Basically, they said tranny coolers were a waste of money for the average person that doesn't tow very much. Of course the caveat is if you are towing at or beyond max towing capacity or tow a lot, that is another story. I wouldn't sweat it at all, you are in good shape....just play it up to the admiral for the new tow rig.

Edit: I just recalled that you're towing a SL262. You might want to calculate your trailer/boat/fuel/gear and compare against your tow capacity. You may actually be close or beyond the limits. You're probably still fine, but thought I would throw that out to make sure you are good from that standpoint.

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'99 Horizon 200

We have a '07 tahoe in the garage!!! Nice ride, but not the greatest tow vehicle. I don't know what you boat weights in at, but I don't like towing more than 5k behind our (rated for 8500lbs), but we are in the rocky mountains! I have tried to tow our boat with ours just for testing it out. thumbs down, but we weight in at 9k ish.

As far as a trany cooler, you got one. You also have a trany temp gage built into the dash info center, keep a eye on the trans oil temp while towing, if it climbs to 210-220 slow down and let it cool and try to keep it under 200, preferably 185-190 deg F. In fact watch all the temps.
If temps do climb, make sure wifey sees/knows this, show her the little tahoe is a great family car, but by no means a great tow vehicle and your just tearing it up!!!!
The '07 tahoe will handle you boat fine, you just will have to take it easy.

Good luck on showing wife you NEED a truck.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
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