I have a 2001 f150 supercrew 4x4 5.4l.
I just bought a boat and the trailer has serge brakes. What do I need to do to my truck to tow this trailer? The guy told me something about hooking up a wire to release the brake when I backup?

 

When you apply the serge brakes, do they ask you if you’d like a “twthist of lemon with it?” Couldn’t resist.

 

The plug on the trailer probably has at least a 5-pin plug. One of the pins is tied into the surge braking system to a solenoid. What it is for is to bypass the braking system when backing to keep the trailer brakes from activating and keeping the trailer from moving. You have to have a plug on the truck with 1 pin tied into the reverse light circuit to activate the solenoid. Another way around it is to slide a screwdriver into the coupler to keep it from moving and activating the brakes.



On this plug the Blue wire is the one that needs to tie into the reverse light circuit.

Hope that is somewhat clear.

 

Depending on the style of surge brake system installed it could use an electric solenoid or a maunually activated reverse lockout. I tow a 21' boat on an aluminum, tandem axle, trailer. My surge brakes have the maunually activated lockout. Prior to backing up I slide the lockout pin up tp prevent brake activation and as soon as I pull forward it automatically releases to allow the brakes to work again.
There is also an emergency activation pin attatched to a cable that connects to the hitch. In the event of a runaway trailer the pin gets pulled releasing a spring that will apply the brakes and stop the trailer......I hope.


For info and parts check here....Eastern Marine

 

Actually, if you got the Class III Trailer Tow Package with your truck, you don't need to do anything. The flat 5 connector that is mentioned above only comes into play if you have surge activated DISC brakes. Thes disks are so much more efficient than drum brakes that backing up the trailer can lock the brakes up much easier than drums. The disks therefore have a solenoid that blocks out the brakes when you engage reverse by sensing the activation of your backup lights. (The blue wire.)

If you have surge activated DRUM brakes, you'll just need the flat 4 connector. Yes, it is possible that backing up a hill with drum brakes you will need to insert a pin to mechanically prevent your brakes from locking up.

Your truck comes with both flat 4 and 7 blade round connectors as part of the trailer package. If you happen to need the flat 5, you can buy a converter that goes from your 7 blade round down to flat 5. Oh yea, and the flat 5 truck connector works just perfectly with a flat 4 trailer connection, you just have one pin not connected. Hope that helps!