Setting up my Frontier to tow the Niagara

[Hackker]

Having never towed before, I'm for the most part clueless about whats needed.  Oh well, we all have to learn sometime.  

My TV is a 2005 Nissan Frontier Nismo 4x4, the PU is a '07 Fleetwood Niagara.  What exactly do I need & what would people recommend?  

Obviously I need a hitch, any recommendations on brands?  Figure that there isn't a huge difference in receivers & balls (tell me if there is!).

Is a sway control device recommended and is that something that can be easily added later?  Any recommendations for which sway control would be good for my setup?

And people have told me to look into a brake control system, again I assume that is something that can simply be added later?  

For wiring, I assume that with the Niagara I need the 7 pin connector for plugging into the PU, is that correct?  And I know that they sell them from the dealer, but are there better places to buy the wiring?  And will all the wiring systems work with a brake controller system?  

Or is there a good source for one stop shopping to get everything I need online?

Many many thanks for any info!

[fallsrider]

Having never towed before, I'm for the most part clueless about whats needed.  Oh well, we all have to learn sometime.  

My TV is a 2005 Nissan Frontier Nismo 4x4, the PU is a '07 Fleetwood Niagara.  What exactly do I need & what would people recommend?  

What is the tow rating on your Frontier?

[fourgonefishn]

Having never towed before, I'm for the most part clueless about whats needed.  Oh well, we all have to learn sometime.  

My TV is a 2005 Nissan Frontier Nismo 4x4, the PU is a '07 Fleetwood Niagara.  What exactly do I need & what would people recommend?  

Obviously I need a hitch, any recommendations on brands?  Figure that there isn't a huge difference in receivers & balls (tell me if there is!).

Is a sway control device recommended and is that something that can be easily added later?  Any recommendations for which sway control would be good for my setup?

And people have told me to look into a brake control system, again I assume that is something that can simply be added later?  

For wiring, I assume that with the Niagara I need the 7 pin connector for plugging into the PU, is that correct?  And I know that they sell them from the dealer, but are there better places to buy the wiring?  And will all the wiring systems work with a brake controller system?  

Or is there a good source for one stop shopping to get everything I need online?

Many many thanks for any info!

 One stop shopping is your dealer! He sold that camper he should be offering to set your TV up the correct way! If dealer didn't talk to you about sway bar, brake control, and even a wieght dist. hitch, I'd be think of who I just purchased this rig from.
 Sorry about venting. sounds like you have alot of work ahead, 7 pin is amust, as brake control, and sway bar. Hell, we have a F250 with a 7.3 ltr diesel and the dealer was saying I needed brakes and sway bar. I would say to let the dealer do it right and everything done at the same place.
 fourgonefishn

[Hackker]

What is the tow rating on your Frontier?

6100lbs.

[Hackker]

One stop shopping is your dealer! He sold that camper he should be offering to set your TV up the correct way! If dealer didn't talk to you about sway bar, brake control, and even a wieght dist. hitch, I'd be think of who I just purchased this rig from.
 Sorry about venting. sounds like you have alot of work ahead, 7 pin is amust, as brake control, and sway bar. Hell, we have a F250 with a 7.3 ltr diesel and the dealer was saying I needed brakes and sway bar. I would say to let the dealer do it right and everything done at the same place.
 fourgonefishn

Actually he did price it out, but I also wanted to research it to make sure their pricing was in line.  From the email, he priced out the following...

Hitch $ 195.00
Hitch Labor $ 45.00
Sway Control with Ball Mount and Ball $ 150.00
Electric Brakes $ 250.00

The only thing that I thought was overpriced was he brake controller, but that probably isn't a "must" right away as PU has electronic brakes, the controller would just improve them.

[wavery]

Actually he did price it out, but I also wanted to research it to make sure their pricing was in line.  From the email, he priced out the following...

Hitch $ 195.00
Hitch Labor $ 45.00
Sway Control with Ball Mount and Ball $ 150.00
Electric Brakes $ 250.00

The only thing that I thought was overpriced was he brake controller, but that probably isn't a "must" right away as PU has electronic brakes, the controller would just improve them.

You can get bolt-on hitches for that model for around $150. The holes are already in your vehicle and if you are just a little handy with tools, you can install it yourself.
http://search.cartserver.com/search/search.cgi?cartid=s-4351&bool=AND&category=g_search&maxhits=20&keywords=2005&keywords_2=NISSAN+FRONTIER&GO=GO%21

I would recommend a Prodigy brake controller. You can pick them up for around $100 and the plug-in wire adapter is around $20. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to install it. However, if the $250 that he quoted you, included the entire hitch wiring, that would be reasonable.

All-in-all his prices seem to be in-line.

[chip]

Actually he did price it out, but I also wanted to research it to make sure their pricing was in line. From the email, he priced out the following...
 
Hitch $ 195.00
Hitch Labor $ 45.00
Sway Control with Ball Mount and Ball $ 150.00
Electric Brakes $ 250.00
 
The only thing that I thought was overpriced was he brake controller, but that probably isn't a "must" right away as PU has electronic brakes, the controller would just improve them.

Those prices don't seem too far out of line to me.  I am assuming also that the wiring for the lights included there somewhere.
 
And you ABSOLUTELY will need the brake controller.  Make sure that it is a proportional controller-most folks here swear by the Prodigy, I have a Primus-in order for the electric brakes to work properly on the trailer.  
 
Just my .o2.  By the way, congrats on the trailer.

[Hackker]

You can get bolt-on hitches for that model for around $150. The holes are already in your vehicle and if you are just a little handy with tools, you can install it yourself.
http://search.cartserver.com/search/search.cgi?cartid=s-4351&bool=AND&category=g_search&maxhits=20&keywords=2005&keywords_2=NISSAN+FRONTIER&GO=GO%21

I would recommend a Prodigy brake controller. You can pick them up for around $100 and the plug-in wire adapter is around $20. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to install it. However, if the $250 that he quoted you, included the entire hitch wiring, that would be reasonable.

All-in-all his prices seem to be in-line.

We are stopping over tomorrow to finalize everything, I'm going to have him go over everything thats included.  

I figured the wiring should be pretty easy, my Frontier is pre-wired for it, would just involve getting the harness and plugging it in.

[SpeakEasy]

The reason the brake controller is an "absolute" necessity instead of just "improving" them is because it is the mechanism that turns on your trailer brakes when you step on the TV brake pedal. Without it, how would your trailer brakes engage? They wouldn't. They'd be a nice decoration, but they wouldn't function.

-Speak

[Hackker]

Those prices don't seem too far out of line to me.  I am assuming also that the wiring for the lights included there somewhere.
 
And you ABSOLUTELY will need the brake controller.  Make sure that it is a proportional controller-most folks here swear by the Prodigy, I have a Primus-in order for the electric brakes to work properly on the trailer.  
 
Just my .o2.  By the way, congrats on the trailer.

I thought the brake controller was just a feature that you could live without, why is it a absolute need?  Doesn't it just make the brakes on the trailer brake more consistent with how the TV is being braked?  ie: if you brake harder it'll sense that and brake the PU's brakes proportionally harder?

[SpeakEasy]

By the way, in answer to your question about the hitch: when I was shopping for my current hitch, the brand names available were Reese and Hidden Hitch. The trailer place I bought my hitch from told me that they are all made by the same outfit anyway. It's kind of hard for me to believe, but I guess it's possible. Just thought you'd like to know.

-Speak

[Hackker]

The reason the brake controller is an "absolute" necessity instead of just "improving" them is because it is the mechanism that turns on your trailer brakes when you step on the TV brake pedal. Without it, how would your trailer brakes engage? They wouldn't. They'd be a nice decoration, but they wouldn't function.

-Speak

I thought that if your vehicle was pre-wired for towing that when you stepped on the brakes, it automatically also kicked in the brakes on the PU.  

From looking at this...

http://www.marksrv.com/wiring.htm

It looks like the 7 pin output has a wire for electric brakes.

[chip]

I thought that if your vehicle was pre-wired for towing that when you stepped on the brakes, it automatically also kicked in the brakes on the PU.
 
From looking at this...
 
http://www.marksrv.com/wiring.htm
 
It looks like the 7 pin output has a wire for electric brakes.

The brake controller is what, for lack of a better term, controls the voltage sent to the brakes on the trailer, based on the rate of deceleration.
 
Your vehicle may be wired for the brakes, and trailer lights, but there is no connection between the brake pedal and the trailer brakes until a controller is installed.  It may be possible to have a controller installed from the factory (Ford installed the Prodigy on the F350 with heavy duty tow package), but it would be obvious as there would be a digital readout of some sort visible along with some means of adjusting it.
 
Hook a voltage meter or test light to the pin for the trailer brakes on the connector and have someone step on the brakes.  I'd be surprised if there was voltage there without the controller.
 
Hope that helps.

[Hackker]

The brake controller is what, for lack of a better term, controls the voltage sent to the brakes on the trailer, based on the rate of deceleration.
 
Your vehicle may be wired for the brakes, and trailer lights, but there is no connection between the brake pedal and the trailer brakes until a controller is installed.  It may be possible to have a controller installed from the factory (Ford installed the Prodigy on the F350 with heavy duty tow package), but it would be obvious as there would be a digital readout of some sort visible along with some means of adjusting it.
 
Hook a voltage meter or test light to the pin for the trailer brakes on the connector and have someone step on the brakes.  I'd be surprised if there was voltage there without the controller.
 
Hope that helps.

Guess I just assumed that if there was a wire out for it, that it would work.  D'oh!

From reading the Nissan towing guide it says this...

"pre-wired with 7-pin harness.  Requires an electric trailer brake controller"

Seems to answer that question pretty bluntly, eh?  haha  

From looking around, it looks like factoring in everything it would probably be around $150-200 more at worst to have everything installed by the dealer.  Starting to think that it might be worth it.

[wavery]

I don't mean to throw a monkey wrench in here but........you might want to think about asking the dealer about a transmission cooler.

The benefit to having it all done by the dealer is that it will protect your warranty in the event that you have any transmission problems.