Trailer Tow Distance question

jsequino · Apr 12, 2021

This is my first post in many years - I apologize if this has been covered already but I couldn't find any info about it. I have a 2019 Rebel. We bought a pontoon boat and trailer and just recently started towing it with the Rebel. It's my first time towing anything so I have a couple of questions:

1. Sometimes a little icon pops up and shows that I'm towing a 30' trailer and sometimes it says 20'. Does it matter that it doesn't always get the size correct?

2. I noticed that in the instrument cluster there's a screen for Trailer Tow. It always shows Trip Distance as 0. It never indicates how many miles I'm driving with the trailer or have already driven with the trailer. Is there something I'm not doing right?

Thank you!

392DevilDog · Apr 12, 2021

Is your boat a 4 pin or 7 pin trailer connection?

Usually boats have surge brakes.

You need to have a 7 pin connection with electric trailer brake to get it to notice the trailer for mileage.

As far as the blind spot detection...probably just depends how you make the turns to activate it.

jsequino · Apr 12, 2021

Thank you for your reply. The trailer does have electric brakes and what I think/thought is a 7 pin connection. I took a picture of it and attached it. This has 4 pins + 1 in the middle and 2 empty slots. Is this considered a 7 pin connection or a 4 pin?

392DevilDog · Apr 12, 2021

Yeah. It is just a 4 pin. That is why you are not getting the mileage.

Our popup trailer is the same way.

Would be marker lights(running lights)then left turn then ground then right turn. The oe in the middle is reverse lights.

The 2 missing are trailer brakes and 12 v+ to charge battery

jsequino · Apr 12, 2021

Thank you for explaining that! So - does this mean the trailer doesn't have electric brakes? The specs say that it has "brakes". I wonder if that's just referring to the emergency brake with the cable?

turkeybird56 · Apr 12, 2021

Here is how to know if U have electric brakes/system:

Do U have a battery on the trailer in the front, or just a "cable" to hook to truck? If U have a battery there in a case, you have electric brake system. No battery +++ no brakes ++++ trailer pin push/pull and all the stopping. If U have a brake system, U should have something like one of these (3) boxes on the frame in the front (usual place mounted). No box like this well no brake system.

turkeybird56 · Apr 12, 2021

jsequino said:
Thank you for your reply. The trailer does have electric brakes and what I think/thought is a 7 pin connection. I took a picture of it and attached it. This has 4 pins + 1 in the middle and 2 empty slots. Is this considered a 7 pin connection or a 4 pin?

THAT is a standard "4" pin setup in a 7 pin adapter. 4 pin lights only/no battery brakes

BATT box be in several locations: some examples below:

392DevilDog · Apr 12, 2021

jsequino said:
Thank you for explaining that! So - does this mean the trailer doesn't have electric brakes? The specs say that it has "brakes". I wonder if that's just referring to the emergency brake with the cable?

You have surge brakes. Look at the area behind where your ball goes.

You will see the mechanism

What happens is when you slow down the trailer pushes this forward activating the brakes.

turkeybird56 · Apr 12, 2021

URL:

https://trailervalet.com/what-are-surge-brakes/

ADDED: If U confirm U have surge system, read article and make sure U insert locking pin to prevent surge operation when backing trailer. Just a FYI.

turkeybird56 · Apr 12, 2021

392DevilDog said:
You have surge brakes. Look at the area behind where your ball goes.

You will see the mechanism

What happens is when you slow down the trailer pushes this forward activating the brakes.

I did not even think of taking into account surge unit since a Boat trailer that gets submerged when launching, duh..... LOL.....

ADDED: U can tell BOIRD not do the boat thang: Just truck/car/motorcycle/hossie, LOL.

jsequino · Apr 12, 2021

Wow - all of you guys are AWESOME! Thank you all so much for explaining all this to me. I really appreciate it. I definitely do not have electric brakes. I haven't had any issues backing it into the water so I'm assuming that locking pin is in there. I will check it out in a little while. Again - thank you everyone - you guys rock!

392DevilDog · Apr 12, 2021

The locking pin is probably a thing of the past. When the wheels sense you are going backwards they release. Same as with electric trailer brakes. When backing up they do not apply, as you are using your brakes while backing up.

As mentioned...you have brakes...just not electric brakes.

And you have a 7 pin plug that is only wired for 4...well i guess 5 in your case.

Does your boat trailer have reverse lights?

crash68 · Apr 12, 2021

jsequino said:
I definitely do not have electric brakes. I haven't had any issues backing it into the water so I'm assuming that locking pin is in there. I will check it out in a little while.

As @392DevilDog mentioned that locking pin surge brakes are old skool. Several years ago I rebuilt my boat trailer brakes, used what's called free backing brakes. Found out the factory put on two left side brakes, always wondered why it didn't track consistently with the truck. They good now and no problems.
If you wanted to track the mileage of the trailer, buy a trailer brake magnetic, 7pin plug
and wire the magnet to the trailer brake circuit.

jsequino · Apr 12, 2021

Just went out to take a look at things...it literally says "Surge Actuator" on it and has a spot to fill the DOT-3. No question these are surge brakes - which up until today- I had never heard of. As 392DevilDog surmised, there is no locking pin. I think it functions exactly as you described. As for reverse lights - I don't think so. It has break lights and some lights around the tires and below the engine. Next time I take it out I'll inspect it a little more and see if anything lights up in reverse. Thanks again everyone - gotta learn somewhere - I appreciate all your help!

392DevilDog · Apr 12, 2021

This is what we are here for. Glad to have helped out.

Mustangmike66 · Apr 12, 2021

Let’s see a picture of the truck and boat hooked up.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

GTyankee · Apr 13, 2021

For years on occasion i pulled a 350 gallon kettle, it had liquid asphalt in it. It had surge brakes & the mechanism was messed up, you could not back that kettle up, even if you were trying to back down a steep hill.
We finally cut a wood wedge & hammered it into the slider.
The Equipment Shop saw that & we all got a butt chewing

It looked similar to this, but did not have the spray bar on the back & no electric brakes

L300_No_background.2e16d0ba.fill-600x366.png

Farmer Fran · Apr 13, 2021

They length is the blind spot monitoring system. Depending if you make long or short turns it could give you 20 or 30 feet. My 23 foot travel trailer does the same thing. It mush be right there at a lenght the system is unsure of goes on the side of caution. But it is defenetly depending on the angle of the turn when it changes

JayLeonard · Apr 13, 2021

First time I hooked up my travel trailer it prompted me to choose the length. I chose 30 feet and it has come up showing 30 feet every time I hook up but I have to choose "conventional trailer" when prompted.

jsequino · Apr 13, 2021

Hoping to get the boat on the water next Monday so I'll try to take a few pictures of the set-up then. I looked up Blind Spot Monitoring in the manual. You guys know your stuff! Thanks again...

Trailer Tow Distance question

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