*HELP* Integrated Trailer Brakes 2011 GMC Yukon Denali *HELP*

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
M

Matthew Snyder

TYF Newbie
Joined
Jul 24, 2019
Posts
15
Reaction score
4
Unfortunately I have ran out of available time to designate to the brake controller issue. I installed an aftermarmet controller that I should have just went with from the get go. The tekonsha p3 with the adjustable boost is extremely helpful with the towing load close to capacity. Even then found the stoplight switch on the brake pedal to be faulty, replaced this then the blue wire under dash didn't have continuity to the bumper plug so had to run a new signal wire for brakes, after that worked seamlessly. This was one of many items I had planned to take care of before embarking on a 3,600 mile road trip to Washington State and back. Stopping in Black Hills, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Olympic National Parks. We just got a 2015 Forrest River Grey Wolf 23DBH for the trip and it will be the wife, our three children (2, 5, 7) and our nephew (9). We will be traveling for 21 days total and before leaving (originally scheduled to depart 7/30 at 4:30 am Central time) at the very last minute I decided to delete the Z55 suspension and move to passive coil overs, well initially I attempted to return to OEM quality ride however ran into some issues with timing and shipping and went with an economy kit from Suncore for $300.. while waiting for this I may have decided to get a 14 piece suspension and steering kit from A1 auto and do the CV axle, sway links, upper and lower control arms, wheel bearing, inner and outer tie rods, calipers, pads, rotors, oil change, then finally the all 4 corners of shocks. Along with installing extendable towing mirrors. Completed this all on Monday the 29th unfortunately not soon enough to allow for an alignment at the shop. So now will head there at 7 am in the morning and get in right away and hope to be on the road by 9 or 10 am. Slightly delayed but not so bad for the amount of work completed. Not all necessary my thought is **** Murphy and get ahead of it, if it could fail then replace it now instead of on the side of the road. I've got 130k and most seems original. Caliper was starting to stick and shocks were loose.
9eccbd5d37b9a84d2038da855c24f2cf.jpgeb4f4ed086b805c15d994942cc2b2056.jpg
 

JM13206

TYF Newbie
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
7
Reaction score
2
Hello,

I have a 2010 Tahoe LTZ with the factory trailer hitch and factory integrated brake controller. Previous owner never attempted to hook up the factory brake controller so I hooked up the two wires that were bundled up in the harness under the hood and attached them to the terminals in the fuse box under the hood. Also I verified that the fuses associated with the trailer brake controller are good in the fuse box. In addition, I confirmed with the dealer that this Tahoe came with the factory integrated trailer brake controller option (JL1). When I hooked up my car trailer, the integrated brake controller doesn't recognize that the car trailer has been hooked up though I have auxiliary power at the 7 pin trailer connector providing power to the trailer brake battery charger and the trailer lights operate properly. Also, under the dash is the factory harness for hooking up the aftermarket controller. A friend told me that when the Tahoe was new, a pigtail harness was provided that needed to be connected under the dash so I wanted to verify if this pigtail harness is required and where it should be hooked up. In addition, if the pigtail is not required, I would like to get an idea of what else could be wrong with the factory brake controller because the trailer brakes work when hook up to my friends truck. Thanks!
 

PG01

Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Posts
14,820
Reaction score
18,077
Location
Up here to the right
Hello,

I have a 2010 Tahoe LTZ with the factory trailer hitch and factory integrated brake controller. Previous owner never attempted to hook up the factory brake controller so I hooked up the two wires that were bundled up in the harness under the hood and attached them to the terminals in the fuse box under the hood. Also I verified that the fuses associated with the trailer brake controller are good in the fuse box. In addition, I confirmed with the dealer that this Tahoe came with the factory integrated trailer brake controller option (JL1). When I hooked up my car trailer, the integrated brake controller doesn't recognize that the car trailer has been hooked up though I have auxiliary power at the 7 pin trailer connector providing power to the trailer brake battery charger and the trailer lights operate properly. Also, under the dash is the factory harness for hooking up the aftermarket controller. A friend told me that when the Tahoe was new, a pigtail harness was provided that needed to be connected under the dash so I wanted to verify if this pigtail harness is required and where it should be hooked up. In addition, if the pigtail is not required, I would like to get an idea of what else could be wrong with the factory brake controller because the trailer brakes work when hook up to my friends truck. Thanks!
No pifgtail for newer trucks. If you did the wires under hood, which you did, and all works for lights etc its time to pull the rear plug in apart and clean up connectors, behind hitch it disconnects and follow wire harness under rear there is 1 more connection you can pul apart clean and put back together.... a tech 2 may help to see any stored codes, no cel, but I believe you simply have a flaky connection.
 

PG01

Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Posts
14,820
Reaction score
18,077
Location
Up here to the right
Also, the wires under dash need to just be spliced to a aftermarket controller, nothing else needs to be done anymore as in prior years, just splice, connect 2 red wires under hood and good to go.

Fir your application, with jl1, all you need to do is hook up reds, make sure fuse is good and done.
Check your wires you hooked up by fuse box and makes sure the secured tightly.

1 more thing, without trailer connected, does the gain work on the dic, when you slide them on the brake controller?
 
OP
OP
M

Matthew Snyder

TYF Newbie
Joined
Jul 24, 2019
Posts
15
Reaction score
4
Hello,

I have a 2010 Tahoe LTZ with the factory trailer hitch and factory integrated brake controller. Previous owner never attempted to hook up the factory brake controller so I hooked up the two wires that were bundled up in the harness under the hood and attached them to the terminals in the fuse box under the hood. Also I verified that the fuses associated with the trailer brake controller are good in the fuse box. In addition, I confirmed with the dealer that this Tahoe came with the factory integrated trailer brake controller option (JL1). When I hooked up my car trailer, the integrated brake controller doesn't recognize that the car trailer has been hooked up though I have auxiliary power at the 7 pin trailer connector providing power to the trailer brake battery charger and the trailer lights operate properly. Also, under the dash is the factory harness for hooking up the aftermarket controller. A friend told me that when the Tahoe was new, a pigtail harness was provided that needed to be connected under the dash so I wanted to verify if this pigtail harness is required and where it should be hooked up. In addition, if the pigtail is not required, I would like to get an idea of what else could be wrong with the factory brake controller because the trailer brakes work when hook up to my friends truck. Thanks!
**** that controller.. don't waste your time. Get an aftermarket. I understand the desire for having the nice clean look in the cab and the redundancy of a "second" controller, however the aftermarket controller is so much more robust with different boost settings for different trailer weights. When I finally abandoned the integrated controller and spliced in the aftermarket I still had to re-run the blue wire all the way back to the rear plug. I suspected this was because of an issue with the ITCB module which was located under the spare tire. I did not want to have that replaced and reflashed as that would have added to the cost I already sunk into the BS factory controller. Probably not what you wanted to hear, as I'm still baffled by the issues but was extremely happy with aftermarket. Good luck! Please post if you find a solution to make yours work..

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

swathdiver

Full Access Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Posts
19,582
Reaction score
26,265
Location
Treasure Coast, Florida
Hello,

I have a 2010 Tahoe LTZ with the factory trailer hitch and factory integrated brake controller. Previous owner never attempted to hook up the factory brake controller so I hooked up the two wires that were bundled up in the harness under the hood and attached them to the terminals in the fuse box under the hood. Also I verified that the fuses associated with the trailer brake controller are good in the fuse box. In addition, I confirmed with the dealer that this Tahoe came with the factory integrated trailer brake controller option (JL1). When I hooked up my car trailer, the integrated brake controller doesn't recognize that the car trailer has been hooked up though I have auxiliary power at the 7 pin trailer connector providing power to the trailer brake battery charger and the trailer lights operate properly. Also, under the dash is the factory harness for hooking up the aftermarket controller. A friend told me that when the Tahoe was new, a pigtail harness was provided that needed to be connected under the dash so I wanted to verify if this pigtail harness is required and where it should be hooked up. In addition, if the pigtail is not required, I would like to get an idea of what else could be wrong with the factory brake controller because the trailer brakes work when hook up to my friends truck. Thanks!

Well first of all, one cannot have the integrated and an aftermarket controller connected at the same time. JL1 means you have the ITBC under the dash lights on the left knee bolster and there is a photo of it in post #4 by Matt, the last one.

Make sure you are using the 7-pin connector and not 4 or a 7 to 4 adapter. 4-pins are only for lights. If still not working, clean the plug in the back as Pete suggests. Mine was quite dusty from lack of use or just time. Traveling through deep water too often eventually took out the SSR (part of system) which we just replaced and everything is 100% again.

You only need the wire under the brake boosters connected if you plan to provide "hotel power" to the trailer, such as charging the trailer's battery or powering its fridge or lights, etc. The wire along the fender will already be connected when you have JL1 if memory serves.

Mine works great and they are even better on the 2012+ with software improvements like Trailer Sway Control.
 

JM13206

TYF Newbie
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
7
Reaction score
2
Well first of all, one cannot have the integrated and an aftermarket controller connected at the same time. JL1 means you have the ITBC under the dash lights on the left knee bolster and there is a photo of it in post #4 by Matt, the last one.

Make sure you are using the 7-pin connector and not 4 or a 7 to 4 adapter. 4-pins are only for lights. If still not working, clean the plug in the back as Pete suggests. Mine was quite dusty from lack of use or just time. Traveling through deep water too often eventually took out the SSR (part of system) which we just replaced and everything is 100% again.

You only need the wire under the brake boosters connected if you plan to provide "hotel power" to the trailer, such as charging the trailer's battery or powering its fridge or lights, etc. The wire along the fender will already be connected when you have JL1 if memory serves.

Mine works great and they are even better on the 2012+ with software improvements like Trailer Sway Control.

Thanks for the update! To clarify, are the bundled 5 wires under the left part of the dash used exclusively for the installation of an aftermarket controller or possibly they need to be terminated for the factory ITBC to function? Also, I did remove the lower driver's side dash panel and found that the ITBC was connected to the factory harness. In addition, with my car trailer connected or not connected, I don't see the gain values popping up on the dash though the trailer lights work and aux power to the trailer is present. Thanks!
 

JM13206

TYF Newbie
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
7
Reaction score
2
Also, the wires under dash need to just be spliced to a aftermarket controller, nothing else needs to be done anymore as in prior years, just splice, connect 2 red wires under hood and good to go.

Fir your application, with jl1, all you need to do is hook up reds, make sure fuse is good and done.
Check your wires you hooked up by fuse box and makes sure the secured tightly.

1 more thing, without trailer connected, does the gain work on the dic, when you slide them on the brake controller?
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. I don't see the gain values and the slider does not engage the brakes though all of the trailer lights work and aux power for the back-up battery powered emergency brake system is present after hooking up the wire under the hood to the power terminal.
 

JM13206

TYF Newbie
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Posts
7
Reaction score
2
Hello,

I have a 2010 Tahoe LTZ with the factory trailer hitch and factory integrated brake controller. Previous owner never attempted to hook up the factory brake controller so I hooked up the two wires that were bundled up in the harness under the hood and attached them to the terminals in the fuse box under the hood. Also I verified that the fuses associated with the trailer brake controller are good in the fuse box. In addition, I confirmed with the dealer that this Tahoe came with the factory integrated trailer brake controller option (JL1). When I hooked up my car trailer, the integrated brake controller doesn't recognize that the car trailer has been hooked up though I have auxiliary power at the 7 pin trailer connector providing power to the trailer brake battery charger and the trailer lights operate properly. Also, under the dash is the factory harness for hooking up the aftermarket controller. A friend told me that when the Tahoe was new, a pigtail harness was provided that needed to be connected under the dash so I wanted to verify if this pigtail harness is required and where it should be hooked up. In addition, if the pigtail is not required, I would like to get an idea of what else could be wrong with the factory brake controller because the trailer brakes work when hook up to my friends truck. Thanks!
Well first of all, one cannot have the integrated and an aftermarket controller connected at the same time. JL1 means you have the ITBC under the dash lights on the left knee bolster and there is a photo of it in post #4 by Matt, the last one.

Make sure you are using the 7-pin connector and not 4 or a 7 to 4 adapter. 4-pins are only for lights. If still not working, clean the plug in the back as Pete suggests. Mine was quite dusty from lack of use or just time. Traveling through deep water too often eventually took out the SSR (part of system) which we just replaced and everything is 100% again.

You only need the wire under the brake boosters connected if you plan to provide "hotel power" to the trailer, such as charging the trailer's battery or powering its fridge or lights, etc. The wire along the fender will already be connected when you have JL1 if memory serves.

Mine works great and they are even better on the 2012+ with software improvements like Trailer Sway Control.


For purposes of testing, could I possibly ground the the 7 pin electric brake pin (5 o'clock position) to the ground pin (7 o'clock position) or connect to the 12v + pin (1 o'clock position) to see if I get a change of state on the instrument cluster? Don't have my trailer handy to hook up to test so I wanted to see if it would be possible to run a manual test.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
132,091
Posts
1,862,272
Members
96,559
Latest member
McRib
Top