Ford F-150 trailer detection not working

[brian86992]

The Shoreland'r trailer comes with a 7 way plug but there's only 5 pins in the plug (no electric brakes.) I think this is the reason my truck doesn't detect there's a trailer connected like it does with the 4 pin.

Has anyone found a workaround to this? I was thinking about putting a wire on the plug side to jump the vacant two pins... or jump from the ground to one of them... and see if that does the trick.

 

[Levi Weatherford]

The Shoreland'r trailer comes with a 7 way plug but there's only 5 pins in the plug (no electric brakes.) I think this is the reason my truck doesn't detect there's a trailer connected like it does with the 4 pin.

Has anyone found a workaround to this? I was thinking about putting a wire on the plug side to jump the vacant two pins... or jump from the ground to one of them... and see if that does the trick.
[/QUOTEI
I don't know the year of your F150 but my 2015 F150 detects my Shoreland'r trailer every time. I do recall that there was a SSM from Ford about the trailer connector on the truck itself. It was for the newer generation of F150s I believe.

 

[brian86992]

Hmm. Mine is a 2012. I haven't yet been able to find documentation for which pins it needs to detect. I had a RV with electric brakes that it detected just fine.

 

[jamesk]

I was having trouble with my 17 f-150. I needed to "bend" out a few of the male plugs on my truck portion of the connector, they were not making good contact. Think they got a little bent/ compressed from use.

 

[brian86992]

I was having trouble with my 17 f-150. I needed to "bend" out a few of the male plugs on my truck portion of the connector, they were not making good contact. Think they got a little bent/ compressed from use.

Is yours the 7 pin round connector and does your trailer side plug only have 5 contacts in the slots?

 

[jamesk]

Yes...truck is 7 trailer is 5.

 

[mark_m]

It may not be related, but my ground to trailer was weak / flakey to the point my Silverado wouldn’t detect it either. Drove me nuts. I wound up solving with a ground strap before and after the pivot point on the trailer tongue swing away. The thru bolt / and the pin has sufficient rust that a solid connection wasn’t there.

I had lights but the truck app didn’t ‘see’ the trailer. Now with the proper ground the app works just fine now.

 

[Dixie Highway]

I never had an issue, 2018 F-150's (2 of them). Truck found the trailer when I used the 7 to 5 pin adapter, then after I cut off the 5 pin flat and wired on a 7 pin round to eliminate the adapter. Make sure your connections are clean and fill the trailer plug with dielectric grease, keeps water out.

 

[brian86992]

Well, made a little bit of progress. This is the truck side harness for the plugs I removed. If I put a load in between the ground and the trailer brake control it immediately detects a trailer. This is one of the vacant pins on the trailer plug. Still not able to use this trick to get it to detect via any of the brake lights, though. Which is suspicious because that means it would never detect a 4 pin trailer which is not how I understand it to work.

 

[brian86992]

Alright throwing in the towel on this. I think my year of truck the trailer is detected with the presence of the braking system - nothing to do with the lights. I was worried for a moment that my all LED lights weren't being sensed due to low resistance but seems that's not the case. The newer F-150s (2015+?) have a trailer light feature which does look for the lights and will actually tell you if they're out. Guess I don't get automatic detection of a trailer unless I sandwich a resistor in the connector but no reason to be creating heat back there every time I brake just for the auto detection.

 

[viper15]

2018 Ford here. I used to use the 5-pin to 7-pin adapter. This year I cut off the 5-pin flat blade connector and hard wired in a 7-pin, knowing 2 would be unused. Seems to work fine for me. There have only been a few times that it did not detect. I found that if you plug it in while the truck is running, it doesn't always detect the trailer or takes a while to see it. Best to plug it in while the truck is off. It seems to pick it up every time then.

 

[Delta Hop]

Alright throwing in the towel on this. I think my year of truck the trailer is detected with the presence of the braking system - nothing to do with the lights. I was worried for a moment that my all LED lights weren't being sensed due to low resistance but seems that's not the case. The newer F-150s (2015+?) have a trailer light feature which does look for the lights and will actually tell you if they're out. Guess I don't get automatic detection of a trailer unless I sandwich a resistor in the connector but no reason to be creating heat back there every time I brake just for the auto detection.

I have a 2014 f150 and 2019 shorelandr with exact same issue having 5 pin and trailer disconnected issue. However, when selecting electric over hydraulic braking in the f150 trailer settings, does it actuate the hydraulic brakes on the trailer when braking despite the trailer disconnected status?

 

[suke]

I have a 2014 f150 and 2019 shorelandr with exact same issue having 5 pin and trailer disconnected issue. However, when selecting electric over hydraulic braking in the f150 trailer settings, does it actuate the hydraulic brakes on the trailer when braking despite the trailer disconnected status?

They're surge brakes, not hydraulic.....unless someone changed the brakes on that trailer. Surge brakes are actuated by a slide as the trailer slides toward the truck it puts on the brakes. Very dumbed down way of explaining it. So, no need for a brake controller or anything.