away8

Hi all. I'd like to begin hauling my race car in an enclosed lightweight 16' trailer with electric brakes. (Should be ~3,200lbs combined) I just want to ensure I'm on the correct path to accomplish this correctly.

We added a Draw Tite receiver hitch to our Q5 last year (https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hit...leid=201438850) to lug our hitch mounted bike rack. So no additional wiring was done at the time. I understand if purchasing the OEM Audi hitch it comes along with wiring. I've found this wiring available to purchase online which SEEMS like it would be the correct 7 pin wiring for a trailer but it specifies years 09-12 which I found odd. We have a 2014 TDI. My question here is two fold (a) is this the proper wiring for a 7 pin electric brake trailer connection? (b) should it also fit our 2014 model?

Secondly, we need a brake controller. It seems from searching threads on here do-able enough. Tekonsha Primus IQ Brake Controller is what most seem to use. I also need to buy a VW connector and 2 yellow repair wires according to instructions. From there it seems just a matter of a bit of wiring under the drivers side dash board. Anything revelatory I'm missing here?

Thank you all so much for any assistance.

away8

waninae39

we use the Tekonsha Prodigy P3 to pull our airstream

you also need a digital to analog adapter to go from the audi digital signal to drive the 7 pin analog trailer connector
to pull any heavy, YOU must get a sway control bars AND weigh distribution bars to match your load

for our tralier we use EZLIFT 600lb bars as our q5 supports 5K lb pull and 500 lb tongue weight

we use level mate pro to level the trailer from outside

away8

Redd

Away-
Asking what constitutes heavy braking is like asking what constitutes good traction. Or good performance. My Q5 "handles" well, for a 4500# pink dancing hippo. But it corners damn poorly compared to the previous car, which would corner flat at the speed limit, without slowing down.

The etrailer device looks good. They apparently don't want to confuse you by mentioning that it plugs into "and then plug the other end into the built-in port beneath your vehicle's dash." which means the standard ODBII diagnostic port. (And if you've already got something in that, there are splitters you can add.) Basically, they are tapping the ECU or CanBus signal that turns on the brakes or brake lights, instead of having you run wires into the trunk and splicing into it there. A solid way to make life easier.

The Curt device is a higher-tech approach, although that URL just mentions one Acura model. In theory, the controller box uses a tiny solid state accelerometer (there's one in every smart phone for a decade now) and when it sees your car is slowing down, it will apply matching brake pressure to make the trailer slow down as well. In theory, that's a perfectly valid way to do things. A smarter way, since the trailer is being told to slow down at a specific rate, rather than just "brake on, brake off". The caveat is that it IS one more gizmo that has to be kept working.

But back to heavy braking...I think I'd go for the Curt, unless it had bad reviews online. Seems like the most adaptive system. If I were towing 3000# for a long distance or with any regularity, I'd want the extra ride control that all the additions bring. I'm thinking of a Plymouth Duster that I helped drive cross country a long time ago...no matter what you did, the car just wobbled all over the ride. The public thought that was good enough. Me? I like a little more control and handling, and if things get dicey, like slick wet pavement? I want the most control I can have. Or afford.

For just one trip, I might not buy it. For regular use...The ESC system on our cars is absolutely *ing incredible. Better handling = less time in the body shop!

away8

I was wondering what was considered a heavy towing load with regard to needing an anti-sway setup or weight distribution bars. I had never heard of the need for these in previous threads I searched. I'm fairly certain 3,000lbs will be no stress on the Q5 especially with a brake controller operational.

The Curt wiring seems to plug directly into the brake controller wiring under the dash that all our vehicles came prewired with. The other end simply connects to the Curt brake controller. SEEMS easy.

My biggest question mark is the wiring I referenced in my first post. https://www.partscolumbusaudi.com/p/...SABEgKXmPD_BwE

I'm hoping that is all that's needed at the rear of the vehicle to make the 7 pin connector operational. I THINK one also needs a control module which I'm assuming our cars don't come with. It is included with the OEM Audi tow hitch so I'm guessing it's also required. And who knows if that then needs additional programming to work correctly.

MurrayA4

I can assure you that the Q5 can easily manage 3500 lbs.I pull one regularly for business all over Quebec.Lots of mountains.The concern in this weight range is going to braking.I've got a Tdi which has some decent brakes but you're talking about a trailer with brakes so scratch that concern, as long as you can sort out the controller.

waninae39

our 2017 AS 22FB is 4000lbs empty and 400 tongue weight
we have had an issue even going up long steep hill climbs

Audi and others understate towing numbers just to be safe

apoelistas

I used the one below and I am really happy. No can errors (unlike my kufatec/Fiscon Bluetooth which does not have two way communications and CAN errors occur). 13 pole Erich Jaeger 748688 , no soldering no wire cutting, plug and play. VCDs coding is needed or dealer SVM (Manual on the web). 30 mins installation time. Manual says dealer SVM same as original but used VCDs instead. Comes with control unit

away8

Interesting, thanks for that. So this unit includes both the wiring and control module for trailer hookup? No additional parts needed? Seems reasonably priced too although I doubt there's a source for it here in the US.