No judgment here, please, as I don't do a lot of towing! A few years ago I installed a trailer hitch receiver on my 2006 HSE as well as the Atlantic British wiring kit YWJ500220, and also used my Gap IID tool to set the LR3 configuration to "trailer ball". I occasionally rent a small trailer for moving the occasional appliance and the harness seems to be doing its job, at least in regards to the rear trailer lights (I believe the connector has always been the one for a simple 4-way plug). Given that the 7-way connector has a lead for trailer brake control, I just assumed that somewhere in the innards of the HSE were the desired brains for controlling any brakes a larger trailer I might use has. But all of my rentals were light and simple ones with no need for supplemental braking (just needed a light touch on the gas and brake pedals in the cabin). As such, I've never had any instance where I actually hitched up a trailer with electric brakes.

I'm thinking about renting a relatively small camping trailer (a 20' Transcend One 151BH with 490 pound hitch weight, 3,550 # dry weight, 4,420 # GVWR) which should be within the towing capacities of my well-running LR3 because the trailer has the required e-brakes. But in researching this, it's suddenly occurring to me that despite the wiring and configuration change, a stock HSE still needs a separate trailer brake controller. Atlantic British has a kit (ETBCA) for 140 bucks so it's not crazy expensive and I do not doubt I could install it as instructed, but I just want to make absolutely sure I need the darned thing before ordering.

Your advice please.

Nick in Palm Springs

 

There is no brake controller factory fitted regardless of trim level so you need to add it yourself, nor is there a plug to use a pre-made harness (at least not in AU or UK ).

 

Thanks!

 

This will help a little.

 

Excellent intel... Thanks!

 

Since moving to the homestead, I have towed a lot. The LR3 we use to tow building material has the brake controller from AB. It has a proper plug to insert into the factory plug under the dash. I have since learned that most Ford type controllers will fit that plug as well. I tried my buddies controller from his 2009 F-150 and it fit and worked.
As for towing weight. I find that anything under 1800 lbs. I have a hard time finding a "light weight " setting and often turn it off.
At 4,000 lbs. you definitely need a brake controller. I have a 1,400 lb. flat bed trailer that I moved my other LR3 to the shop once. I will not say it was overloaded, but I don't want to move that 6000 lb. beast on a regular basis.

Hope that helps.
Jeff

 

It does indeed help. Thanks!

 

were you able to figure out a brake controller setup? I dont even have a hitch receiver yet so I am trying to put together everything i need. I am trying to go OEM for the receiver. I have the 2006 LR3 also. Beyond the receiver and the actual trailer ball assembly, I would need the light adapter and this ebrake contraption?

 

Yes, I figured it out. Not sure exactly what you have done already, but here's a list of stuff I put on my 2006 HSE for a 4,300 pound RV trailer (NOTE: You didn't say what version of LR3 you have; it's possible that what I did for my V8 wouldn't be possible on a V6 that didn't have some towing-friendly features):

1) A non-OEM permanent 2" bolt-on receiver. I never liked the look of the weird OEM thingy and didn't want to keep it in the truck when not in use to avoid theft of a $750 gizmo. The simple one I installed (basically you only need a torque wrench) was fine for most of my uses (like a bike rack or a small trailer from Home Depot), but if I had to do it over again and I knew that an RV-sized trailer was in my future, I would have put on the larger Curt version you can get from AB: https://www.roverparts.com/exterior-...ories/LH13456/ In fact, I'm probably going to do just that the next time I have $320 to spare.
2) The Atlantic British wiring harness kit (YWJ500220) for about $160. This is critical. Install was straightforward (basically it just plugs into a connector in the "hidden" compartment in the left rear interior and then the receptacle winds up being mounted inside the bumper) but if I remember correctly, some of the harness threading was tricky. There was a definite approach you must follow to make this work. I think AB had an instructional video that you must watch.
3) The hitch and ball for the receiver. Get a simple 2" drop / 1" rise hitch and a 2" ball now to keep in your truck for quick use like bike racks, but when you decide on an actual trailer, know that you may need a different shape for the hitch and\or size of ball. My favorite purchase of the year? The ten buck Harbor Freight ball wrench: https://www.harborfreight.com/hitch-...nch-95494.html
4) With the above you would be able to go to Home Depot or U-Haul and pick up a light trailer for moving junk, no problem. But for anything heavy that approaches the max rating of your truck coupled with any driving that involves something other than flat roads, it's a good idea to have the brake controller available. The good news is that the install is about 30 minutes including the initial cracking open of a cold beer for refreshment. Based on the recommendations here I went with a Tekonsha 90160 Primus IQ for about $100 (this is the magic controller box) along with the needed Tekonsha 303500 wiring adapter (about $20). The connector on the controller is, presumably, specific to the Tekonsha brand so the adapter is needed to mate that connector with the Ford-like one already in the LR3. Another piece of cake install (the controller just connects to the LR3 with a single plug...that's it). The process simply involves thinking for a moment where you would want to mount the controller (mine is under the dash just to the left of the steering wheel so I can reach it easily and view it easily while driving), drilling a couple holes for the controller mount in the right place, removing a couple of screws under the dash on the driver's side, dropping the panel, reaching up around the brake pedal mount to find the one lonely connector that isn't connected to anything, snapping on the Ford adapter, threading the wires so most will be inside the dash (secure if needed), then closing everything up before attaching the mount and then snapping the controller into the mount.

You have to play with the controller a little to figure out the correct setting, but my approach was to set it for a light boost and increase if needed, but that was never required. What I really liked was the manual application button, which allowed me to brake the trailer without tapping the LR3's brakes, which is comforting to do if you are wondering of the trailer's brakes are working. Note that once your 7 pin connector is hooked up to the trailer, if the latter has electric brakes it's going to brake anyway when you push the pedal with or without the controller. The controller just allows you to add more boost to that braking and, as already mentioned, allows you to manually apply if you need to deal with the trailer whipping from side to side.

NOTE: I never completely cured the issue of a 2006 LR3 dealing with the LED lights in a 2025 trailer. The good news is that everything worked in terms of activating the brake, turn, emergency, and running lights on the trailer as needed, though I'd need to unplug the harness when I wasn't driving or there would be low level pulsing of the lights at gas stations or overnight. No big deal. But what I didn't like was that the LR3 never lit up the trailer icon on the dash when connected, which means that whatever programming it has for a smoother tow never was deployed. But as many people have said here, driving with your brain working full time is as good as whatever algorithms were coded back in 2006 to make life easier for the English gentry. There are thousands of threads about the "LR3 doesn't recognize LED trailer lights for the purpose of going into enhanced trailer driving mode" issue. I'll save you some time and worry: You can ignore all of them. Drive logically and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps!

Nick in Palm Springs

 

Thanks so much for this detailed information!!! It is very much appreciated!!